Wake Tops Duke By a Bucket, 70-68.

Everybody figured Wake Forest would ask star scorer Jeff Teague to take the shot that would knock off #1 Duke. That's why coach Dino Gaudio instead drew up a play for the player whose defensive lapse let the Blue Devils tie it.

Johnson made up for a horrible final minute on defense by hitting the layup with 0.8 seconds left that helped #6 Demon Deacons upend Duke 70-68 in a matchup of the two most recent top-ranked teams.

"We knew everybody was going to key on Jeff Teague — he's the one who scores for us, puts buckets up for us," Johnson said. "I finished the play."

And, more importantly, the game. Johnson had 13 pts and 11 rebs and freshman Al-Farouq Aminu finished with 15 and 10 for the Demon Deacons (17-1, 4-1 ACC).

They bounced back from last week's home loss that knocked them from #1 by forcing the Blue Devils into their worst shooting night of the season and making a statement for a second chance at the top spot.

"Pittsburgh goes down, then we go down, then Duke — I mean, whoever's #1, they've got a rude awakening," Teague said.

Wake Forest led nearly the entire way, before letting a late 13-point lead slip away and recovering just in time to claim the fifth victory over a top-ranked team in school history.

Kyle Singler had 22 pts and 12 boards for Duke (18-2, 5-1), which had its 10-game winning streak snapped.

"I didn't think we had the aggressiveness or toughness that we've shown. Then, all of a sudden, we had so much of it, it was unbelievable," Duke Coach K said. "Our kids played so hard to put themselves in a position to win."

Especially Gerald Henderson, who had 20 points — including a jumper over Johnson with 10 seconds left that tied it at 68 and capped the Blue Devils' late 20-7 rally.

The Demon Deacons raced downcourt, with Teague and Aminu missing layups in traffic — but during the rebound, Henderson was called for traveling. That gave the ball back to Wake Forest with 2.6 seconds left, and L.D. Williams inbounded it under the basket to Johnson, whose layup in the final second banked through to the delight of a juiced-up crowd at Joel Coliseum.

Singler's full-court inbounds pass for Henderson was tipped by Williams, and that sent Wake Forest's tie-dye-clad student section spilling onto the court for the second time this month. They whooped it up in similar fashion 2½ weeks ago when they beat down then-No. 3 North Carolina.

Jon Scheyer had 13 pts and David McClure finished with 12 rebs for Duke, which was playing its first game as #1 since 2006 and wound up becoming the latest top-ranked team to fall in Winston-Salem.

Duke Blows Out Maryland, 85-44.

Gerald Henderson scored 17 pts to help the #2 Blue Devils rout Maryland 85-44, a victory that could propel the Blue Devils to the #1 ranking next week.

Scheyer scored 12 for Duke (18-1, 5-0 ACC), which dominated from the opening tip and led 40-15 at halftime. From there, the lead only grew, including a couple of dazzling transition scores that pushed the Blue Devils to a 60-20 lead less than 4 minutes into the second half.

Duke led by as many as 44 pts, handing the Terrapins (13-6, 2-3) their worst loss under coach Gary Williams. It was the fourth-largest margin of defeat in school history.

The Blue Devils haven't been ranked No. 1 since the final poll of 2005-06, but that could change after Wake Forest's home loss to Virginia Tech on Wednesday. Duke had been ranked No. 1 at least once every season from 1998-2004 under Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, but had not reached the top spot in the past two seasons.

Fittingly, the Blue Devils' next game is at Wake Forest on Wednesday night.

"It'll be a big deal for our guys and it's a big deal for us because it means we're playing really well," Krzyzewski said of a No. 1 ranking. "We talked about it last week that, just don't worry about anything, let's just play. It's the same thing we're going to tell them going into this next week.

"It's an honor and it says you're playing real well. You don't get anything from it except a really big headline when you lose."

Henderson leads Duke over NCState by 17

It took a while, but Gerald Henderson and #2 Duke finally starting shooting well enough to impress even J.J. Redick.

Henderson scored 21 pts and the Blue Devils shot 77% from the floor in the second half for the 73-56 victory over NC State.

Nolan Smith hit consecutive 3's 30 seconds apart to start the decisive run for the Blue Devils (17-1, 4-0 ACC).

But it wasn’t until Henderson took the game over by hitting jumpers and driving the lane for authoritative dunks that his teammates started to find the rips in the Wolfpack’s defense. As a result, Duke’s athletic swingman finish with his fourth straight game with at least 19 points.


