Monday, December 19, 2011

No. 7 Duke skips past UNC Greensboro

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Freshman Quinn Cook scored all of his season-high 14 points in the second half, and No. 7 Duke routed UNC Greensboro 90-63 on Monday night.

Mason Plumlee had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Austin Rivers added 14 points for the Blue Devils (10-1). They shot 54 percent from the field, shook off a sluggish start and overcame 18 turnovers to win their third straight since the one-sided loss at No. 2 Ohio State.

Kyle Randall scored 12 points but the Spartans (2-10) shot just 34.5 percent in the second half in losing their seventh straight. The last two have come under interim coach Wes Miller, a former North Carolina guard who took over last week.

Playing its first game since beating Washington on Dec. 10 in New York, Duke needed an 18-4 run late in the first half to take the lead for good. The Blue Devils then pulled away by opening the second half with a 29-8 burst that pushed the lead into the 30s.

Cook -- who was 6 for 6 from the field after halftime -- scored 11 points during the run, and his 3-pointer with 7 minutes left capped the spurt and made it 73-42.

Andre Dawkins finished with 11 points, Ryan Kelly added 10 and Miles Plumlee had 13 rebounds to help the Blue Devils extend a few impressive streaks in their only game in a 19-day span.

They won their 41st straight game at Cameron Indoor Stadium -- matching the second-longest streak in school history -- while claiming their 91st consecutive home victory against nonconference teams and their 85th in a row here against unranked opponents.

They will have to wait a while for their next chance to extend those streaks. Duke is off until Dec. 30, when it hosts Western Michigan.

Derrell Armstrong scored 11 points and Aaron Brackett finished with 10 for UNC Greensboro.

Miller -- who stepped in last week in the wake of Mike Dement's resignation -- played for the Tar Heels from 2003-07 and is the youngest coach in Division I. His North Carolina teams won their last two visits to Cameron, but he found out firsthand just how tough it is for UNC Greensboro to beat the Blue Devils.

The Spartans have never defeated them, losing the previous nine matchups by an average of nearly 40 points. To have any chance at pulling the season's biggest upset, they needed Duke to be rusty following extended time off for final exams.

And for about 15 minutes, that's exactly what happened.

UNC Greensboro led for a sizeable chunk of a disjointed first half in which there were a combined 24 fouls called and 35 free throws attempted. The Spartans forced Duke into 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes and made 14 of their first 27 shots before Duke finally got things rolling.

The Blue Devils hit 3s on three consecutive trips and Rivers had two of them -- including the one that capped the run and made it 39-28. Kelly's 3 with 35 seconds left in the half stretched it to 45-34 and pushed the lead into double figures for good.

Source: http://network.yardbarker.com/college_basketball/article_external/no_7_duke_skips_past_unc_greensboro/8837095

New Jersey Nets Tennessee Titans

No comments:

Post a Comment