Duke Basketball: Blue Devils bounce back with win over Florida State

The Duke Blue Devils earned a much-needed victory over the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday afternoon, 100-93.

After losing to the Boston College Eagles in their first game of ACC play, the Duke Blue Devils bounced back in a big way – twice.

A 104-40 win over the not-so-bad Evansville Aces was extremely impressive, but, what was more impressive, was their follow up victory over the 11-win, No. 24 Florida State Seminoles.

The Seminoles have been one of the biggest surprises in college basketball season, looking like a legitimate threat in the ACC after dominating an extremely talented Florida Gators team that took Duke to overtime earlier this season.

Florida State traveled to Cameron Indoor Stadium high on confidence and played like it. They had the lead at halftime and consistently found a way to take back the lead at several points in the game. Unfortunately for the Seminoles, 51 combined points from Phil Cofer and Braian Angola were not enough, as they fell to Duke 100-93.

The Duke bench was absent in this one, scoring a grand total of three points, but the starters looked great against tough opposition, as every single starter scored in double-figures. Marvin Bagley, to no one’s surprise, led the way, but his 32 points and 21 rebounds really showed what he is capable of and should solidify his spot as the No. 1 overall NBA Draft pick in 2018.

Grayson Allen went for 22, but perhaps the most impressive moment was when Trent Duval, who had gone 0-4 from three-point range throughout the game, hit a massive three to close the then-FSU lead to just one.

This was a great victory for Duke, and the team should be excited that they got to see their offense finally produce at a high level against a great college basketball team.

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Next up for the Blue Devils is a trip to face the North Carolina State Wolfpack.