Duke's Greatest Comebacks

DUKE'S GREATEST COMEBACKS

Duke's first great comeback doesn't look very impressive by today's standards.

But when Trinity College rallied from an 18-13 deficit midway through the fourth quarter to beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill on March 1, 1920, it was regarded as an amazing rally in that era. The Methodists (the nickname Blue Devils was still far in the future) scored the game's last six points to win 19-18. It's not clear who scored the winning basket in the final minute, although it was probably William “Skin” Ferrell, who was Trinity's leading scorer.

That was just the second game in what has become the greatest rivalry in college sports. When Duke traveled to Chapel Hill earlier this month for the 233rd meeting between the Blue Devils and Tar Heels, the game was covered by dozens of newspapers and telecast live on two competitive TV networks. We know with certainty that it was freshman Austin Rivers who hit the game-winning shot in the final seconds to cap another amazing Duke rally because we've seen his high arching 3-pointer sail over Tyler Zeller's fingertips on countless television and Internet replays (the Youtube video has already earned over 1.5 million hits).

The comeback that Rivers capped is certainly remarkable – the Devils made up a 10-point deficit in just over two minutes. But where does it rank in the pantheon of Duke history? Is it even the best Duke comeback this season? What about the rally from 20-points down with 11:33 to play against N.C. State? What about the two historic rallies against Maryland in 2001? How about Steve Wojciechowski's senior day comeback against North Carolina in 1998?

And we still haven't talked about the Tulane game in 1950 that is officially recognized by the NCAA as the biggest comeback in college basketball history.

Mike Krzyzewski was recently asked which of Duke's two recent comebacks was the most impressive to him.

“I'm not going to compare,” he said. “Both are just terrific wins for us. You know, I think that the North Carolina game, they didn't do anything wrong. I mean, they missed a free throw or two, and I think they had one turnover. They just missed some shots, and then we hit our shots. N.C. State was over a little bit of an extended period of time.

“So they are just big-time wins for our team, and you know, really proud of the way they hung in there and were able to win those games.”

This Duke team has shown remarkable resiliency. In addition to the two comebacks already noted, against Miami the Blue Devils rallied from a 16-point deficit with just over 14 minutes left to tie and force overtime, although Duke did lose in the extra period.

But what is it about this team that makes such comebacks possible?

“I do think our team has shown a great will to win, and they have shown that the entire season,” Krzyzewski said. “We have become a pretty good defensive team, so we can make some stops. But we can shoot the ball. So part of coming back is scoring. Our guys pretty much believe they can score, and when you're coming back sometimes like that, you can get on a roll because they are like free shots. Like what do you have to lose? We are down by 15 or you're down by 11 or you're down, in one case, by 20. 'Come on. If there's no pressure, let's go.'

“And all of a sudden you get on a little bit of a roll, you get a couple stops, and then we have been able to hit a number of 3s.    So we are set up a little bit more to come back. Hopefully we won't have to do much coming back. That would be a nice goal for our team.”

It helps that Duke has a young player who seems to thrive in pressure situations. Rivers' cold-blooded 3-pointer over Zeller may be his most famous shot, but he's made a number of clutch plays this season. His long 3-pointer gave Duke the lead for the first time against N.C. State. His free throw tied the Miami game and forced overtime. His driving layup with 10 seconds left tied the Florida State game.

In that case, Rivers' heroics were overshadowed by Michael Snaer's buzzer-beating 3-pointer – a shot he repeated last week to beat Virginia Tech.

Krzyzewski suggested that it's no coincidence that both Snaer and Rivers have stepped up more than once.

“Sometimes you're set up to take the shot and sometimes the shot just comes to you,” Krzyzewski said. “You know, the fact is, like in Snaer's situation, I just think he has a great will to win. It doesn't matter what his percentage was in the ballgame. At the end of the game, the kid wants to win. I think he's really one of the outstanding players. Austin -- and at a little bit younger age – is similar. That's a great thing to have.”

ANATOMY OF A COMEBACK

What makes a great comeback?

Obviously, it's a function of the number of points overcome and the time remaining. A 20-point first half deficit is nothing like a 20-point deficit with 10 minutes to play. But is a 20-point deficit with 10 to play more difficult than a 10 point deficit with two minutes to play?

There are other measures that matter – the quality of the opponent and the importance of the game. A rally on the road is tougher than one at home. And, as Krzyzewski noted, big comebackers are easier in the 3-point era than before the bonus shots.

