DURHAM Duke and Rhode Island competed toe-to-toe at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Sunday.
The game was tense, sweaty, physical and harrowing for both teams before the eighth-ranked Blue Devils saw Kyle Singler and Jon Scheyer make six straight free throws in the game's final minute to give them an 82-79 victory.
In years past, a close victory at home against anyone not ranked in the top 25 would have been something Duke survived, not enjoyed.
But unranked Rhode Island (1-1) was just plain good while shooting 54.7 percent in the game. And this Duke team (3-0) is different.
The Blue Devils worked through the tension while trying to stop Rhode Island guard Jimmy Baron, who scored 24 with eight 3-pointers.
The Blue Devils enjoyed the precarious moments like watching Singler go to the line to with 57.1 seconds left and Duke trailing by 1. Singler hit both free throws to give Duke its first lead of the game at 78-77.
Rhode Island's Delroy James answered by hitting two on his end to put the Rams back up at 79-78.
So Singler had to do it again. He drove the lane again, was fouled again, and hit both freebies to give Duke a 80-79 lead with 19.4 seconds left.
Baron tried to shoot a 2-pointer over Singler with 4.9 seconds left that missed and went out of bounds.
Duke sophomore Jon Scheyer secured the victory with two free throws – he made all 13 while scoring 23 – with 3.7 seconds left in the game.
“I love those moments,” Singler said after scoring 21 points with five rebounds and five assists. “When I needed to get that stop on Baron, I knew I was going to stop him but you don't want to see that ball go in. It was a very exciting game to play. I had a lot of fun.”
Duke next meets Southern Illinois in the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Thursday.
Afterward, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski called it a “February game in November.”
“It's one of those things, you know, skydiving or bungee jumping, like, ‘I'm supposed to enjoy this then I did it but I really didn't enjoy it.' But afterward you want to be cool so you say, ‘Man that was cool,' ” Krzyzewski said. “I don't think while the game was going on I enjoyed it but what you are is completely captured by it.”
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