Duke holds on for 'home' win at Garden
Austin Rivers #0 of the Duke Blue Devils shoots over Abdul Gaddy #0 of the Washington Huskies at Madison Square Garden. (Dec. 10, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
Duke again had the luxury of playing at its home-away-from-home at Madison Square Garden Saturday.
Fueled by a strong first half, the No. 7 Blue Devils held on for an 86-80 win over Washington in the Carquest Auto Parts Classic in front of a Duke-dominated crowd of 15,525.
The last time Duke was at the Garden on Nov. 15, Mike Krzyzewski made history with his 903rd career victory, surpassing mentor Bob Knight as the all-time winningest men's basketball coach.
There were no historic moments Saturday, but it was a trademark performance for much of the game by Duke. "I can play here any day," said freshman Austin Rivers, who led Duke with 18 points. "It's fun to be in this stadium and the crowds are always great here. The support we have from New York is truly amazing."
Andre Dawkins added 17 points and Ryan Kelly had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Blue Devils.
Things got a little tight near the end as Washington cut a 19-point second-half deficit to 78-72 with 57 seconds left. But Duke shot 8-for-10 from the free-throw line down the stretch to secure the win.
Dawkins lauded the play of Duke's bench, which was forced to play critical minutes late in the second half after Rivers and Seth Curry fouled out with less than three minutes remaining.
"I think so," Dawkins said when asked if playing in a tight game is important. "Especially for some the guys who didn't play as much. Quinn [Cook] came in for us and hit [four] free throws."
Krzyzewski agreed, saying: "Quinn Cook really gave us some huge minutes in handling the ball and he was 4-for-6 from the line."
Duke also got a big performance from junior center Mason Plumlee with 12 points and nine rebounds. His older brother Miles came off the bench for nine points and seven rebounds.
As for playing at the Garden under Krzyzewski, the Blue Devils (9-1) have made winning on Fashion Avenue a habit.
"I love playing at Cameron. But outside of Cameron, Madison Square Garden is the place," Krzyzewski said. "As a player, I played here in the first year it was open. That's how old I am."
Washington is no stranger to New York City. The Huskies dropped a close one, 79-77, to Marquette at the Garden on Tuesday night.
The Huskies' problems began in the first half as a long stretch of bad shooting and shaky ballhandling put them in a deep hole. The Huskies had almost as many turnovers (nine) as field goals made (10) in the first half and trailed 40-26 at the break.
"We dug ourselves into a big hole in the first half," said Tony Wroten, who led Washington with 23 points. "Being down 17, 18 points, I don't know what it was, but we were not playing like we usually play, and once we got into our groove, it was a little bit too late."
Pittsburgh holds on for win. Ashton Gibbs had 17 points, Nasir Robinson added 15 points and Lamar Patterson had 12 points and 10 rebounds as No. 15 Pittsburgh (9-1) topped Oklahoma State, 74-68, in the second game of the Carquest Auto Parts Classic.
The Panthers took a 57-41 lead with 10:36 left on a pair of free throws by J.J. Moore. The Cowboys (6-3) got within 71-66 with 19 seconds to go, but Gibbs went 3-for-4 from the line in the final 18 seconds to seal it.
Le'Bryan Nash led Oklahoma State with 20 points and Keiton Page added 12.
