Big ACC Men’s Basketball Upset as Florida State knocks off the Duke Blue Devils

Florida State knocks off No. 6 Duke in overtime in big ACC upset
from Jordan Wolf, with YardBarker.com/www.yardbarker.com

Not only did Florida State upset No. 6 Duke on Tuesday night, they passed them in the ACC rankings too.

The Seminoles knocked off the Blue Devils 79-78 at home in an overtime thriller, and as a result jump into second place in the ACC. At 5-2, they sit a half game ahead of Duke and one game back of Miami.

The win marked the 55th victory over a ranked team by an unranked team for Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, giving him the most all-time as he passes Bob Knight, who had 54. At 51, Lon Kruger is the only other coach to surpass 50.

Florida State has also won 13 straight overtime games, the longest streak in Division I history.

There was no shortage of big moments, as is the case in any major college hoops upset. after trailing 65-59 with just under three minutes to go, Duke clawed back to tie it up 65-65. With 39 seconds left, coach Mike Krzyzewski called timeout where he drew up a play that resulted in an emphatic Mark Williams dunk that gave the Blue Devils the lead.

Florida State did not crumble under the pressure. After a timeout, RayQuan Evans took presumptive top NBA prospect Paolo Banchero off the dribble, drove to the cup and laid a game-tying layup high off the backboard to send the game to overtime.

In OT, the teams exchanged body blows down to the wire. With just over a minute left, Banchero made a layup that gave Duke a 76-74 lead. Once again, however, the Seminoles did not fold; just seven seconds later, Evans dished to Caleb Mills, who pulled up early in the shot clock and cashed a go-ahead three.

Banchero drew a foul on the following possession, and knocked down two free throws to reclaim the lead. But the next time down, Evans drew a foul of his own and hit both shots from the charity stripe to put Florida State back ahead. Duke wouldn’t get a shot off on the final possession, and the Seminoles won as the crowd stormed the court.

Mills finished with a team-high 18, and John Butler added 14 points as well. Banchero led all scorers with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Williams poured in 15 points and seven boards.