TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Steve Wojciechowski's day didn't get off to a very promising start.
"When I woke up this morning, I realized something was wrong," the Duke junior said. "Then I tried to go eat breakfast. That didn't really work."
That was just about the only thing that didn't work for Wojciechowski on Saturday in Tallahassee. He was close to perfect in Duke's 89-79 victory over Florida State.
"Steve played a great game," Blue Devil coach Mike Krzyzewski said, looking at statistics that showed Wojciechowski with seven assists, no turnovers, two steals, four rebounds and 10 points. He also hit two early 3-pointers to spoil Pat Kennedy's defensive strategy.
And he did it all while battling a stomach virus.
"He was sick the last 24 hours, throwing up," Krzyzewski said. "A few minutes before the game, he went back to the locker room and threw up. For him to play that long [a team-high 33 minutes]...I'll probably get a letter from his mom and dad."
But even Wojciechowski's parents would have a hard time persuading Krzyzweski to keep the fiery guard on the bench. He proved his worth on the offensive end in the first half. A year ago, when Duke shot holes in FSU's zone, the Seminoles switched to a man-to-man and had 6-10 Kirk Luchman assigned to Wojciechowski.
Actually, the Seminole center merely clogged the lane and left Wojciechowski to his own devices on the perimiter. The Duke playmaker missed all five of his shots that night.
Kennedy tried a different tactic this time - a triangle-and-two. The similarity to last year's scheme was it allowed Wojciechowski the open 3-pointer.
When Wojciechowski hit two 3-pointers early in the game, Kennedy had to abandon his gamble. For the rest of the game, junior guard Kerry Thompson played his opposite number straight up.
"It's a challenge," he said of the matchup. "He's a very good player. I'd love to play him night in and night out."
Wojciechowski's biggest contribution to Duke's win came, as it usually does, on the defensive end. He keyed the defensive stretch early in the second half when the Devils limited FSU to five points in 10:45.
During that stretch, he twice snookered the Seminoles on inbound plays - once stealing the throw-in, once drawing a push-off foul from Thompson.
"In the second half, we really tightened it up on defense," Wojciechowski said.