No. 8 Duke's latest victory didn't seem like a victory to coach Mike Krzyzewski.
His team blew most of a 22-point lead in the second half before holding on to defeat St. John's 83-76 on Saturday in a performance that Krzyzewski compared to an AAU game.
"I'm not pleased with today one bit. One bit," Krzyzewski said.
Mason Plumlee had 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, Ryan Kelly scored 16 points, and Andre Dawkins added 14, but the Blue Devils (18-3) shot just 30 percent in the second half and allowed the Red Storm, with five freshman starters, to rally.
Moe Harkless had 30 points and 13 rebounds for St. John's (9-12), and he and D'Angelo Harrison made things tense in the final minute with 3-pointers. Harrison's 3, with 20.7 seconds left, pulled the Red Storm to 79-75.
Assistant coach Mike Dunlap "preaches all the time about how he respects Duke, but he wants to beat them," Harkless said.
"And he pretty much put it into everybody's head. So it was personal for us."
Kelly followed with two free throws to put Duke up by six. After Phil Greene missed in the lane for St. John's, God'sgift Achiuwa's free throw with 10.2 seconds left made the score 81-76.
Tyler Thornton iced it with two free throws with 8.3 seconds left, but nobody wearing a Duke uniform looked much like celebrating.
"It seemed like every time we forced a missed shot, they got the offensive rebound toward the end of the game," Kelly said. "We didn't have, I think, the pride to say, 'We're getting a stop. We're getting this ball.' We weren't capable of doing that tonight, and that's why the game was so close."
Austin Rivers added 12 points for Duke, which won its 94th straight nonconference game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Harkless made 13 of 21 shots, and Harrison had 21 points for St. John's, the last non-ACC team to win in Cameron — in 2000.
The Red Storm thumped the Blue Devils 93-78 last season in Madison Square Garden.
None of the current players saw action in that game, and the coach who led that team — Steve Lavin — has been out much of this season while recovering from prostate cancer surgery.
The new-look team was coming off one of its biggest victories without him, a 16-point victory against West Virginia.
"We're a team that's ascending, and maturing, and you can see it before your very eyes," Dunlap said.
One of the Red Storm's easiest baskets of the day wound up being the impetus for the run that seemed to put Duke in control. An incensed Krzyzewski called a timeout after Harkless slipped free for a dunk in the lane that made it 23-20 midway through the first half.
The Blue Devils responded with a 20-3 run that put them up by 20. Dawkins hit three 3s over a 1-2-2 zone, starting and ending the run. His third 3 made it 43-23 with 1:45 left in the half.
Duke led 54-32 with 17:09 left before St. John's got hot, hitting three 3-pointers in about three minutes to start chipping away at Duke's big lead.
"They were just attacking, and first, we weren't running back, sprinting back, and they were getting stuff in transition," Kelly said. "They were hitting tough shots, and that's part of the game of basketball, and once their confidence got going, it kept picking up and guys were hitting shots. But we have to have pride."
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