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."
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