There's been a theory going around college basketball this season that Duke's bigs - primarily brothers Mason and Miles Plumlee - could be handled and thus, the Blue Devils taken down a few notches in the national picture.On Sunday, while most fans were munching on chips and pizzas in anticipation of Super Bowl XLVI, the Miami Hurricanes made their case, getting 27 and 15 points from forwards Reggie Johnson and Kenny Kadji, respectively, to take down the #7 Blue Devils in overtime, 78-74.
The victory was the first ever for Miami at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke had also been defeated by Florida State at home earlier this season, another team with a strong inside presence. Johnson, a 6'10" forward, hit on 11 of 17 shots and five of 10 free throws, and wiped the boards for 12 rebounds as well, eight of them on the offensive end, some resulting in put-backs for easy scores.
The Hurricanes built a 16-point lead in the early part of the second half, but the Blue Devils clawed back and sent the game into overtime, where Johnson scored five of his career high 27 and the Blue Devils uncharacteristically missed all six of their free throws.
Duke drops to 6-2 in the conference and 19-4 overall, while the Hurricanes improved to 5-3 in ACC play and are 14-7 on the season. Miami has won four straight - three of them on the road. The other road wins came at Georgia Tech and Boston College.
The Blue Devils have another tough test when they travel this Wednesday, February 8, to play their Tobacco Road arch-rival, North Carolina, which is tied, at 7-1, with Florida State on top of the ACC standings.
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