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."