Under first-year head coach Leonard Hamilton, things certainly seemed to be improving for Florida State, but the Seminoles remained largely an afterthought as far as basketball was concerned.
As No. 5 Duke visited the Donald L. Tucker Center on the Sunday night of Feb. 2, 2003, few expected the Seminoles to do the unthinkable and knock off Duke for a second year in a row. FSU prevailed the season prior with a thrilling 77-76 win — its first over a No. 1 team.
Revenge may have been on the Blue Devils’ minds as they entered the Tucker Center, but that was not to be as FSU prevailed for the second straight season, 75-70. The win served as the first over a ranked opponent during the Hamilton era.
Duke entered the contest with a 14-2 record overall and a 4-2 mark in ACC play. The Seminoles hovered just above .500 overall at 10-8 and just 1-6 in conference, but from the get-go, the Blue Devils knew they were in for a dog fight.
Junior guard Tim Pickett paced the Seminoles that night with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals. FSU led at halftime, 41-35.
In the second half, the Seminoles twice watched their lead balloon to 11. After taking a 48-37 lead, the Blue Devils looked as if they were going to seize control with a 12-1 run that tied the game. FSU however, had an answer as it scored seven straight.
From there, the next seven belonged to Duke as it drew even on a trey from Lee Melchionni with less than seven minutes to play. Duke however, never led in the second half.
Twice in the final minute, the Seminoles led by four, but a 3-pointer from Daniel Ewing with 10 seconds to play cut the lead to one at 71-70. After Pickett knocked down a pair of foul shots on the other end, Duke went for the tie, but guard Chris Duhon slipped and lost the ball, leading to a run-out and an exclamation point dunk from FSU’s Adam Waleskowski as the Seminoles upset Duke for a second straight season.
In addition to Pickett’s big night, forward Anthony Richardson added 14 points and guard Todd Galloway chipped in with 13 on a night where the Seminoles shot 60 percent. The story however, was the defense. FSU held Duke to less than 35 percent shooting from the field and leading scorer Dahntay Jones to just two points before fouling out with less than two minutes to play.
J.J. Redick, then a freshman, paced Duke with a game-high 16 points in the loss. Nick Horvath added 10 points to go with a game-high 12 rebounds for the Blue Devils.
During his tenure in Tallahassee, Hamilton has had a number of marquee victories over highly-ranked teams in addition to becoming the school’s all-time winningest coach and providing its only ACC crown. The first win over a ranked team however, came against a top 5 Duke team and it came 15 years ago on this day.
Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson
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