Duke 88 Miami 73

Nelson was once again the leading scorer.  That and his defense on McClinton earns him BDN's Player of the Game.

Mark Watson

The Blue Devils tripped up Miami 88-73 going to 7-0 in the ACC in the process.  Duke came out cold from the field and didn't score a two point field goal until under four minutes in the game.  Miami stayed packed in a zone and the Devils shots continued to rim in and out.  Despite the misses, Duke stayed in the game early with their three point shooting.

The Hurricanes had their backs against the wall in the ACC standings and came out ready to fight.  While the Duke fans may have been looking ahead to Wednesdays showdown with UNC, the team was not.  Even if they were Miami slugged them in the mouth, but Duke never hit the ropes and eventually out slugged their opponent in a very physical game.

"There were a lot of fouls in the first half and we're 10 for 21 from the free throw line.  We missed half a dozen shots at the rim, so we are coming in (at the half) with 38 points, but it should be a 50 to 55 point half," said Krzyzewski.  He told his team, "We have never been that worries about missing shots.  Worry about our defense.  If we do that our defense will cause some offense and it did."

Duke came out on top in the rebounding department today.  That along with going from 12 of 30 from the three point stripe enabled the Dukies to remain atop the conference.  One player who again showed up in a big way, was senior captain DeMarcus Nelson.  Nelson played outstanding defense on Miami's leading scorer Jack McClinton, not allowing him a three all day and just 10 total points.  When you consider McClintons accuracy from beyond the arc, this was a major key in the victory.

Nelson led the Blue Devils in scoring tallying 21 points to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.  He had help from point guard, Greg Paulus who put together another outstanding game.  Greg scored 16 points with four key three point shots.  He tied Nelson for Dukes top rebounder with 6 and added 2 assists.

"DeMarcus did a heck of a job on McClinton and just leading our team and Kyle hit a few threes," said Coach K.  Singler was the only other Devil in double figures with 14 points. 

Coach K continued, "I thought the bench play of Dave McClure and Taylor King was crucial with all the foul trouble.  Two out of the last three games Kyle has had his fourth foul with about ten minutes to go."  Lance Thomas ended up fouling out of the game while Paulus and Singler played with four fouls.

Duke will now turn their focus to the marquee matchup with rival North Carolina on Wednesday night.  Tell anyone in these parts that the Super Bowl is tomorrow and you might find an argument.  Coach K doesn't see it that way stating, "We are getting ready for the next game and a lot of people make it out to be the Super Bowl.  The Super Bowl is tomorrow.  The next league game is on Wednesday.  You don't prepare for it any different that we have anyone else, because otherwise we would be like 3-4 (in the conference)."   He then stated that the Super Bowl was in the Final Four and it was mentioned that Duke may well play UNC three or more times this season.

If you are thinking Coach bristled a bit, you are probably right.  As early as last week some in the media were asking about the UNC game instead of the two games at hand.  Instead of how will you defend NC State or Miami inside, they got questions like, "Are you ready for the reception after last seasons incident with Hansbrough."

It is quite clear that this has been a tough seven games for Duke and they have come out undefeated.  It is natural that they want to sit back and soak in what they have accomplished for awhile before looking ahead.  Still, the nature of the rivalry has many antsy and the anticipation is being felt in the most grounded fan.

All in all, any Duke fan has to be ecstatic going into the UNC game with just one loss on the season and likely ranked number two in the country.  And it's obvious that the staff is enjoying this team as much as our fans are.  "These kids are great kids!  They want to do their best all the time, but then again it doesn't always happen that way and that's why the win was such a good win," stated Coach K.

What Coach K "might" have been implying is that win or lose this Wednesday, Duke is in it for the long haul.  Not even a loss to their rival can tarnish the fact that this is a fun team to watch and be around, nor will it be the end of the world.  I mean, coming into the season not too many people gave Duke a shot.

Many UNC fans now find themselves concerned and they should be.  Duke will come in prepared and win or lose they'll be back until they complete their true goal and that is winning a championship.  But for now, lets not get ahead of ourselves too much and take in the fact that the Dukies won two tough games this week, growing every step of the way.

Official Box Score    Game Notes Here     Updated Team Stats

Game Quotes Here     A.P. Recap

Check out this video blog of K-Ville from Kyle Singler, Lance Thomas and Jon Scheyer.  Now, if they'd just send me my Blue Planet magazine without me asking;)

Mark's take -  Duke is coming off a big victory over N.C. State but don't think for one second they will look past Miami to this coming Wednesday as many fans already are.   Miami has sputtered a bit of late but has the talent to give the Devils a tussle.  Duke comes into the game with little rest, so look for them to go to their bench early and often.  Unlike the Pack, the Hurricanes have a solid backcourt.  In fact, McClinton and company are tops in the ACC from the three point stripe.  I see the Dukies gaining another ACC victory provided they continue to play together.  Duke played both their best and worst half's of the season versus NCSU, so it'll be important to gain some consistency as the season goes along.  The pick here is Duke 85 Miami 68.

