No. 15 Miami hands Duke fourth loss in 5

Heading into Monday night’s matchup, Duke is ranked second in the ACC in scoring at 85.7 points per game, which is fifth overall in the nation, while Miami is fifth in the conference in scoring offense at 79.2, which is 56th in the country.

Guard Matt Jones, who was scoreless in the first half, made two 3-poniters during Duke’s game-changing run.

But Duke’s frustration is starting to show, starting with head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who skipped part of the handshake line after losing to Syracuse. The starters played the other 179, doing so barely 48 hours after a hard-fought win at North Carolina State that snapped Duke’s first three-game losing streak since 2006-07.

“We’ve played against Ben Simmons this year from LSU, we played against Brandon Ingram, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see his name called first this year (in the National Basketball Association draft)”.

“We’re taking pride in making people respect us”, Rodriguez said. Sheldon McClellan scored 21 points and benefited from Rodriguez’s most spectacular assist late in the game.

Coach Jim Larranaga cautioned not to make too much of the win, however. If the request had come from ACC commissioner John Swofford, it might have been standing-room only. Ja’Quan Newton is second on the team averaging 11.8 points per game and 2.6 rebounds. “You can’t put it all on one game”.

“We’ve had a chance in every game”, Krzyzewski said. Ingram’s 17.1 points per game are second on the team, to Allen, and he also leads the team with his 42 percent shooting clip from three point range. After Allen came back, Duke was able to whittle State’s lead down to three points before the Wolfpack scored the last four points of the half.

Miami led most of this one and the big reason was the defense that they played throughout the night.

“Rodriguez was a great leader for them, distributing the ball, hitting the big shots”, Krzyzewski said. Duke made 14 of 18 free throws. In his five seasons, they’re 4-2 against the Blue Devils.

“Coming out in the second half, we didn’t come out with the same defensive intensity”, N.C. State forward Abdul-Malik Abu said.

Luke Kennard added 12 points and Marshall Plumlee had a near double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds.

SURPRISING FEEDS: The 7-foot Jekiri contributed assists from the perimeter on consecutive possessions to keep a cushion down the stretch.

Duke is 2-5 when allowing its opponent to score 90 points.

“Our playmaker”, Larranaga said. The Blue Devils can shoot teams out of the gym, but depth issues preclude Duke from playing physical defense.

Injuries have left Duke with just a seven-player rotation that includes four freshmen, and they’ve dropped four of their past five games. The governor asked fans to stay off the roads and away from the Duke-N.C. State game, and raucous Wolfpack fans packed the place instead, a predictable response. But the Hurricanes closed the trip with Wednesday’s 67-53 victory at Boston College and followed with Saturday’s 77-63 home win over Wake Forest – the Hurricanes’ seventh straight at BankUnited Center.

But Duke stopped that against N.C. State, gaining a 31-28 rebounding edge.