Duke Pounds Xavier, 82-64

Duke couldn't play a much better first half. Xavier can't play much worse than it did in the opening 20 minutes.

#6 Duke beat #7 Xavier 82-64 on Saturday, but don't let the final score fool you. It was over at halftime when the Blue Devils were up by 31.

It never looked like a matchup of top 10 teams as the Blue Devils were ahead 22-3 before Xavier managed its first field goal, a layup by C.J. Anderson 5:54 into the game.

Everything Duke tried worked, whether it was 3 shooting or drop passes close to the basket that turned a short jumper into a layup. Meanwhile, Xavier couldn't get anything right as passes flew out of bounds and shots missed by a mile.

"We're a good defensive team and our offense can hurt our defense if we're missing 3s or turning the ball over, and if we get a chance to set our defense like we did today, teams are going to have a hard time scoring," said Jon Scheyer, who matched his season high for Duke (10-1) with 23 pts. "This was our best game of the season."

The start surely was, just like it was on the opposite end for Xavier.

"That was not the team we've seen for 46 practices and nine games," said Derrick Brown, who led the Musketeers (9-1) with 18 points. "Give Duke credit. They came out and punched us in the mouth."

Gerald Henderson added 19 pts for the Blue Devils.

"Obviously we know we're a very good team when we play a certain way, like we did today," Henderson said. "If we're going to achieve the things we want to achieve we have to play consistent Duke basketball every game. We really just wanted to uphold our standards."

Duke shot 61.8% from the field in the first half (21/34), including 8/15 from 3 range. The Musketeers were 9/27 from the field, missing all four 3s, in the first 20 minutes — plus 10 turnovers.

Scheyer had four 3s in the first half, and his no-look bounce pass to David McClure for a dunk just seconds before the buzzer gave the Blue Devils a 55-24 lead.

"We had one of those halves where everything went right. If we could bottle that first half, we'd be pretty damn good," Duke Coach K said. "Jon and G created a strength that hadn't been seen this year. It was totally unexpected against an outstanding team. We were very well prepared and the team took a step up. I could feel it because we were prepared so well. I knew that we were going to play well, but it ended up that we played great."

Michigan Answers, Punks Duke, 81-73

DeShawn Sims scored a career-high 28 points to leading Michigan to an 81-73 victory over Duke on Saturday, its second win over a No. 4-ranked team in two weeks.

The Wolverines (6-2) beat then-No. 4 UCLA before losing 71-56 to Duke in the 2K Sports Classic final.

Michigan — which hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 1998 — has beaten two top five teams in the regular season for the first time since 1986-87, the year after its last Big Ten title.

"I still think it's a rebuilding year," Sims insisted. "Even though we've had two big wins, we've also lost two games. It definitely says we're executing what Coach wants us to do on both ends of the court."

Duke (8-1) made just three of 27 3-point attempts before connecting on four in a row to pull within four points in the final minute. The Blue Devils finished 7-of-33 for one of their worst performances beyond the arc in more than a decade.

"Michigan did a good job with the 1-3-1 zone," said Nolan Smith, who matched the team high with two 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. "They extended it to take away 3s in the corners and on the wings."

After an 11th lead change and 16th tie, Novak's second straight 3-pointer led to Duke calling a timeout with 7:39 left to calm down a raucous crowd that's characteristically quiet in a community consumed by football.

"I saw the Savannah State tape and there weren't too many seats full," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, referring to the previous home game that had an announced crowd of 8,190 in an arena that holds almost 14,000. "It's party time every time we come to town, but this is a great school and they deserve this level of support for every game."

Michigan's win over the Bruins was its first against a top five team since 1997, and was the team's first over a ranked opponent under Beilein.

It will be tough to tone down the excitement with two wins over No. 4 teams and a respectable five-point loss earlier this week at Maryland.

Jon Scheyer scored 16 points for Duke and Kyle Singler had 15, but they were cold from 3 ball land with a combined 2-of-14.

Duke had won 31 straight games against unranked, nonconference opponents dating to a loss against Georgetown on Jan. 21, 2006.

"A loss always hurts — nonconference, conference, whatever," Smith said. "Any time you lose, you want to play the next day."

Duke Beats Down Purdue, 76-60

With their 76-60 punking of Purdue on the road Tuesday night in the perpetually un-challenging Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the Devils' cover is blown.

So don't get too cocky, Carolina. Duke is back.

Duke is back with one of the most precious commodities in today's transient college basketball: experience. Duke is back with an eight-man core rotation that features two seniors, four juniors, two sophomores and zero freshmen -- a throwback rotation to the olden days when rookies waited their turn. Duke is back without a powerhouse player in the middle, but with so many players who can do so many things that it can make up for that deficiency.

Duke is back with a poised group that can saunter into an old-fashioned Midwestern snake pit, feel the noise press against its ears and smirk in response.

"We're a very confident team," said leading scorer Kyle Singler.

"These guys have games like this every single time they go out," said admiring Purdue coach Matt Painter. "They walk into that atmosphere every single night."

The Devils walked into a charged atmosphere and slapped the Boilermakers right in the face. They never trailed. They led 7-0 as Purdue hyperventilated its way to five missed shots (two of them layups) and three turnovers. The lead was two possessions or greater for the final 31 minutes and 16 seconds. It was double digits for the final 19:12.

This was a Boiler beatdown.

"It's important to get off to a good start in an environment like this," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Purdue was so amped, I think they missed some easy plays and layups. They wanted it so bad."

Duke wanted it, too. But a poised, veteran team can want it and still execute.

The Blue Devils did that, slapping relentless pressure defense and reliable weakside rotations on Purdue's best offensive players, Robbie Hummel and E'Twaun Moore. They blocked out like pros, hammered the Boilers by 20 on the glass. And they routinely got the ball where it needed to go -- primarily in the hands of gifted sophomore Singler.

Singler was one of the few stars of the tremendous prep Class of 2007 who came back for a second season of college ball, and he'll be Duke's bell cow. Tuesday night the kid with the feathery stroke and a banger's mentality punished Purdue with 20 points and 12 rebounds. He played like a very veteran, very talented sophomore.

"Kyle will never be nervous or afraid," Krzyzewski said. "Ever."

Singler is part of a Duke starting lineup that has more athleticism than any in several years. Swingman Gerald Henderson might be the most athletic player in the nation; guard Jon Scheyer is an underrated athlete (ask Moore, whom he locked up much of the night); and sophomore point guard Nolan Smith is a jet.

The insertion of Smith in the starting lineup was the one great chemistry experiment by Krzyzewski, because it sent Greg Paulus to the bench -- for the first time ever, really. Paulus had started 95 games in three years at Duke and had the ball in his hands an awful lot of that time.

There have been hot starts before in recent years -- plenty of them, as the Blue Devils seemingly played over their heads and then wore down or were exposed come tournament time.

Don't expect this Duke team to fade all season -- not even against North Carolina. If the Tar Holes want to know where their challenge is coming from, they don't have to look far to find it.