Kyle Filipowski scored 17 points and had plenty of help as No. 21 Duke avenged a 22-point loss from last month by defeating No. 14 Miami 85-78 in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament semifinals Friday night at Greensboro, N.C.
Dariq Whitehead scored 16 points off the bench, Tyrese Proctor supplied 15 points and Mark Mitchell had 13 points as the top four scorers for the Blue Devils were freshmen. Jeremy Roach had 13 points.
Duke (25-8), which has won eight games in a row, face second-seeded and 13th-ranked Virginia in the final after the Cavaliers topped third-seeded Clemson 76-56. The Blue Devils are in the tournament final for the second year in a row and go for their first title since 2019.
Isaiah Wong, the ACC Player of the Year, scored 22 points, for top-seeded Miami (25-7), though he sat out stretches because of foul trouble. Jordan Miller posted 17 points, Nijel Pack had 11 points, and Wooga Poplar and Bensley Joseph both provided 10 points, but the Hurricanes missed their final five shots from the field.
The teams split two regular-season matchups, with Duke winning by two at home in January before Miami’s blowout result.
Duke held a slim lead for much of the second half Friday night. Roach’s 3-pointer with less than two minutes left stretched the gap to 78-71. It was his first successful 3 on three attempts.
Whitehead’s basket after the Blue Devils broke Miami’s press made it 80-73 at the one-minute mark before Anthony Walker’s three-point play for the Hurricanes. The Blue Devils made five free throws to clinch the outcome.
Whitehead made two 3-pointers and twice — once in each half — was fouled on 3-point attempts and made all six free throws resulting from those infractions. Duke was 21-for-25 on free throws.
Miami played most of the game without power forward Norchad Omier, who exited 66 seconds into the contest with an injured right ankle. While securing a defensive rebound, Omier came down awkwardly on Duke center Dereck Lively’s foot. Omier was helped off the court.
Duke led 41-36 at halftime, aided by 4-for-6 shooting from 3-point range but hurt by eight turnovers.
–Field Level Media
