March Rewind: Blue Devils Slap Floor To Get Coach K's First NCAA Win

When Duke was reeling in the second half against Pepperdine, Johnny Dawkins told teammates to touch the floor

What's March without Duke Tournament basketball? With this year's ACC and NCAA Tournaments cancelled, we'll go back in time to look at the top Blue Devils postseason games from each date in March and early April. Special thanks to SportsReference.com for boxscores and the Duke Library for the newspaper archive.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski won his first NCAA Tournament game ever as the 1985 Blue Devils earned their first win in the tourney since 1980, beating Pepperdine 75-62 in Houston. The milestone win came after what would eventually become the calling card for Coach K’s program.

Duke had just given up a three-point play, then saw David Henderson get called for traveling with 14 and a half minutes left in the game. Giving Pepperdine the ball with a chance to tie.

“We were playing a little sluggish,” Tommy Amaker admitted. “I think it was because we were so anxious. We just had to settle down.”

Upset with his teammates lackadaisical play, Johnny Dawkins signaled to his teammates at halfcourt and shouted, “Touch the floor!” The team responded, slapping the hardwood as a reminder to focus in on defense.

The Waves made just one of their next nine shots, turning the ball over three times as Duke went on a 17-2 run.

Duke was led by 22 from Henderson and 21 from Dawkins. The Blue Devils also got 16 points from Mark Alarie, who was limited to one minute in Duke’s last game, suffering from a hip pointer.

The 3-seed Blue Devils would go on to face Boston College for a berth in the Sweet 16.