by David Cassilo / @dcassilo
Dreams of a perfect season for Duke came crashing down on Wednesday in Tallahassee when Florida State dealt the Blue Devils their first defeat of the season. It snapped a 25-game win streak that dated back to last March.
The Seminoles, coming off back-to-back losses to Auburn and Virginia Tech, got a combined 40 points from Derwin Kitchen and Chris Singleton to key their 66-61 victory.
For Duke the trouble was getting the ball inside on Florida State. It was forced to take 35 shots from beyond the arc and got just three points from the frontcourt duo of Ryan Kelly and Miles Plumlee.
It took a complete game from Florida State to defeat the nation’s No. 1 team.
From The Durham Herald-Sun:
“They played really good defense,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They played outstanding defense and they are committed to it. I don’t think they did anything tricky. Their defense just dominated their offense for about 25 minutes.”
Duke senior guard Nolan Smith agreed that the Seminoles played the Blue Devils as hard as anyone had all season.
“They make every shot a tough shot,” said Smith, who scored 19 points. “They played hard for 40 minutes.”
The defeat now leaves just four undefeated teams — Kansas, Ohio State, San Diego State and Syracuse. Realistically, though, it seemed Duke had the best shot of anyone to run the table. Instead, we are left with what will be one of the all-time greatest “what-if’s” in college basketball history: What if Kyrie Irving never got hurt?
