DURHAM, N.C. — Duke didn’t shoot the ball well nor did it have one of its big runs against Florida State.
Rather, the 18th-ranked Blue Devils gave their Hall of Fame coach a milestone win by aggressively crashing the glass, converting on turnovers and cashing in at the free-throw line.
Rodney Hood scored 18 points to help Duke beat Florida State 78-56 on Saturday, giving Mike Krzyzewski his 900th victory in his 34th season at the school.
Jabari Parker added 14 points for the Blue Devils (16-4, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shot 31 percent but nearly doubled the Seminoles on the glass while scoring 29 points off both turnovers and offensive rebounds.
Krzyzewski is the all-time leader in career victories in men’s Division I with 973. He joins Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim as the only coaches with at least 900 wins at one program.
“That’s a lot of wins,” Krzyzewski said. “I thank Duke for keeping me. I’ve been blessed with being at one of the greatest schools in the world. Great schools don’t necessarily always have great people in command. This school has. ... We have a good thing going here and I’ve been blessed to be here for over three decades and take advantage of that.”
Duke used an 11-0 spurt late in the first half to build a 20-point lead on the Seminoles (13-6, 4-3), who didn’t get the margin below double figures again. But Duke’s shooting percentage and its 18 field goals were both season-lows.
The Blue Devils had a 47-24 rebounding advantage, including 27-7 on the offensive glass. The 27 offensive rebounds were the most for the program since grabbing 28 against North Carolina A&T in December 2002, according to STATS LLC.
Parker, who had a career-high 15 rebounds in Wednesday’s win against Miami, finished with 14 rebounds, while Hood had nine.
Duke also got a boost from reserve big man Marshall Plumlee, who posted career-highs of seven points and seven rebounds — with each rebound coming on the offensive glass.
“Rebounding is something we’ve really tried to make a focal point these last few weeks,” Plumlee said. “Alongside our defense, I feel like it’s something that’s starting to show in recent games so no matter who we play we’re hoping to come up with the W on the boards and defensive stops.”
The Blue Devils scored 29 points off 17 FSU turnovers and made 34 of 43 free throws for the game — including 20 of 27 after halftime to offset a 6-for-27 shooting performance (22 percent) in the second half.
“I just think they had our number today and did a very good job of playing to their potential,” Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said. “And they did the things I thought would give us the most problems. I don’t think we countered it appropriately.”
Okaro White scored 14 points for Florida State, which shot 50 percent but saw the rebounding and turnover troubles undermine that.
“It will mess with you emotionally,” White said. “You got a team shooting so many 3s, there’s a lot of long rebounds. You’re trying to box out, and your normal tendency is to run to the rim, thinking the ball will fall there. They really killed us on offensive rebounds and turnovers. They were competing.”
FSU, which won in its last trip here on a last-second 3-pointer two years ago, led by one point for about 1 minute in the first half. But key scorer Aaron Thomas, who was coming off a 20-point effort against Notre Dame, finished with two points on 1-for-7 shooting before fouling out with 5:13 left.
Krzyzewski was animated and often unhappy with his team in the early minutes, slamming down a chair during an early timeout and shedding his suit jacket by the 12-minute media timeout.
Then, after Duke looked to be in cruise control, the Blue Devils went nearly 7½ minutes without a basket in the second half. FSU got as close as 11 points with 6:51 to play before Quinn Cook ended the drought with a driving basket that made it 71-54 with 3:25 left.
Hood was a last-second scratch from the starting lineup. Krzyzewski said Hood was sick, though Hood told reporters he had to change after spilling Gatorade on his uniform. Hood missed his first five shots, but he scored 14 points after halftime.