Notre Dame 93 Duke 89
A hard-fought loss for the young Blue Devils
Notre Dame came to Cameron looking to avenge the earlier loss to Duke and got it, winning 93-89 behind a brilliant game from Cormac Ryan.
Ryan, a 6-5 junior transfer from Stanford, had a career night with 28 points - 21 in the first half - on 10-16 shooting (and 4-7 on threes).
Prentiss Hubb hit a key three late in the game to give Notre Dame a cushion that they would not lose.
The Blue Devils started off gangbusters in this one, shooting out to a 20-8 lead. But the Irish fought back and cut that to 55-42 at the half.
The second half saw the more experienced team claw back before pulling ahead and making smarter plays down the stretch.
The good news for Duke is that the young Devils did play hard and did fight. And they cut turnovers with just 12 this time out compared to the 15 vs. UNC last time out.
But still, it came down to the more experienced team knowing what to do and the younger team showing some uncertainty.
Duke falls to 7-8 on the season and heads over to Raleigh next to face a tough NC State squad.
Jim will be along soon with his take.