Duke senior center Marshall Plumlee suffered a broken nose in the second half of Wednesday's 92-89 win over NC State in the ACC Tournament, but he returned to the court with less than six minutes to play and ultimately made the game-winning basket.
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Plumlee was injured with less than eight minutes to play when he inadvertently caught an elbow in the face from teammate Matt Jones. He left the court for several minutes while the Duke medical staff worked on his face and returned a short time later.
The Wolfpack rallied to tie the game with 1 minute, 36 seconds remaining on a jumper from Cody Martin. But Plumlee grabbed an offensive rebound on Duke's next possession following a missed shot from Brandon Ingram and scored what proved to be the game-winning layup, getting fouled in the process. Plumlee went to the free throw line and completed the three-point play for the final points of the game from either team.
Plumlee produced one of his best games of the season, scoring 17 points with 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, but this one will be remembered for the gruesome shots on television of his mangled nose and how he responded.
Duke is already without big man Amile Jefferson whose season was spoiled by a broken right foot. The Blue Devils are plenty used to playing without Jefferson, who was injured Dec. 12, but it's going to be vital to get this kind of gritty effort from Plumlee the rest of the way if Duke has any chance at repeating as national champion or even making it deep into the NCAA tournament.
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