Duke Blue Devils: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Second Round of ACC Tournament

ATLANTA—The Duke Blue Devils held on to beat Boston College 61-60 in the second round of the ACC tournament on Friday.

It was a tale of two halves for the Blue Devils, a classic case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The first half was Jekyll—lowly and quiet.

The Blue Devils turned in one of their worst offensive halves of the season, scoring just 22 points on an abysmal 32 percent from the field and 18.2 percent from behind the arc.

It was reminiscent of the stretch the Blue Devils had in the middle of the ACC regular season, losing four of six games while struggling on offense.  During that skid, Jon Scheyer's production halted, and even the ever-consistent Kyle Singler was off and on.

"This is our first time shooting in this place," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Part of it was not being able to get accustomed to your environment."

The environment angle from Krzyzewski holds water, as the Blue Devils are 16-1 at home for the season. Fortunately for Duke, the Georgia Dome started to remind them of the comfy confines of Cameron in the second half.

Duke became Mr. Hyde—scary.

As if possessed by the still living spirit of J.J. Redick, they shot 63.6 percent from the field and an electrifying 77.8 percent from downtown.

Kyle Singer should have been wearing a warning label reading "Caution: Highly Flammable."

He shot 10-for-15 from the field and 3-for-6 from long range, putting up 26 points to go along with his nine rebounds and six blocks while playing all 40 minutes of regulation.

Fortunately for the Blue Devils, his fire spread.

Gerald Henderson and John Scheyer combined for just six points in the first half, but they combined for 27 points in the second. Henderson hit two indescribably big shots near the end of the game, sealing the victory for Duke.

"I'm always confident," Henderson said. "Coach has a lot of confidence in me and wanted me to take a few big shots. That helps."

The Blue Devils face a surging Maryland tomorrow as they try to get into the ACC tournament finals, a place they used to live, for the first time since 2006.

"It's win or go home," said Duke's Lance Thomas. "Pacing yourself gets you nowhere at this point in the season."

The Blue Devils certainly weren't pacing themselves on Friday, with three starters recording more than 35 minutes of playing time.

Last year, the Blue Devils ran out of gas as the production of their starters, particularly Singler, dwindled in March.  With the amount of playing time the starters have been logging of late for Duke, fans might be concerned about the same thing happening again this season.  The Blue Devils aren't worried at all.

"We're fresh." Krzyzewski said. "We're ready to play basketball, we enjoy playing basketball."

That's a good thing, because the Blue Devils have plenty of basketball left to play if they plan on getting the Duke program back onto its postseason-dominating course.

They certainly have the ability to go deep in the tournament if they are playing well.  

The problem with Duke, as seen in Friday's game against Boston College, is that there's no middle ground when it comes to their performance.  They're either ice-cold or red-hot, detached or dangerous, Jeckyl or Hyde.

If the Duke team that played in the first half on Friday shows up tomorrow against Maryland, they will likely lose.

If the Duke team that played in the second half takes the floor, they will win, no doubt about it.

If they can find a way to start playing somewhere in between for two halves instead going back and forth between their polar personalities, they'll be a legitimate Final Four contender.