It's hard to rank them. Any ranking has to be subjective and measure those factors.

One thing we can agree on – for a comeback to count, Duke must win the game. The Miami rally is nice, but since Duke ultimately lost in overtime, it can't compare with the UNC and N.C. State comebacks. Even the miraculous overtime comeback against UNC in 1996 – down eight points with 17 seconds left, Duke tied the score on Jeff Capel's 45-foot bomb – was wasted when the Devils lost in double-overtime.

Ranking the successful comebacks is so difficult that we'd like your help. I propose to suggest and review some of the greatest comebacks in Duke basketball history, then we'll ask you to vote on the comeback that you believe deserves the top rank.

Here are 13 famous comebacks, listed chronologically:

-- Dec. 30, 1950; Duke 74, Tulane 72: - The fifth-place game in the Dixie Classic (Duke opened with a loss to Colgate, but beat North Carolina handily in the second round) didn't get off to a good start for first-year coach Harold Bradley. The Blue Devils were down 22-19 before the Green Wave scored 22 straight points to break the game open.

The lead peaked at 54-22 with two minutes left in the half. Duke got it down to 56-27 at halftime, but Tulane scored the first basket of the second half to stretch it back to 31 points at 58-27. While Duke made a little headway over the next nine minutes, the margin was still 72-52 with just over 11 minutes to play.

That's when junior Dick Groat began to assert himself as a great player. The speedy little guard scored 10 straight points to kick-start Duke's comeback. As the Blue Devils closed the gap, the Green Wave panicked and their offense broke down. Tulane went scoreless as Duke scored the game's final 22 points.

Groat tied the score at 72 with the last of his 32 points with just over a minute left. Big man Dayton Allen (he was the team's 6-7 center) scored the game-winner with about 10 seconds left.

The NCAA ranks Duke's comeback against Tulane as (1) the most points overcome – 32; (2) the largest halftime deficit overcome – 29; and (3) tied for the largest second-half deficit ever overcome – 31 points (Kentucky also overcame a 31-point second half deficit against LSU in 1994).

-- Feb. 12, 1953; Duke 101, Wake Forest 99 (overtime) – Duke was down 16 points late in the first half, 14 at the break and 11 with five minutes to play as Deacon star Dickie Hemric was having one of his greatest nights with 44 points.

But Duke senior Bill Reigel was having a career night too, pouring in 38 points to help Duke close the gap. Guards Joe Belmont and Rudy Lacy keyed a press that helped Duke outscore the Deacs 9-1 in the final two minutes. Reigel tied the game with two free throws at the 59 second mark. Wake held for the last shot in regulation and missed.

Duke took at early lead in overtime, but Hemric tied the game at 99 with 25 seconds left. Duke pushed the ball up the court and Rudy D'Emilio hit a driving lefthanded layup with about seven seconds left. The clock ran out before the Deacons could find the ball in the mass of students crowding the baseline at Gore Gym in Wake Forest.

-- Dec. 18, 1956; Duke 85, Kentucky 84 – Amazingly, there were just 6,000 fans in the stands with the students on Christmas break for the visit by No. 7 Kentucky.

Adolph Rupp blasted Duke for its failure to sell the game out, insisting that the game would have been standing room only in Lexington.

His powerful Wildcats seized control of the game early, building a 15-point first half lead. It was still 50-40 at halftime and with 2:15 left, the 'Cats seemed safe with an 84-75 lead.

That's when Coach Bradley called for the press and Rupp's team wilted. Bucky Allen, a Durham High graduate who said he was inspired by the presence of former Blue Devil star Dick Groat in the crowd, keyed the press as Duke scored eight straight points to close the gap to one.

It was Allen who came up with the steal and a reverse, backhanded layup to give Duke its first lead with 20 seconds left. Kentucky star Johnny Cox went to the foul line with 11 seconds to go and a chance to regain the lead. But he missed the first of his one-and-one, Jim Newsome rebounded for Duke and he got the ball to Allen, who dribbled away the finals seconds.

“There was no reason for us to lose the game,” Rupp told reporters. “On those last few seconds we were stupid and Duke was smart.”

The Duke crowd rushed the floor at the final buzzer and carried Allen to the locker room on their shoulders.

But, as usual, Rupp got the last word.

“Maybe after this game, we'll have a full house the next time we meet,” he said.

