CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Duke’s Maliq Brown took just one shot and made one steal in the first 30 minutes of Thursday’s ACC tournament quarterfinal. Still, the top-seeded Blue Devils, who had trailed Florida State by as many as eight in the second half, had whittled their deficit to a single point.

That’s when Brown, the ACC’s Defensive Player and Sixth Man of the Year, made a pair of plays that pushed Duke out to a lead it would not surrender.

The Blue Devils edged FSU 80-79 on Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the ACC tournament, thanks in no small part to the defensive prowess and instincts of Brown, the Culpeper native and former Blue Ridge High School star.

First, Brown stretched his hands in front of an errant pass by FSU star Robert McCray. Brown took that turnover the distance, scoring on a driving layup at the other end to put Duke ahead 62-61 with 10:14 to play.

On the next possession, Brown again got his hands on a McCray pass, this time pushing it ahead to teammate Dame Sarr, who got it to Isaiah Evans for a fast-break layup and a 64-61 lead.

“Coach talked about, ‘We have to string together some stops,’” Brown said. “I feel like we all were on the same page. We just tried to do whatever we could do to get those stops.”

There was 9:50 to play, but dominant-Duke had asserted itself. And it started with Brown’s late defense against McCray. 

“We just wanted to just ramp up our disruptiveness, our activity,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “It’s where Maliq and Dame are at their best. We got a little bit more aggressive in pick-and-roll coverage. And (McCray’s) a great player. He has had turnovers at times, and that’s something we’ve been good at, just using our length and being disruptive.”

Playing without point guard Caleb Foster and rim protector Patrick Ngongba, both injured, Duke had to reconfigure its lineup. Brown, Scheyer’s ace off the bench all year, made his fourth start of the season.

The 6-foot-9, 225-pound senior responded with four points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks.

McCray and Lajae Jones put on a show for the Seminoles, combining to score 53 of their team’s 79 points.

But Brown clamped down on McCray in that key stretch.

“He was very active the whole game,” Brown said. “Getting pretty much whatever he wanted to. So, just trying to limit him getting a lot of dribbles, a lot of shots and just trying to make him play with more pressure.”

Brown helped lead Blue Ridge to four state titles and earned VISAA Division II Player of the Year honors as a senior, averaging a double-double. He started his college career at Syracuse in 2022-23 and spent two years with Orange before transferring to Duke last season. 

This year, he is averaging 4.9 points, 5 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game, while leading the team with 62 steals and ranking third with 18 blocked shots.

“My experience at Duke has been phenomenal,” Brown said. “Obviously, I always wanted to be here, dreamed of being in this uniform.”

Brown’s family still lives in Culpeper and he remains close with people from both his hometown and his old high school, many of whom made the trip to watch him play in the ACC tournament this week.

“A lot of them are here right now,” Brown said.

And, thanks to his pivotal defense plays, they’ll get to watch him at least once more. Duke faces Clemson in the second semifinal Friday.