Rasheed Sulaimon's 27 Points Helped Duke Skunk Boston College By 21 points

Anyone who plays video game understands what a “21-point skunk” is. For individuals who are misinformed, this term refers to stopping the game when you start beating your opponent by 21 points. Unfortunately, this cannot take place in reality. If it did, then many games would stop before halftime.

Earlier today, the No. 6 ranked Duke Blue Devils defeated the Boston College Eagles by a score of 89-68. Duke was led by Rasheed Sulaimon (27 points, three rebounds, three assists), Mason Plumlee (19 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, two steals and one block), Quinn Cook (12 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals), Seth Curry (11 points and two assists) and Amile Jefferson (14 points). Boston College’s top performers were Ryan Anderson (27 points and three rebounds), Patrick Heckmann (15 points, four rebounds and four assists) and Olivier Hanlan (12 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals).

The box score is deceiving with this game. When looking at the statistics for both teams, you could easily presume that this was a closer game instead of a 21-point victory for Duke. Boston College shot 49% from the field, 38.5% from the three-point line and 65.2% from the free throw line, while Duke had a 53.8% field goal percentage, 46.7% three-point field goal percentage and 78.8% from the charity stripe. Duke’s free throws were the key statistic. Duke made 26 out of 33 free throws while Boston College made 15 out of 23. Duke completed more than what Boston College attempted. What makes this even more interesting is the fact that Boston College had 25 personal fouls while Duke had 23.

The bottom line to winning a game is to have more points than the other team. This is what Duke did. Although their stats were close, Duke controlled the game. With this victory, Duke is getting closer to cementing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.