-- Feb. 14, 1959; Duke 64, Navy 63 - The 1959 Blue Devils were a very young team, starting four sophomores (in an era when freshmen could not play varsity ball). On the other hand, Navy was a powerful team – one that would beat North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament and finished third in the East.

The Middies dominated the young Devils early, building a 31-17 halftime lead as Duke shot a horrendous 16 percent from the floor (4-of-25). The domination continued into the second half. With 14 minutes left, Duke was down 21 (46-25).

At that point Coach Bradley – in his last season at Duke – ordered a fullcourt zone press and suddenly the Devils caught fire. Over the next eight minutes, the home team outscored Navy 32-9 and took a 57-55 lead on a basket by sophomore guard Johnny Frye.

Amazingly, Navy suddenly bounced back and scored the next eight points to take a 63-57 lead with just over two minutes left. Duke started its second comeback from the foul line. Frye hit two free throws and senior John Watson hit two to make it 63-61 with a minute left.

Sophomore center Doug Kistler had the chance to tie it at the line, but he missed the first of his one-and-one. The ball tipped back out to him and Kistler shot and missed. This time soph Carroll Youngkin tipped in the miss as he was fouled with 18 seconds left. Youngkin made his shot, then rebounded the Navy miss at the other end to clinch the improbable victory.

“We had this one won, we just couldn't close the door,” Navy coach Ben Carnevale, who had coached UNC to the 1946 Final Four, said. “They got the baskets when they needed them at the end.”

Duke's Bradley attributed the comeback to the presence in the crowd of Groat, who was on hand for three of Duke's four great comebacks in the 1950s.

“I guess the comeback tonight was the greatest since that time in the Dixie Classic when we were behind 32 and came back to whip Tulane,” Bradley said. “Groat was on that team.”

-- Dec. 21, 1965; Duke 100, Michigan 93 (overtime) - The matchup between No. 1 Duke and No. 3 Michigan attracted a sellout crowd to Detroit's Cobo Hall.

The early part of the game was dead even as Jack Marin of Duke and Cazzie Russell of the Wolverines dueled at a high level. But with the score tied at 41, Michigan closed the half with an 8-0 run to take a 49-41 halftime advantage. That margin stretched to 14 points early in the second half as the Wolverines scored the first six points to open the half.

Duke began to fight back. The visitors scored 11 straight points to close to within 55-52. But Russell sparked another Michigan surge and the Devils found themselves down 80-70 with under four minutes to play.

That's when All-American Bob Verga – ice-cold for the game's first 35 minutes – finally began to heat up. Bombing from long range and teaming with backcourt mate Steve Vacendak to harass the Wolverines defensively, he sparked a 15-3 run to close the game that appeared to have given Duke an 85-83 victory.

However, Michigan's John Thompson threw in a prayer from just over midcourt to tie the game at the buzzer.

Duke was forced to go five extra minutes, but with Verga on fire, Duke dominated the extra period and won by seven. Marin led the Devils with 30, but Verga scored 20 of his 27 in the last five minutes of regulation and in overtime.

“That's the greatest comeback a team of mine has ever made,” Duke coach Vic Bubas said.

-- Mar. 4, 1992; Duke 98, Clemson 97 - No. 1 Duke had already clinched the ACC regular season title when the Blue Devils visited Littlejohn three days before the UNC finale for a game against the last-place Tigers.

But the Devils got off to a poor start against the inspired home team and were trailing 52-47 at the half. It got worse – much worse.

Clemson opened the second half with a 14-4 run to go up 66-51. At that point, Thomas Hill threw a lackadaisical pass to Tony Lang, who made a lackadaisical effort to catch it.

Coach K blew his top and pulled his starters, inserting freshmen Cherokee Parks, Erick Meek, Christian Ast, Kenny Blakeney and Marty Clark.

“We were either going to lose by 40 or we were going to turn it around,” Krzyzewski said. “I was willing to play the rest of the game with those guys out there.”

Clemson promptly scored four straight points on the subs to up the lead to 19 points (70-51) with 14:26 to play. But the scrubs started to fight back. Meek, who hadn't scored in Duke's five previous games, scored three straight buckets in the lane. Parks added a three-point play as the subs cut the lead to 72-60.

At that point, Krzyzewski relented. The starters returned at the 12:10 mark and promptly scored six straight points in less than a minute.

“I was pissed off,” Christian Laettner said. “Maybe that's what [Coach K] wanted – to make us angry.”

