DURHAM, N.C. — Duke needed toughness to survive an upset bid from the ACC’s last-place team on Saturday.
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Having Mike Krzyzewski back on the bench for the first time in a month certainly provided some, but the Hall of Fame coach said his team has developed quite a bit of it on its own.
After struggling offensively in a slow-paced game, No. 21 Duke hit seven consecutive second-half shots to finally shake pesky Pittsburgh and post a 72-64 win at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils (18-5, 6-4 ACC) played with Krzyzewski coaching them for the first time since Jan. 4. The 69-year-old Krzyzewski had back surgery on Jan. 6 and missed seven games.
In the last two games without him, with associate head coach Jeff Capel as acting head coach, Duke won 85-83 at Wake Forest by overcoming a 10-point deficit in the final four minutes before topping No. 20 Notre Dame 84-74 last Monday in South Bend, Indiana.
"We won a really tough game at Wake and a really tough game at Notre Dame and a really tough one here," Krzyzewski said. "We are tougher. We are more together."
The Blue Devils now have a three-game winning streak, but the win never came easily even though Pittsburgh (12-11, 1-9) has now lost eight straight.
In a slugfest of a game, Duke shot 50 percent in the second half to reach 45.5 percent for the game.
But Grayson Allen made five shots over the final 7:20 of the game, including four 3-pointers, as Duke finally pulled away.
Allen scored 21 and Amile Jefferson 15 for Duke.
"I just kept shooting, and coach was telling me to keep shooting, and they started to fall," Allen said.
Pittsburgh shot 50 percent but hit just 2 of 14 3-pointers (14.3 percent).
"I thought we played really good defense," Krzyzewski said. "They had been averaging nine made 3s a game."
The score was tied at 28 at halftime because Duke went scoreless over its final eight possessions of the half to see a six-point lead disappear.
After seven lead changes and three ties over the first 11 minutes of the second half, Frank Jackson put Duke ahead for good, 45-43, with a 3-pointer.
When the game was over and postgame handshakes were done, Krzyzewski walked to center court with his hands in the air to acknowledge the crowd. He then bowed in their honor as they do to him before every home game.
"It was so good to be back," Krzyzewski said. "I felt like crying when they started doing introductions. You forget how lucky you are until something is taken away from you."
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