Duke needs to make history at ACC Tournament. First-round rout of Boston College is a good start.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — It was almost exactly four years ago that Duke made ACC Tournament history. 

In 2017, during a season marred by injuries, a midseason leave of absence by coach Mike Krzyzewski and distractions caused by arguably their best player (you remember Grayson Allen), the Blue Devils became the first team to win the tournament with four wins in four days.

It's a storyline that should sound familiar four years later, except this time, they'll have to make even more history to avoid becoming history. 

Five wins in five days is what Duke (12-11, 9-9 ACC) must accomplish this week at the ACC Tournament to avoid missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995.

Tuesday's 86-51 first-round rout over lowly Boston College (4-16, 2-11 ACC) is only the first step in an Everest-like climb, but at least the ascent can continue for another day.

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The win snapped a streak of three losses that included an embarrassing performance in the season finale to North Carolina. The loss dropped No. 10 Duke into the first round of the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2007 with its worst seed history.

"The most important thing for us was to keep that feeling of losing in the back of our heads but at the same time acknowledging that it's the ACC Tournament," said freshman center Mark Williams, who scored 13 points while making 6-of-7 shots. "It's a new season, and we have to win one game at a time."

Led by 17 points from freshman DJ Steward and 12 points from senior Jordan Goldwire, Duke hit a season-high 15 3-pointers while holding the Eagles to a 1-of-15 performance from beyond the arc. Six different Duke players made 3-pointers and all of them hit at least two.

The Blue Devils had hit 16-of-74 3-pointers during the recent three-game losing streak.

"I hope we can carry it over," Coach K said. "You never know about momentum. Obviously we played really well today."

The Blue Devils hit six of their first 10 3-point attempts to open a early 26-14 lead which turned into a 41-27 halftime advantage despite the lack of offense from sophomore Matthew Hurt, the ACC's leading scorer.

Hurt, recently named the ACC's most improved player, finished with eight points, but only took six shots despite playing a team-high 27 minutes in the win. Duke was able to rest its starters in the second half as the lead ballooned to over 30 points. 

Players cheered from the sideline as reserves like Keenan Worthington, Mike Buckmire and Michael Savarino — Coach K's grandson — made into onto the court at the end of the game. 

It was a rare scene for a team that got its 12th win of the season in March and has enjoyed only a couple blowout wins. 

"I feel like this is a good game for us to build our confidence, like trusting each other," Steward said. " I feel like we had a lot of assists out there, and just -- it's a great game for us going into a dogfight tomorrow versus Louisville."

Duke will face the No. 7 seed Louisville Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., hoping to avoid a third straight defeat at the hands of the Cardinals. 

The Blue Devils lost 70-65 on Jan. 23 to Louisville and again late last month during a 80-73 overtime defeat. 

"They were both really outstanding games, and their veteran backcourt was the difference," Coach K said. "(David) Johnson is terrific. (Carlik) Jones in the last four or five minutes of a game is probably the best in our conference in managing the game and making the right decisions. So we're going to face them again, and we'll try to do stuff where we can limit them."

David Thompson is an award-winning reporter for the USA Today Network covering NC State and Duke athletics. He can be reached at dthompson1@gannett.com, at 828-231-1747, or on Twitter at @daveth89.