Amazingly, Duke took the lead with 7:25 to play, completing a 27-7 run in barely five minutes.

“I couldn't believe it happened so quickly,” senior Brian Davis said.

From that point on, it was a back-and-forth game that wasn't decided until Laettner's 3-pointer with 98 seconds to play and a couple of free throws gave Duke a cushion. Clemson hit a meaningless 3 at the buzzer.

“I never won a game after being down this much,” said Davis, who scored a career high 30 points. “We were playing terrible.”

A decade later, Krzyzewski would use the same tactic with similar results – pulling his starters in the second half of a game against Kentucky in the Meadowlands. On that occasion, the deficit was just 10 points, but after the starters returned, Duke went on to win in overtime.

-- Feb. 28, 1998; Duke 77, North Carolina 75 - The ACC regular season title was on the line when No. 1 Duke met No. 3 UNC in the regular season finale.

The Tar Heels had dominated Duke when the teams first met in Chapel Hill and in the first half at Cameron, UNC dominated again – spurting to an 18-4 lead and coasting to a 12-point halftime lead. It was 17 points (64-47) with 11:39 to play when freshman Elton Brand began to assert himself.

Brand, who had only recently returned after missing most of the season with a broken foot, scored on four straight possessions to spark the comeback. Senior Roshown McLeod hit from inside and outside as Duke scored on 15 of 18 possessions while limiting UNC to two field goals in the final 11 and a half minutes.

Chris Carrawell scored just one basket in the game, but it was the one that finally tied the score at 75. Moments later, McLeod scored over UNC's Antwan Jamison to give Duke its first lead. UNC missed four free throws in the final 10 seconds to preserve the win.

The victory was the 500th career win for Coach K.

-- Jan. 27, 2001; Duke 98, Maryland 96 (OT) - Cole Field House was rocking as No. 8 Maryland stuck it to No. 2 Duke for 39 minutes.

Actually, Duke was up 25-24 when the Terps caught fire, building a 44-29 lead late in the half. The two teams ran off the floor when the halftime buzzer sounded with Maryland up 46-35.

But the half wasn't over. The refs checked the clock and decided that 1.4 seconds were left. Mike Dunleavy took advantage of the extra time to hit Jason Williams on a fly pattern for what would prove to be a crucial layup to trim the halftime margin to nine.

For most of the second half, it didn't seem that basket would matter. Maryland continued its domination, especially Steve Blake, who harassed Duke's Williams into 10 turnovers before he fouled out with1:51 left. Maryland's second half lead peaked at 80-67 and was still 12 points with 1:15 to play.

Duke was down 10 with under 55 seconds left when Jason Williams exploded for the most amazing 13 seconds in Duke history. First, he hit a driving layup to cut the lead to eight. Almost instantly, he stole the inbounds pass, turned and drilled a three pointer. After Blake's sub, Drew Nicholas, missed two free throws at the other end, Williams raced upcourt and nailed another 3-pointer.

The lead that had been 90-80 with under 55 seconds left was 90-88 with more than 40 seconds left. In that final 40 seconds, Nicholas would miss two more free throws and Nate James would convert two free throws to tie the game. Shane Battier blocked Maryland's final shot in regulation and Duke escaped into overtime.

Battier dominated the extra period as Duke won the first of four remarkable Duke-Maryland games in 2001.

“We just hung in there and we were fortunate they missed some free throws,” Mike Krzyzewski said. “As badly as Jason played, he was magnificent on those last couple of minutes.”

-- Mar. 31, 2001; Duke 95, Maryland 84 - When Duke edged Maryland in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament, Shane Battier told Juan Dixon, “See you in Minneapolis.”

His prediction was right – the Blue Devils and Terps were matched against each other for the fourth time that season in the 2001 NCAA semifinals.

Duke had won two of the first three, but Maryland was clearly the better team in the early going of the fourth meeting, jumping to leads of 7-0, 23-10 and finally 39-17 with just over seven minutes left in the first half.

“I was disappointed with how our team played those first 12 minutes,” Krzyzewski said.

He called a timeout and challenged his team to stop playing scared. The Devils responded with a 21-7 spurt to get back in the game, but Maryland's Juan Dixon hit a long 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give Maryland a 49-38 halftime lead.

“At halftime, we just said, 'Hey, this could be the last 20 minutes we have this season,'” James later told reporters. “No one wanted to go home, so we got it together and regrouped.”

