Duke Overwhelms Notre Dame With Second-Half Explosion
Former Blue Devils Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook took advantage of the NBA All-Star Break to visit Cameron Indoor Stadium for Duke’s Saturday afternoon game with Notre Dame. The duo was treated to a good show, with Duke going on an early second-half run to build a 17-point lead in what had once been a tight game.
Then Zion Williamson arrived.
The top pick in last year’s NBA Draft made his way to his seat at the under 16 timeout in the second half. As expected, the crowd erupted as soon as he was visible in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Then the timeout ended and Duke erupted as well.
The Blue Devils went on a 20-7 run to build the lead to 30 as Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, a former Duke assistant, steadfastly refused to call a time out to stop the onslaught.
“It was like pick-up for awhile,” he told Mike Krzyzewski after the 94-60 Duke win was complete. Duke outscored the Irish 46-23 after Williamson's arrival.
The win moved Duke into sole possession of first place in the ACC by a half game, after Louisville lost to Clemson.
The win was a complete effort from Duke. Guards Tre Jones and Jordan Goldwire suffocated Notre Dame’s perimeter scorers, holding T.J. Gibbs and Rex Pflueger scoreless on 0-for-13 shooting.
“We go the way of our leader,” Coach K said. “Tre was magnificent, not good, and the kid is a special, special guy. Leading the break, defense, and his mate, Jordan Goldwire, the defense has just been at a high, high level. The goal was to take away as many threes as possible, and we did that.”
Vernon Carey also had a big game against Notre Dame big man John Mooney. Despite giving up years of experience, Carey finished 8-of-10 from the field with 21 points.
“I thought that was one of his best games,” Krzyzewski said. “He played through contact.”
And he did it with a VIP in attendance.
“It was big-time,” Carey said. “Just having former players come and watch us on Saturday. They could’ve been doing something else with their time, but they came to watch us, so it was big-time.”