Bob's take - Miami brings a balanced attack into Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Their five starters scored 16, 12, 8, 8, and 7 points in the 70-68 loss to Wake Forest with their bench players chipping in 17 additional points. Miami started the season hot winning 12 straight games, but they have lost four of their last five games and are currently sitting at 15-5 for the season. The victory was a 75-72 win over Clemson so Miami is far from done for the season and are one of several teams with legitimate NCAA Tournament aspirations this season. A win at Duke would be a great addition to their tournament resume.

Miami's leading scorer is Jack McClinton who averages 16.1 points per game. Duke will need to shutdown McClinton like they did last year in Coral Gables. McClinton scored 5 points on 1-6 shooting in 22 minutes before fouling out of Duke's 85-63 victory over the Canes. If his numbers are similar at CIS, Miami will have a long afternoon.

For the Blue Devils, Greg Paulus is coming off a tremendous performance in the NCSU game and he will be looking to build on that performance. The foot injury he played with last season is in the past and so are his turnover problems. Gerald Henderson displayed a mid-range game that can only be described as awesome, DeMarcus Nelson continues to be the glue and Kyle Singler prevailed in the match-up against fellow Freshman-of-the-Year candidate J.J. Hickson. Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith, and Taylor King will be striving to rebound from subpar performances. The Blue Devils are too talented and too deep for the Canes.

My prediction: Duke 90 - Miami 62

Miami-Florida Off vs. Duke Def Duke Off vs. Miami-Florida Def 75.1 Pts F 65.6 Pts A 43.8 FG% 42.2 FG% 35.8 Reb. 31.6 Reb. 85.6 Pts F 65.6 Pts A 48.9 FG% 39.9 FG% 31.6 Reb. 30.6 Reb.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Now that Virginia Tech's out of the way, Duke can look forward to its biggest rival. The Blue Devils (No. 11 ESPN/USA Today, No. 9 AP) used great second-half shooting to rout Virginia Tech 85-50 on Friday night. Next up: A home game against rival North Carolina on Monday. Wanisha Smith and Joy Cheek scored 14 points apiece to lead Duke, which shot a season-high 59.5 percent in the second half to put away the Hokies (13-9, 0-7 Atlantic Coast Conference). Chante Black added 11 points and Krystal Thomas contributed 10 for the Blue Devils, who got their first win since losing to No. 2 Tennessee 67-64 on Monday. All 12 Blue Devils (16-5, 5-1) scored, a first this season. Duke coach Joanne P. McCallie said the offensive firepower was because of strong efforts from every player. "Coach P hit it when she said it was a total team effort," said junior guard Abby Waner, who had seven points, five assists and no turnovers. "When you have so many different threats and so many ways to score ... it's just really tough to defend." Although the Blue Devils finished strong, their offense struggled in the first half. Duke got the majority of its points in the paint to take a 29-22 halftime lead and closed the half without scoring a basket for the last 6:08. But McCallie didn't harp on that span, and she didn't need to. Duke opened the second half with a 13-6 run as its shooters warmed up. Smith and Waner hit 3-pointers to help Duke extend its lead to 45-30 with 15:07 left. From there, the Blue Devils romped and gave their bench players plenty of playing time. For the Hokies, the loss was yet another frustrating outcome. Andrea Barbour scored 15 points and Brittany Cook had 14 to lead Virgina Tech, but turnovers and poor rebounding sunk the team's chances. Virginia Tech turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 25 Duke points. The Blue Devils outrebounded the Hokies 50-35. "In the second half, I thought we got just completely away from our game plan," Hokies coach Beth Dunkenberger said. "We didn't guard correctly. We didn't take care of the ball on offense. We had some bad turnovers which in turn led to some Duke transition opportunities, and things went worse from there." The Hokies' Shani Grey left the game with more than 14 minutes left after colliding with Waner and hurting her right knee. Dunkenberger said she didn't know much but thought it was a knee-on-knee collision. Grey has had surgery on that knee and couldn't put much weight on it. She did not return. With the Hokies dispatched, the Blue Devils can spend the next three days worrying about North Carolina, the highest-scoring team in the nation. This is McCallie's first game in the storied rivalry, and she's looking forward to it. The Tar Heels are also one of the nation's top rebounding squads, and the Blue Devils will hope to have the same rebounding success as they had Friday night against the Hokies. "It's going to be a board game without question," McCallie said. "It's a very physical, athletic game. A lot of shots are going to go up, that's for sure. It's just who is going to get those second- and third-shot opportunities." Against Virginia Tech, Duke scored 17 second-chance points.

Box Score Here   Next up - North Carolina (H) Feb. 4th 7:00

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