DURHAM, N.C. — Angel Rodriguez scored 24 points and Miami shot 67 percent after halftime to upset No. 4 Duke 90-74 on Tuesday night, snapping the Blue Devils’ 41-game home winning streak.
Manu Lecomte had a career-high 23 points for the Hurricanes (12-4, 2-1 ACC), who dominated the final 20 minutes with their pesky defense and attacking dribble penetration that the Blue Devils just couldn’t defend.
Trailing 35-34 at the break, Miami shot 18-for-27 after halftime and hit 6 of 9 3-pointers — a stunningly one-sided show starring a team that lost by 28 points at home to Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 19.
Duke (14-2, 2-2 ACC) hadn’t lost at Cameron Indoor Stadium since March 2012 and hadn’t lost consecutive regular-season games since February 2009. But much like Sunday’s loss at against N.C. State, the Blue Devils were unable to slow a hot-shooting team nor keep up at their own offensive end.
The Blue Devils looked like they’d be playing to give Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski his 1,000th win this week against Louisville and fellow Hall of Famer Rick Pitino on Saturday. But Krzyzewski is stuck on 997 wins after two surprising losses.
Duke was coming off an 87-75 loss at N.C. State, a game that saw the Blue Devils trail for the first time at half all year then face their largest deficit of the season. The Wolfpack shot 55 percent and dominated after halftime to lead by as many as 19 in that one.
Afterward, Krzyzewski talked about it being a lesson for his team about the intensity and aggressiveness needed for ACC regular-season play, something he said his team could only learn through experience.
Yet Miami offered up another harsh lesson for a team that was looking dominant only a few weeks ago.
Miami led by as many as 20 late and scored 56 second-half points. Duke hadn’t trailed by more than six in a game before the past two games.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.