FSU Shocks No. 1 Duke

The Florida State basketball team did the unthinkable Sunday night knocking off the No. 1 and undefeated Duke Blue Devils 77-76. The upset victory marked the first time in program history that the Seminoles won over the nations's top ranked team.

Florida State rocks the basketball world

---

Want all the inside information on Florida State football, basketball, baseball and football recruiting? Want to help support the best website covering Seminole athletics? Want to interact with other FSU fans and experts on an exclusive message board?
It's easy - just sign up for Warchant.com's Premium Ticket!
Check out what you are missing: List of recent premium stories

Still not sure? Try it for free. If you don't like it just cancel within five days and there's no charge.

---

Seminoles pull off biggest win in the history of the program

Game Statistics * Photo Gallery * Game Video Audio: press conference Monte Cummings Q & A

The Florida State basketball dared to dream the impossible dream and when they woke up the dream came true. Steve Robinson's underdog Seminoles out-shot, out-rebounded and out-hustled the defending national champions and it paid off with a stunning 77-76 victory over the top ranked Blue Devils.

"In order for us to win that basketball game we had to play a great game," an upbeat Steve Robinson said after the victory. "I thought for 40 minutes we competed and we competed very hard. It took every bit of those forty minutes to be able to come out with a win tonight."

Cummings shot with 7-seconds left gave FSU the upset win

If not for Jason Williams' hot shooting from beyond the arc, Florida State could have blown the defending national champions out of the gym. But Jason Williams is the top player in the nation for a reason and his 21 second half points (7-9 from 3-point range) nearly kept the Devils' 22-game win streak alive. But it wasn't quite enough.

Despite holding the lead for almost the entire game, FSU found themselves trailing 76-72 with less than 30 seconds left. At the 28-second mark senior Antwuan Dixon hit a shot heard around the college basketball world when he nailed a three-pointer to cut Duke's lead to one. That clutch shot not only kept the Noles' hopes alive but gave FSU a real possibility of pulling off the win.

"Give credit to FSU, [Antwuan] Dixon's three was a huge, huge shot," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Dixon's shot was huge but if Jason Williams, who couldn't miss from three-point range, made any free throws down the stretch it probably would have been meaningless. The likely No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft missed all six of his second half free throw attempts, including two that would have clinched the win with 20 seconds left. Antwuan Dixon's three-pointer gave FSU hope and another senior, Monte Cummings, hit the game-winner with seven seconds left. On the play Cummings drove past Williams to get near the basket and hit a short jumper off the glass putting FSU ahead for good at 77-76.

Duke had one last chance to salvage a victory, and as you would expect, coach Krzyzewski called on Jason Williams to make the game-deciding shot. It might have worked except that FSU center Mike Mathews blocked Williams' short jumper and Dunleavy missed a five-foot put-back shot as time expired. As the ball hit th floor and the buzzer sounded several hundred Seminole fans stormed the Leon County Civic Center court in celebration.

"It was chaotic there for a while," Steve Robinson said. "We work on a lot of time to score situations and try to get stops. In this kind of game we had to stop a shot. We also try to tell the guys all the time that second shots will kill you, and it almost got us. Dunleavy did a great job getting to the boards and getting a second shot but we were just fortunate that the ball rolled out and the horn went off. It was pretty nice to see those kids storm the court."

Jumping out to an early lead didn't hurt FSU's chances. Michael Joiner started the scoring with two straight field goals but Duke quickly responded. The heavily favored Blue Devils rattled off seven straight and took a 7-4 lead following a Jason Williams three-point conversion. The underdog Seminoles responded right back running off eight straight to re-take the lead at 12-7. During the mini-run Delvon Arrington had an acrobatic drive and lay-up followed by a perfect break-away pass to fellow senior Antwuan Dixon that resulted in a slam dunk.

While FSU was playing inspired basketball on both ends of the court, Duke was missing three-point tries, a lot of three-point tries. In fact, with a minute left in the first half the Blue Devil shooters were a pathetic 1-18 from long range. The Devils' shooting woes would dramatically change shortly after Delvon Arrington nailed a three-point shot to put the Noles up 32-21 with 1:56 left. Chris Duhon and Daniel Ewing would nail consecutive bombs from behind the arc to cut FSU's lead to 32-28 going into the locker room.

With Duke clearly over their shooting slump in the second half you might think Florida State was done. But the Tribe hung tough and hung on to the lead thanks to exception defense, rebounding and 53.1% shooting from the floor. The lead held until Duke tied it at 69-69 with three-minutes left. The lead finally switched hands at the 1:22 mark after a pair of Carlos Boozer free throws and stayed that way until Cummings drive to the hoop in the final seconds.

It also didn't hurt FSU that Duke Carlos Boozer got in foul trouble in the second half. With a little over 15 minutes left, the 6'9", 280-pound center picked up foul number three and got whistled for his fourth three minutes later. With Duke's inside presence on the bench severely depleted the Tribe could concentrate on defending the perimeter. Even so, the Blue Devils would go on to drain 12 of 19 from long range in the second half. Seven of those were from Jason Williams.

Duke's sharp shooting from downtown wouldn't be enough against a Seminole team that out-shot (44.6%), out-rebounded (46-36) and out-clutched their opponent.

"I'm happy for them because I see that look in their eyes and the excitement of winning a basketball game that required so much energy and effort," Robinson said. "That's the fun part for me as a coach. To be able to see it come together and see those guys have success in these kinds of situations."

Next up Florida State visits NC State, January 8th. Tip-off is set for 9:00 p.m. and the game will be televised by Sunshine Network.

Link to FSU - Duke game statistics

Post-game Notes

Delvon Arrington makes history
After turning in 13 points, 10 assists and 1 steal against No. 1 Duke senior Delvon Arrington hand now become the third player in FSU history to rank in the top five in all three categories. Arrington now has 976 points, 603 assists and 192 steals. The only other Seminoles in this elite group are Tony Williams and Tony Jackson.

With his 10 assists the senior point guard also became FSU's all-time assist leader. In addition, he is now in sole possession of 17th place on the ACC career list, passing UVA's Jeff Jones, who had 598 assists from 1979-1982.

Notable
- FSU earned their first ever win against a No. 1 nationally ranked team.
- Monte Cummings has now scored double digits in seven-straight games.
- Arrington had his fifth career double-double versus Duke with 13 points and 10 assists.
- Nigel Dixon hit a career high in rebounds with 12.
- The 10,212 in attendance Sunday night was the largest crowd since 2000 Florida game.
- Former Seminole forward Irving Thomas attended the game in his role as a scout for the Los Angles Lakers.

Discuss Seminole hoops on the Warchant.com Basketball Message Board