Duke rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to stun Louisville, 81-77, in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.
Louisville (24-8, 12-7 ACC) led 61-49 with 13:07 left, but a 15-3 Duke run over the next 4:38 brought the Blue Devils (25-8, 13-7 ACC) back to even at 64-64 on a three-point jumper by Luke Kennard with 8:29 to go.
Another Kennard three, with 4:52 to go, put Duke on top, 73-70, the prelude to a wild final couple of minutes in a raucous Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which came alive for the first time in its debut week hosting the ACC postseason.
The Cardinals left points on the free-throw line on three straight trips, leaving Duke up 78-75 with 26.2 seconds left. Coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout with eight seconds left on the shot clock to draw up a play to get the ball into the hands of star freshman Jayson Tatum, but Tatum turned the ball over and then committed his fifth foul, sending Quentin Snyder to the line.
Snyder made both ends to cut the deficit to one. Kennard made two free throws with 22 seconds left to make it a three-point game.
Louisville had a timeout, but elected to play through, to its detriment. Snyder airballed a wild three from the right wing with four seconds left, and Kennard rebounded, was fouled and hit the first of two free throws to clinch the game.
Tatum led Duke with 25 points. Kennard finished with 24 points, 18 in the second half, and 10 rebounds. Grayson Allen added 18.
Deng Adel led Louisville with 21 points.
Duke advances to the ACC Tournament semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m. to meet top seed North Carolina (27-6, 15-4 ACC).
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