DURHAM — Shane Larkin and fifth-ranked Miami stayed shot for shot with third-ranked Duke on its famously hostile home court for most of Saturday night. The Hurricanes just didn’t execute well enough in the final minutes to earn a second straight win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Larkin had a costly turnover and later missed one of Miami’s desperate pair of 3-pointers for the tie on the final possession of a 79-76 loss.
“We just didn’t hit the shot that we needed to hit to tie the game at the end,” Larkin said.
The Hurricanes led by seven in the first half, by two at halftime and by three with about 10 minutes left before Duke pushed ahead for good. The Blue Devils took their biggest lead at 75-65 with 2 minutes to go before the Hurricanes put together a frantic rally to make it a one-possession game on Trey McKinney Jones’ 3-pointer with 1:06 left.
But Miami made a series of late mistakes — whether it was Reggie Johnson fumbling away passes in the paint or Larkin missing a free throw that could’ve made it a one-point game with 53.6 seconds left — that undermined its comeback bid. The biggest came when Larkin threw away a pass to Rion Brown near the Miami bench on a miscommunication with the Hurricanes trailing by just two with about 30 seconds left.
“I told the team afterward we needed to play just a little better down the stretch,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said.
Of course, Duke senior Ryan Kelly made it hard for the Hurricanes all night, scoring a career-high 36 points in his return from a foot injury that had sidelined him since January.
Kelly knocked down 10 of 14 shots — including 7 of 9 3-pointers— for the Blue Devils (25-4, 12-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), who avenged a blowout road loss in January by grinding out a tough win in Cameron.
Quinn Cook added 15 points, including the 3-pointer that gave Duke its 10-point lead.
Larkin scored 25 points to lead the Hurricanes (23-5, 14-2), who missed two 3s in the final seconds to tie it. Larkin came up short on the first over Kelly. Durand Scott ran down the rebound and fired a pass to the left corner to Brown, whose final 3 clanged off the rim as the horn sounded.
Kelly immediately turned toward the Duke bench and extended both arms in the air, while Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski stopped on his way off the court to applaud and cheer toward the celebrating Cameron Crazies.
The game certainly lived up to the teams’ top-five rankings and their status as the ACC’s best. Miami led by seven in the first half and by two at the break, while Duke never led by more than five until finally building a cushion in the final 3 minutes.
Miami had beaten Duke 90-63 in January and had already clinched at least a share of the ACC regular-season title with the Blue Devils’ loss at Virginia on Thursday night.
But Saturday’s game was about more than just the league standings or the chance to avenge that blowout loss for the Blue Devils. Rather, this was the their chance to reclaim some swagger and momentum for March with the return of a player who had helped them to a No. 1 ranking before going out with an injury.
Duke was unbeaten with nonconference wins against Kentucky, Louisville and Ohio State when Kelly went down with the right foot injury against Clemson in January.
It was during Kelly’s absence that Duke suffered 27-point loss at Miami on Jan. 23, a game that saw the Hurricanes romping unchecked through Duke’s passive defense and even slapping the floor in an apparent jab at the Blue Devils’ tradition.
Duke shot 52 percent for the game, with Kelly’s big day offsetting Seth Curry’s struggles (seven points on 2-for-8 shooting). Kelly also helped the Blue Devils survive despite Miami’s domination on the boards that led to a 20-4 edge in second-chance points.