James provided one of the key elements. He volunteered to defend the red-hot Dixon. After scoring 16 in the first half, the Maryland star managed just three points on 1-of-8 shooting after intermission.

Duke also got a lift off the bench from big man Carlos Boozer, who was just returning after missing most of the month of March with a broken foot. The injury occurred early in the second half of Duke's homecourt loss to Maryland. He didn't play again until making a token appearance during the East Regionals. In the Final Four against Maryland, Boozer was a force with 19 points.

The Blue Devils shot 53 percent in the second half and roared past the Terps with just under seven minutes left – taking a 73-72 lead on a 3-pointer by Williams. Duke pulled away at the end, despite a collision with Steve Blake that sent freshman guard Chris Duhon to the bench with a head injury.

Duke's 22-point comeback remains the record for a Final Four game. More importantly, the rally set the stage for Coach K's third national championship, which the Devils won 48 hours later by beating Arizona.

-- Mar. 16, 2003; Duke 84, N.C. State 77 - Duke was bidding for its fifth straight ACC championship, but the Blue Devils got off to a bad start in the title game against N.C. State.

The Wolfpack, getting strong performances from Josh Powell and Julius Hodge, finished the first half with a five-point lead and stretched that to margin to 15 points (55-40) with less than 12 minutes to play.

It was 55-43 with just over 10 minutes left when freshman J.J. Redick popped back-to-back 3-pointers to kick-start Duke's rally. He added a driving shot a few seconds later, then began to get to the foul line. Redick scored 23 of his game-high 30 points in the final 10:05 as Duke outscored N.C. State 41-22 down the stretch to win the 50th ACC Championship going away.

-- Feb. 9, 2011; Duke 79, North Carolina 73 - Everything seemed to be going wrong for Duke when UNC came to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on the No. 5 Blue Devils.

UNC spurted to an early lead and stretched it to 16 points (43-27) late in the first half. Duke was lucky to get the last bucket of the half to go into the break down just 14 points.

Coach K said he gathered his team around him in the locker room – not to yell at them, but to calm them down.

“It wasn't an X-and-O adjustment … They were too excited,” Krzyzewski said. “'Nuts' is the word. What are you guys doing? It's not like, 'You know, you guys aren't playing hard.' They're playing hard. … When you go like that, you're not coordinated, and it was more to get a coordinated effort on the offensive and defensive ends.”

Krzyzewski got a far calmer and more coordinated effort in the second half, especially from guards Nolan Smith and Seth Curry.

Curry's jumper just before halftime turned out to be the first shot in an 18-6 Duke run that closed the gap. UNC opened up a small cushion again before Curry keyed a 13-1 blitz in less than two minutes that gave Duke the lead for the first time. Ryan Kelly hit a 3-pointer with 9:15 left to give Duke its first lead at 57-55.

UNC didn't quit, but could never recover. Kyle Singler had a poor shooting night, but he hit three crucial free throws in the final minute and after a free throw by UNC's Kendall Marshall cut the lead to two, Smith clinched it with a length-of-the-court drive and dunk with seven seconds left.

“This comeback win, how tough we were, how together we were and how great it feels now, I don't think anything can be better than this,” Smith said.

The comeback from a 14-point halftime deficit was the largest for Duke since the 1959 victory over Navy.

-- Feb. 8, 2012; Duke 85, North Carolina 84 - Duke's recent trip to the Smith Center didn't start off badly as the Blue Devils took an early eight-point lead and stayed in front for most of the first half. UNC only broke on top in the final 44 seconds before halftime, although an awkward sequence just before the buzzer allowed the Heels to finish with a 43-40 lead.

The Tar Heels stretched the lead to as much as 13 points early in the second half, although Duke refused to let it get any bigger. Still, UNC seemed in control when Harrison Barnes answered a jumper by Austin Rivers with a bucket of his own to make it 82-72 with 2:38 to play.

Duke's comeback started a few seconds later when Tyler Thornton, who had missed his previous five 3-point attempts, hit from beyond the arc with 2:09 left.

Things really heated up when Mason Plumlee stole a Kendall Marshall pass and fed Seth Curry for a 3-pointer in transition. Suddenly, it was 82-78 with 1:48 to play.

A charging foul by Barnes gave Duke a chance to get closer. Ryan Kelly missed a 3-pointer, but rebounded his own miss and hit a mid-range jumper to cut the lead to 82-80 with 1:10 to play – an 8-0 Duke run in 59 seconds!

