FSU vs. Duke: Score and Reaction from 2017 Regular Season

Needing a big win to get back on track after back-to-back losses, the Duke Blue Devils sent a loud message to the rest of the ACC with a 75-70 victory over the Florida State Seminoles.

The final score isn't indicative of how impressive Duke looked in this win, leading by as many as 19 points in the second half and 10 points with less than two minutes remaining.

Duke star Grayson Allen did return briefly after missing Saturday's loss against Miami with an ankle injury, though he wasn't a factor with just three shot attempts.

With Allen still hobbling, freshman Frank Jackson picked an opportune time to have his best game of the season. He dazzled with a career-high 22 points. For perspective, he came into Tuesday with one career 20-point game, against Grand Canyon in a 96-61 win on November 12.

The ACC Digital Network provided highlights from Jackson's breakout game:

Per Duke Basketball, Jackson started the second half nearly doubling Florida State's entire team in scoring:

ESPN analyst and former Duke star Jay Williams didn't seem surprised by what he saw from Jackson:

Jackson came to Duke with a ton of hype as part of head coach Mike Krzyzewski's top-ranked 2016 class. He was rated a 5-star prospect and No. 18 overall player in last year's class, per Scout.com.

This season hasn't been a smooth ride for Jackson to this point, but all of that will be forgiven if he can carry this performance into the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

Jon Rothstein of CBSSports.com would like to see Jackson take on an expanded role for this Duke team the rest of the year:

Jackson did get help on both sides of the ball from Amile Jefferson, who was a game-time decision like Allen due to an ailing foot, had a terrific game after having just four points against Miami.

Jefferson recorded a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds and was a disruptive force in the middle with four blocks. Playing in the final home game of his Duke career, the senior sent a message to the rest of the conference that this Blue Devils team isn't going to go gently into that good night.

The Seminoles, who were trying to keep their chances for an ACC regular-season title alive with a win, tried to keep things interesting in the second half. They went on a 7-0 run after falling behind by 15 to cut the gap to 64-56 with six minutes remaining.

Florida State's high-powered offense had been kept in check up to that point and really struggled to build momentum throughout the game. The 'Noles came into Tuesday ranked 14th in the nation with 84.1 points per game, and they put up 88 in a 16-point win over Duke on January 11.

This game was summed up by one sequence late in the second half. The Seminoles had four opportunities on a single trip down the floor but missed three shots before Trent Forrest was fouled.

There were chances for the Seminoles to put the pressure on Duke, but they were never getting shots to fall with any consistency. It led to them shooting just 41.5 percent from the field, offsetting their 17 offensive rebounds.

Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Dwayne Bacon were the only Florida State players who lived up to their usual standards. They combined for 34 of the Seminoles' 70 points, with no one else scoring more than eight points.

Unfortunately for Rathan-Mayes, as noted by Brian McLawhorn of Rivals.com, he was exposed at times on defense when matched up against Jackson:

Jonathan Isaac, who ranks second on Florida State with 12.8 points per game, had an off-day shooting with eight points on 3-of-7 field goals.

There are also huge ACC tournament ramifications from this game. Duke and Florida State now boast identical 11-6 records, tied for fourth in the conference and a half-game behind Louisville and Notre Dame.

The Seminoles end the regular season at home against Miami and an opportunity to potentially finish second in the conference with some help.

The Blue Devils travel to North Carolina for its traditional regular-season finale against the Tar Heels. Duke can't catch its rival in the ACC, but a second win over North Carolina could ruin the Tar Heels' dreams of a regular-season conference title and give the Blue Devils consecutive wins over ranked teams heading into tournament season.

Postgame Reaction

Following his career night, Jackson described what he was able to do to help himself go off in Duke's big win.

"Change of pace, a lot of shot fakes, floaters," he said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "They really were athletic, just a big team. I think the first time we played them, we kind of didn't know what to expect. This time around, we were able to study, we progressively got better as the season went along."

Despite coming into the game having lost two straight, Krzyzewski hasn't seen anything wrong with the way Duke has been playing.

"We're playing our butts off. ... We're not slumping," Krzyzewski said. "Our guys are playing great. They're fighting like crazy. But sometimes, you don't make that one-possession play, and our league is so unforgiving if you don't make that play."

Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton admitted after the loss his team had to change things up with their lineup of bigs because it wasn't working against Duke's defense:

"We kind of ditched what we had normally been doing because we had such a difficult time running our offense," said Hamilton. "We went to a smaller lineup and attacked the basket off the dribble, got to the foul line a little bit and were able to create some offense by driving the ball to the basket."