There are not too many multimillionaires who will willingly throw themselves into a frothing mosh pit. But give Jared Dudley credit — he wasn’t going to miss the moment.

As the hardwood at Conte Forum gave way to a sea of yellow and maroon last night, the rather conspicuous noggin of the 6-foot-7 Phoenix Suns’ forward could be seen bobbing up and down with the rest of the crowd in the wake of Boston College’s momentous 80-74 upset of Duke. It’s safe to say it was not the prescribed mode of celebration the Suns’ brass would have outlined, but Dudley really didn’t seem to care.

For that matter, neither did anyone else, as BC authored its second major upset of the year. Led by its self-possessed leader Tyrese Rice (21 points) and a pair of upstart underclassmen in sophomore Joe Trapani (20 points, 7 boards) and freshman Reggie Jackson (15 points off the bench), the Eagles finally put 40 minutes of quality ball into the books. Rice — who went over the 2,000-point mark in his eventful career for the Eagles on the evening — seemed more impressed by the celebration than the milestone.

“It was like that here only once that I can remember,” said Rice alluding to a game winning shot by Sean Williams over Florida State in the 2005-06 season at Conte. “But that was just Florida State and it didn’t mean as much. It he hit it against Duke then it would have been a little more crazy.”

While there were a few no shows Tuesday night when BC ran out of gas against a very good Clemson club, even the Eagle mascot had trouble finding a perch for this one. It was a development that was not lost on BC coach Al Skinner.

“It’s a great situation to see, but I’m sure Duke is pretty familiar with that,” said Skinner of the electric atmosphere. “When we go on the road we see it all the time and we kind of enjoy it. We like to see excitement in the building. It’s nice to see it here.”

Trailing by five at the break, the Eagles (19-8, 7-4 ACC) shot 59 percent in the second half while playing some of their best defense of the year and holding the sixth-ranked visitors to just 41 percent from the floor. Duke Forward Kyle Singler led Duke (20-5, 7-4 ACC) with 25 while Gerald Henderson had 20. It was just BC’s second win over Duke all time (the Blue Devils lead the series 8-2) and their first win against Duke in the ACC.

In the end, and with the Blue Devils doing all they could do to keep the ball out of Rice’s clutches, it was the two guys who have never experienced the basketball baptism that is facing a Coach K creation on the hardcourt who came up the biggest — Trapani and Jackson.

Sporting an unyielding smile and a headband that somehow stays put on the top one-eighth of his head no matter how ferociously he drives the lane, Jackson rose to the occasion … the way another Reggie Jackson had the propensity for doing so a few years back. Subbing for Rakim Sanders (14 points) with 13:41 to play and the Eagles down by two (49-47), the guard was an instant energizer, tying the game on a fast break. When he somehow coaxed a runner in with 48 seconds to play, BC had a lead it would not give up at 76-74.

It was not uncharted territory for the true freshman, who looked anything but the part in the win at North Carolina earlier in the season with a career high 17. It was a far departure, however, from his last four games which had seen him score a combined 14 points in limited minutes.

“It was great to see Reggie come out and have a good game,” said Rice. “He was going through a little slump which you go through as a freshman. You witness the high and the lows. I know I went through that.”

Asked if this was pretty much how he drew it up when he transferred to the Heights from Burlington, Vermont, Trapani had to laugh as he took a long look at the stat sheet afterward.

“Exactly,” he said. “Wins against North Carolina and Duke in my first year — that was definitely the plan.”

Throw out three straight turnovers as Duke trapped Trapani with the ball in the second half, and Skinner could not really ask anymore from the sophomore forward.

“Joe played a lot of minutes and played the whole second half with a lot of energy,” said Skinner. “It wasn’t a very physical game, but a very athletic game, and in that setting, he responded.”

Indeed. Trapani converted a pair of alley-oops in the final stanza, the second coming on a play where he caught ball waist-high but was still able to bank it in. Down the stretch, it was his ability to seal off the defensive glass from Duke’s Singler and Co. that really paid dividends. His clutch board off a Singler miss with 14 seconds and subsequent two free throws served as the exclamation point.

Trapani credited his work on the glass to a not so subtle hint given to him by Rice at the half.

“He told me that we were getting out-rebounded on the offensive glass, 10-1, and that we needed to do something about it,” said Trapani.

Throw Wake Forest out of the equation and BC owns the basketball capital of North Carolina this season with wins against the two titans — the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils — and one against a scrappy N.C. State team for good measure. While it’s a resume that’s hard to overlook and should be good enough to steer the Eagles far clear from any NIT bracket, Rice was quick to put it in perspective.

“It’s great feeling, but it’s just two wins,” said the point guard. “It’s not like each win is times five or anything.”

As for the postgame celebration? Well, as Dudley can attest, that starts at “times five” and goes from there.

Bob Albright covers Boston College for WEEI.com.