Young paces No. 17 Duke past Florida State, 86-67

By James On Dec 31, 2022

DURHAM, NC (AP) — Ryan Young’s best performance in a Duke uniform was nearly perfect.

Young came off the bench to score a season-high 20 points, shooting 7-for-7 from the field, as the No. 17 Blue Devils beat Florida State 86-67 on Saturday.

Young, a Northwestern graduate transfer, grabbed 12 rebounds and added to the quest for perfection by making all six free throw attempts.

“I’m sure I’ll find something that I could have done better, but it was pretty close,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said.

Jaylen Blakes scored 17 points in her first career start and reserve Dariq Whitehead added 16 points for Duke (11-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference), which is unbeaten in eight home games.

Young deflected the credit for his stellar output.

“The guards found me in easy spots to score,” he said.

Caleb Mills and Matthew Cleveland scored 18 points and Darin Green Jr. added 16 for Florida State (4-11, 2-2), which remains winless in seven road games.

Even without retired Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski on the Duke bench, the Blue Devils looked familiar to veteran Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton.

“Thank you to (Scheyer) for getting your guys to play the Duke way,” he said. “I didn’t see any difference from the way they played in the past.”

Blakes, a sophomore, had four of 11 baskets from 3-point range for Duke, playing for the first time since a Dec. 20 loss at Wake Forest.

“They knew we had to be much better,” Scheyer said of his players after a vacation. “I didn’t have to convince them of that.”

The Seminoles got to 64-53 with less than nine minutes to play before the margin ballooned to 25 points.

“Hopefully we can learn from this,” Hamilton said. “Learn what it takes to go out and play against a team that is extremely aggressive like this.”

Duke used a 10-0 run near the middle of the first half and led 42-25 at halftime on 12 points from Young and 11 from Blakes. Three of the Blue Devils starters didn’t score in the first half and another, Jeremy Roach, was 1 of 7 from the field.

The Seminoles had their second lowest point total in the first half of the season.

“Our guards were doing a great job keeping them out of the paint and turning defense into offense,” Young said.

DEPTH SEEKERS

A lineup adjustment worked for the Blue Devils. Blakes matched his career-high point total in the Wake Forest game.

“It’s an honor (to start),” he said. “We are all building each other up. Whatever five guys there are, we trust them.”

Scheyer said the lineup adjustments shouldn’t come as a surprise.

“We’ve used our depth as a strength and I don’t see that changing,” he said.

BIG PICTURE

Florida State: The Seminoles were competitive for periods, but had gaps in defensive rebounding that proved costly. They got just eight points from the reserves, while Duke scored 46 points from their bench players.

Duke: The Blue Devils were aggressive from the start, yet they needed reinforcements from the reserves. They had their most bench points in an ACC game since February 2005 against Wake Forest. This was only Duke’s second game since Dec. 10, but there will be a steady diet of games for the rest of the season.

TIPS

Blakes took freshman Tyrese Proctor’s place in Duke’s starting lineup. … Hamilton was going for his 400th win while he was in charge of the Seminoles and his 600th win overall. … Cleveland’s 10 rebounds have given it totals in double figures in five of the last six games. … Florida State hasn’t won at Cameron Indoor Stadium since January 2012.

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Florida State: Hosts Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Duke: In the state of North Carolina on Wednesday.