DURHAM — Duke fell from the ranks of ACC unbeatens, losing its first conference game to Miami 76-74 at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday.
The Blue Devils struggled to contain Miami’s trio of veteran guards. Sixth-year senior Kameron McGusty, the reigning ACC Player of the Week, scored 14 points. Third-year sophomore Isaiah Wong added 15. The real damage was done, however, by sixth-year guard Charlie Moore, a graduate transfer at Miami after spending time with Cal, Kansas and DePaul.
In his first game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, Moore scored 18 points and had seven steals, second-most ever for a Duke opponent at Cameron. He also provided a fiery presence on the floor for the Hurricanes. Despite being the smallest player on the court, Moore went chest to chest with Duke freshman AJ Griffin following a play early in the game and with Blue Devils freshman Trevor Keels late in the game.
Following Moore’s lead, Miami (13-3, 5-0 ACC) refused to back down to Duke (12-2, 0-1 ACC), driving the lane at will and scoring at the rim. Miami had a 52-38 advantage on points in the paint, with most of those coming at the end of drives by guards. The Hurricanes also forced 17 Duke turnovers, six by Wendell Moore Jr., and committed only two of their own.
The Blue Devils appeared to take control of the game on multiple occasions, going ahead by eight late in the first half and taking a five-point lead midway through the second.
“To me, the story of the game was turnovers,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “A key point in the game is when we were up 26-18 and we turned it over three or four straight times.”
Krzyzewski blamed his team’s rust for the turnovers.
“A big thing of it is we’re tired,” he said. “We’re tired.”
The Hurricanes stormed back each time and erased a three-point Duke lead in the final 45 seconds. Miami’s Moore helped put Miami on top for good, converting an acrobatic layup to cut the lead to one. Jordan Miller then rebounded Moore’s and-one free throw miss, and McGusty hit a go-ahead jumper with 20 seconds left.
“Our big thing is no 3s, no fouls,” said Krzyzewski. “And we fouled.”