Duke got even closer after Tyler Zeller hit one of two free throws at the other end. Kelly again missed a 3-pointer, but Zeller – off-balance as he battled Mason Plumlee for position – accidentally tipped the ball in for a two-point field goal.

With 14 seconds left, Thornton again sent Zeller to the line and the Tar Heel big man again made one of two shots to make it 84-82. Mason Plumlee rebounded the missed second shot and got the ball quickly to Rivers. Without calling a timeout, the freshman pushed the ball up, then ran his defender, Reggie Bullock, into a Mason Plumlee screen.

UNC switched and Zeller took Rivers. Expecting the drive, the 7-footer backed up slightly, giving the Duke freshman room to launch his 3-point try. The buzzer sounded with the ball in the air … and it swished to give Duke the improbable 85-84 victory.

“They're really good and they can knock you out.” Duke's Coach K said. “And we didn't get knocked out. And as a result, we hung in there and we won the last round. I'm not sure we won the whole fight, but the last round, we did, and we won the game. But we fought the entire time. We fought a really good fight.”

-- Feb. 16, 2012; Duke 78, N.C. State 73 - Barely eight days after the miracle in Chapel Hill, Duke passed another miracle in Durham against a revived N.C. State team fighting for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

The inspired Wolfpack dominated the first half – jumping to a 10-2 lead and building a 46-30 halftime advantage.

Duke opened the second half with a brief spurt to cut the margin to 11, but the Wolfpack surged again and with 11:22 left, took a 61-41 lead on two free throws by Lorenzo Brown.

The Blue Devil comeback started 22 seconds later as Seth Curry was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws. After Mason Plumlee hit 1 of 2 free throws, Andre Dawkins cut the lead to 13 when he hit a 3-pointer. Curry began to punish defender Scott Woods on the drive, slicing for three straight baskets that cut the lead to 65-56 with 7:21 left.

Duke kept chipping away, getting a 3-pointer from Austin Rivers, a couple of free throws by Dawkins and another driving shot by Curry.

One of the key plays occurred after Rivers missed a 3-pointer with just over four minutes left. Ryan Kelly rebounded, got the ball to Curry, who quickly found Mason Plumlee open under the basket for a reverse layup.

With just over three minutes left, Curry hit a 3-pointer to make it 71-69. After Woods missed a 3-pointer at the other end, Rivers hit a long 3-pointer – almost an identical shot to his game-winner at UNC -- to give Duke its first lead of the game.

Rivers and Kelly each hit two free throws to give Duke a five-point lead that N.C. State couldn't overcome. The Pack got a forced 3-point attempt by Lorenzo Brown that could have tied the game in the final seconds, but he missed and Curry clinched the win with two more free throws.

“They thoroughly outplayed us for about 29 minutes,” Krzyzewski said. “And then we thoroughly outplayed them for 11.”

So how would you rank those 13 comebacks?

BIGGEST HALFTIME DEFICITS OVERCOME

1. 29 points vs. Tulane, Dec. 30, 1951
2. 16 vs. N.C. State, Feb.16, 2012
3. 14 points vs. Wake Forest, Feb. 15, 1953
    14 points vs. Navy, Feb. 14, 1959
    14 points vs. UNC, Feb. 9, 2011
6. 13 points vs. Miami, Feb. 7, 2009
    13 points vs. Clemson, Feb. 5, 1969
8. 12 vs. UNC, Feb. 10, 1942
    12 vs. Virginia, Feb. 14, 1996
    12 vs. UNC, Feb. 28, 1998

BIGGEST SECOND-HALF DEFICITS OVERCOME

1. 31 points vs. Tulane, Dec. 30, 1951
2. 21 points vs. Navy, Feb. 14, 1959
3. 20 points vs. N.C. State, Feb. 16, 2012
4. 19 points vs. Clemson, Mar. 4, 1992
5. 17 points vs. UNC, Feb. 28, 1998
6. 15 points vs. N.C. State, Mar. 16, 2003

NOTE: While the Halftime deficits are official, the compilation of comebacks from second-half deficits is a work in progress and may be expanded after further research.

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Players Mentioned

Seth Curry

Andre Dawkins

Ryan Kelly

Mason Plumlee

Austin Rivers

Kyle Singler

Tyler Thornton

Duke information