NEW YORK -- If Duke should go where no ACC tournament team has ventured, winning four games in four days en route to the title, it will need the type of production it received from its starters in Wednesday's 79-72 second-round win over Clemson.

Luke Kennard, Jayson Tatum and Frank Jackson scored 20 points apiece while Amile Jefferson netted 11 points and 10 rebounds and Matt Jones contributed three steals for the No. 14 Blue Devils (24-8), who are seeded fifth in the tournament being held at the Barclays Center.

That's the good news for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. The downside is those starters each played a minimum of 31 minutes each, with Tatum and Kennard logging 39 minutes apiece. Only Grayson Allen saw sparse playing time, but the mercurial guard missed all four of his shots, picked up three fouls, including his conference-leading fourth technical, in only 12 minutes.

Clemson outscored Duke's bench 26-2.

The Blue Devils have won a league-best 19 ACC tournament titles, but they are looking for their first since 2011.

With a short turnaround on Thursday against No. 10 Louisville, seeded fourth, in the quarterfinals, Krzyzewski is concerned about fatigue setting in with his starters this late into the season.

"We've told our guys, just play one game," said Krzyzewski. "Play one game, then play another game. Then if we're fortunate enough to play another game, then we'll try to figure it out, but not the pace.

"That's just the way it is. We have to play again tomorrow at 2:00 or 2:15 or 2:22, whatever it is, and so we'll play. At least in the NCAA Tournament, you get a day in between. So playing like this might help us get better."

Allen is Duke's X-factor. A preseason pick for ACC Player of the Year, he has been plagued by numerous injuries, the latest of which is a creaky ankle. And of course there is his on-court behavior.

"I think the injury is a huge part of it because he (Allen) has not been able to really go after it in practice, and he's lost his timing, his rhythm," Krzyzewski said. "Even today, what did he take? He took four shots, but the two threes he took were right on target, but they were a little bit short. We got to get him going, and these guys will help him because they're good teammates."

"It wasn't a good afternoon for him individually. Collectively, obviously, it's a great afternoon for us. When you don't practice at the speed and with the reps that you normally do, it affects your performance. And it has with him."

Clemson (17-15) hurt its chances for an NCAA Tournament bid with the loss. The Tigers were led by Jaron Blossomgame, who scored 19 points. Shelton Mitchell contributed 17 points.

After a dunk from Blossomgame got Clemson within 75-72, Tatum made two free throws to seal it with 35 seconds to play. Clemson made just two of their final eight field goals attempts.

A jumper from Kennard, who scored 17 points in the second half, and two free throws from Jackson helped the Blue Devils to a 73-68 edge with 1:51 left. Kennard's short jumper gave Duke a 75-70 cushion.

"For me, I think, the biggest thing I can take away from this is how much confidence my coaches, my teammates, they have in me," said Kennard. "They continue to tell me to be aggressive. And I struggled tonight. You know, we struggled tonight shooting the ball, but we stayed aggressive. We stayed connected on the offensive end."

The Tigers had cut the deficit to 69-68 after a three-point play from Marcquise Reed with 2:51 remaining. Clemson trailed by as many as 69-63 before Reed scored five straight points.

An acrobatic up-and-under layup from Tatum, in which he was fouled and turned it into a three-point play, gave Duke a 49-37 cushion, its largest lead to that point. A 3-pointer from Jackson moved the Blue Devils advantage to 60-47 just over five minutes later.

The Blue Devils scored six straight points in the span of just 58 seconds to pull ahead 44-37 with 16:14 left to play.

"They (Duke) just have really good players now," said Clemson coach Brad Brownell. "They're hard to guard. You can't really guard them with multiple people very often because the next guy's going to make an open three, and because you have to guard the 3-point shot against Duke, it puts you in one-on-one scenarios, and your guys have to be able to guard their guys.

"If they can do that and make them take challenge shots, you're going to have a chance to win, and if you can't do that, you're probably not going to win."

After trailing 29-25 with 3:06 left in the half, Duke reeled off five of its last six shots to draw even at the break 33-33. Tatum and Jackson led the Blue Devils with nine points each.

Allen picked up his second foul of the half at the 4:52 mark on a loose ball and promptly slammed the ball down for a technical. Clemson turned the foul and technical into a four-point play, hitting all the free throws for a 23-22 lead for the first time in the game.

NOTES: Coach Brad Brownell tied Cliff Ellis (1984-94) for the Clemson coaching record with his 59th win over an ACC team on Tuesday when the Tigers defeated North Carolina State, 75-61. ... Shelton Mitchell's 22 points in the win over North Carolina State were the most by a Clemson player in his first ACC tournament game since Glenn Corbit scored the same amount in 1985 against the Wolfpack. ... For the 14th time in program history and first since 2010, Duke featured three active 1,000-point scorers in Grayson Allen, Luke Kennard and Amile Jefferson.