Miami Upsets #4 Duke For First Time in 45 Years, 96-95

The Miami Hurricanes beat the Duke Blue Devils (ranked #4 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll) 96-95, marking their first victory against Duke in 45 years. Already leading at halftime, the Hurricanes went on a 15-0 run early in the 2nd half to give them a comfortable lead, before Duke methodicall battled back over the last three minutes of the game to make things interesting and closer than they should have been.

Senior forward/center Dwayne Collins led the Hurricanes with a career high 26 points and collected 7 rebounds, and got 22 points from junior guard Jack McClinton, as Miami makes their final push to be among those last few entrants invited to the NCAA tournament this March. The Hurricanes improved to 22-7, and has key games coming up against Maryland and Clemson. If they can win one of those two games and then get to 20 wins, they look to be a likely inclusion when the March Madness bracketology comes to a crescendo next month.

The loss drops Duke to 22-3 on the season (10-2 in the ACC), and may be the beginning of the end of a potential #1 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament. As SI.com's Stewart Mandel has adeptly pointed out in a column this morning, Duke has historically tumbled down the stretch after an annual early season cupcake schedule. Unless Duke aces their last 5 games of the regular season, or wins the ACC tournament, look for them to be seeded as a #2 in the upcoming NCAA tournament this March.