LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Paolo Banchero’s off-night shooting limited his scoring for No. 9 Duke on Saturday, and teammate Mark Williams played through foul trouble.
Fortunately for them, they had AJ Griffin and his red-hot shooting on their side.
Griffin hit all five of the 3-point shots he attempted while scoring 22 points to lead the Blue Devils to a 74-65 ACC basketball win over Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center.
Banchero, an ACC player of the year candidate for the Blue Devils (17-3, 7-2 ACC), managed to produce a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds. But he hit only 5 of 15 shots along the way.
Williams sat out 10 minutes of the first half and seven of the second in foul trouble. Yet he still scored 14 points with 10 rebounds while playing just 23 minutes.
Griffin, though, was steady throughout. He made 8 of 13 shots overall while playing 34 minutes not committing a turnover. He made back-to-back 3-pointers during Duke’s 12-0, second-half run that sealed the game.
“AJ was terrific,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “And when it was 60-60 to get a three then he had another three. That that puts you up, if they don’t hit threes, that puts you up four possessions. And we were able to get a stop and then we have two really good offensive executions which took some time and were able to stop them and got that margin.”
Duke led by as many as 16 points in the first half before taking a 40-35 halftime lead. The Cardinals (11-10, 5-6) hit 10 consecutive shots over the final minutes of the first half and early in the second half to pull even at 45 on a Dre Davis 3-pointer with 17:34 to play.
Louisville tied the score for a second time at 60 with 8:28 to play when Ellis drilled a 3-pointer
But the Cardinals were never able to move in front, even as Duke played without Williams for seven minutes of the second half after picked up his third foul.
Williams, though, made his presence felt when he returned. The 7-1 center blocked Louisville shots on three consecutive possessions. He twice blocked Louisville 6-8 forward Sydney Curry at the rim before swatting and rebounding a Mason Faulkner 3-point attempt.
“I thought that Sydney Curry had a couple of plays right around around the rim that they made some unbelievable blocks by the basket,” Louisville interim head coach Mike Pegues said. “I don’t think that they were fouls. I thought the referees did an awesome job. We got to be able to convert those plays.”
That defense helped Duke keep the Cardinals scoreless for six minutes. Duke scored 12 consecutive points during that time, including those two Griffin 3-pointers, to lead 72-60 with 2:38 to play.
“With that sequence right there, you know, it just was really just not thinking about it, just let it fly,” Griffin said. “Having the confidence from my coaches and teammates. Just let it fly and not even thinking about it. Just playing basketball.”
El Ellis, a Durham native, scored 18 points to lead Louisville, which played its first game since Chris Mack was fired as head coach.
Duke played its third consecutive game without starting guard Trevor Keels. The 6-5 freshman injured the calf on his right leg in a collision during Duke’s 79-78 overtime loss at Florida State on Jan. 18. While coach Mike Krzyzewski said Thursday that Keels was “getting real close to coming back,” the guard who started Duke’s first 17 games of the season was not in uniform at Louisville.
Duke started the game in strong fashion, unleashing 12 consecutive points to lead 14-2 and extending the lead to 24-8 with 10:16 to play in the first half.
But Williams, who scored eight early points helping Duke build that big lead, picked up his second foul at the 7:31 mark and didn’t play the rest of the first half. Reserve center Theo John replaced him but left with his second foul at 2:14.
Louisville hit its final six shots of the half, using a 12-4 run to cut Duke’s lead to 37-35 on an Ellis’ 3-pointer.
But Griffin sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer, after taking an in-bounds pass with 0.6 seconds left in the half, allowing Duke to take a 40-35 halftime lead
