After Marshall Plumlee jettisoned the mask guarding his broken nose during Duke’s shaky opening against upstart U.N.C. Wilmington, he entered the locker room at halftime and gave his teammates a short message: “I got you.”
Indeed he did.
Plumlee finished with a career-high 23 points to lead the defending national champion Blue Devils to a tough victory on Thursday in an N.C.A.A. tournament game in Providence, R.I.
Plumlee had 4 points in a first half dominated by the Seahawks. A little tirade from Coach Mike Krzyzewski helped right the ship.
“There’s no excuses for my play in the first half,” Plumlee said after the game.