Miami vs. Duke: Score and Twitter Reaction from Hurricanes' Upset Win

Games against Top 25 opponents, defending national champions and trips to Madison, Wisconsin. Whatever was put in front of Duke during the nonconference slate, it knocked out of the park, seemingly en route to a dream season.

As for ACC play? It's quickly devolving into a nightmare.

Angel Rodriguez scored 24 points and Manu Lecomte added 23 off the bench as unranked Miami went into Durham and took advantage of a porous Duke defense on its way to a 90-74 upset on Tuesday, ending the Blue Devils' 41-game home winning streak.

The Hurricanes, who three days ago barely got past Boston College, shot 51.8 percent from the floor and made 10 shots from beyond the arc. Down 35-34 after a competitive first half, Miami scored 56 points in an abject destruction of the Blue Devils in the second half that again saw Duke consistently fail to produce stops all over the floor.

The Hurricanes stretched their lead to 11 points on the back of a 10-0 run with just under 12 minutes remaining and did not look back. Duke never closed the gap closer than seven points again, with Miami thwarting every mini-comeback attempt with an outside jumper or forced free-throw attempt. Jim Larranaga's team made 18 of its 27 field-goal attempts after the break. 

Miami also attempted 10 more free throws (30-20) and was the aggressor throughout.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Lecomte, a sophomore who'd seen his play dwindle amid struggles from the field, was chief among those aggressors. He scored 10 of his 23 points at the line, weaving his way into the teeth of Duke's defense to draw contact. Over his previous five games, Lecomte had scored only 19 points. Larranaga had held him to only three minutes in the Hurricanes' double-overtime loss to Virginia Jan. 3. 

Rodriguez, a junior, had one of the finest all-around games of his Hurricanes career. The 5'11" guard shot an uncharacteristically solid 8-of-15 from the field, adding five assists and four rebounds. He was also responsible for five of Miami's 12 steals, which the Hurricanes used to generate a ton of points in transition.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski described Rodriguez's performance as "one of the best" he's seen (via Laura Keeley of The News & Observer):

"He is an unflappable player," Coach Krzyzewski told reporters of Rodriguez. "He’s going to play you hard on every exchange, offensively and defensively. He has the ability to come up big in big moments. He’s a young man who can deliver, and I admire what he’s done.”

Center Tonye Jekiri, who finished with a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds), also added four steals. 

Jekiri was more importantly able to play freshman star Jahlil Okafor to a relative stalemate.

Okafor finished with his third straight double-double with 15 rebounds and 15 points, but he went 6-of-13 from the field and was almost nonexistent on the defensive end. The likely No. 1 overall pick had not missed more than four field-goal attempts since Nov. 30 and hadn't shot under the 50 percent mark in a game since before Thanksgiving.

Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Jekiri and Miami's aggressive team defense did a nice job of limiting Okafor to a ton of contested looks, staying with the play even when he pulled down offensive rebounds.

Duke's other superstar freshmen, Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones, made Okafor seem on his game by comparison. The pair combined to shoot 3-of-15 from the field and weren't much help on the defensive end.

Winslow was particularly out of sorts, missing all four of his free-throw attempts to go along with a 1-of-6 shooting performance. The Houston native has gone a combined 4-of-19 in Duke's consecutive losses to North Carolina State and Miami. Keeley of The News & Observer noted this is the first time in more than five years Duke has lost back-to-back games:

The loss is also the Blue Devils' first at Cameron Indoor Stadium since March 3, 2012, against North Carolina. It was the longest home winning streak in the country, as noted by ESPN Stats & Info:

More than any relatively meaningless winning streak, these losses expose a distressing reality for these Blue Devils.

Ken Pomeroy's advanced metrics already ranked Duke's defense 38th in the country, a number that will assuredly drop following Miami's second-half barrage.

Defensive deficiencies have become a calling card of Coach K teams in recent years, in part because of Duke's recent proliferation of young talent, but also because of Krzyzewski's transition to a more uptempo style. Via Keeley, Coach K discussed his team's concerns on defense:

There is no obvious fix here. Prior to the game, Duke scored at a rate that's better than anyone other than Notre Dame. It was also the third-worst defensive team among Pomeroy's Top 15, and the youth and general strengths of this roster lend themselves to an offensive mindset.

With a trip to No. 6 Louisville coming up this weekend, there's not much time for fixing. Many expected the Blue Devils' first four ACC games to be the calm before the storm. Instead, they're 2-2. Given the way they've lost both of these contests (a combined 28 points) and the strength of their upcoming schedule, it's possible Duke is playing itself out of No. 1 seed contention.

As ESPN's Joe Lunardi pointed out, Duke will need a "serious comeback" at this point:

For an expected bubble team like Miami, this is the type of victory that'll be needed come March. This is the same Hurricanes squad that already has an ugly 28-point loss to Eastern Kentucky and another double-digit defeat to Green Bay. When conference play began, it looked as if Larranaga was destined to miss the NCAA tournament for the third time in his four seasons.

With a double-overtime scaring of Virginia and Tuesday night's win, Miami now looks like a potential spoiler. It goes to show: College basketball begins in November, but the race to March doesn't start until conference play.

Follow Tyler Conway (@tylerconway22) on Twitter