“G’s play gave the team a big lift—when, someone plays with that much assertiveness and confidence, it kinds of feeds down to the whole team,” forward Kyle Singler said. “Guys kind of get shots and feed from that.”

With Redick—the ACC’s career scoring leader— watching from behind the Duke bench, Singler scored 14 of his 17 pts in the second half and Smith finished with 13 to help the Blue Devils close the game on a 27-5 run. Their 20-for-26 shooting matched the best performance in a second half in nearly 30 years under Coach K.

“When we’re sharp and running our stuff and executing it … if we’re doing it sharp, we’re going to make shots,” Henderson said. “We’re going to get open shots and we have good enough players to knock them down.”

Brandon Costner and Ben McCauley both scored 15 points for the Wolfpack (10-6, 1-3), who led much of the game but hit just one field goal over the final 7:45.

“We were in it, and we couldn’t close it,” McCauley said. “We had them where we wanted them, and guys were playing tremendous ball. … Unfortunately, guys that were in the end couldn’t come through.”

The Wolfpack’s cold spell helped Duke claim its 12th straight victory at Cameron over NC State, which hasn’t won inside the Blue Devils’ famously hostile arena since 1995.

“You can see how it lifts their spirits up,” Costner said. “It’s up to us as a visiting team to pick up our level of intensity and match it, and we didn’t.”

For a while, they had the streak in serious jeopardy—until Henderson, Smith and the rest of the Blue Devils heated up.

“That game just turned during the last 8 minutes,” Coach K said.

The second of Smith’s two big 3s made it 52-49 with 9 1/2 minutes left, put Duke up to stay and started the game-ending burst in which the Blue Devils came away with points on eight straight possessions.

Henderson, Duke D Too Strong for Georgetown

This was the kind of game that had the feel of a matchup between two final four teams.

It was hard-nosed, between two teams from the top two conferences in college basketball. In the end the #2 Blue Devils (16-1) prevailed, outworking the #12 Hoyas for a 76-67 win.

It featured two Blue Devils making animated gestures toward the crowd bringing the Cameron Crazies to deafening levels of cheers.

Gerald Henderson, whose game high 23 pts on 10-of-15 shooting including 3-of-5 from 3-land, continued his streak of putting together remarkable performances scoring 17 in the first half, surging Duke to a 40-29 halftime lead.

His third and final 3 of the half, was a long pull up from the left edge that saw Henderson raise his arms up to his side in jubilation as the ball swooshed through the net.

“I hit a shot that I normally don’t hit,” Henderson said. “A long pull up three is not a shot that I am taking a lot, but it went in and it was great for us.”

“I think he is completely over that wrist injury,” Coach K said. “He was out for four months... The last month he has gone up. He is in the best shape that he has been in since he has been here.”

During this 15-0 run, that seeped over into the second half; the Blue Devils held the Hoyas without a point for 6:07 as Georgetown would enter the half shooting 42.9%.

“With the crowd and the intensity of the game, the way we wanted to play defense, we played some pretty good defense, they have got some pretty good players over there,” Henderson said. “It was a good effort and a great win for us.”

“We know we are going to beat teams with our defense,” Henderson added. “Every game our defense is what has to drive us.”

The second crowd inspiring gesture came from Greg Paulus, who scored 10 off the bench in 23 mins knocking a pair of threes.

“I thought Greg had by far his best performance this year,” K said. “What he showed was fight. He was playing really good defensively, he was attacking, and he was playing with emotion, huge boost. We don’t win the game without Greg today. No question about that.”

Midway through the second half, Paulus scored five in the middle of a 15-3 Duke run that pushed the lead, which had been cut to 4 by Georgetown, up to a 16 pt advantage for the Blue Devils.

The senior point guard followed up a running floater in the lane with a 23-foot three, slapping the floor repeatedly after to fire up the Blue Devils on the defensive end.

Duke Puts Down GT

Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler scored 19 points each and the third-ranked Blue Devils overcame their worst shooting game of the season for its seventh straight victory, pulling away for a 70-56 win over sloppy Georgia Tech on Wednesday night.

Duke (15-1, 3-0 ACC) was just 23-of-59 from the field, a 39% performance that would have been enough to get them beat on many nights. Not this one.

Georgia Tech (9-7, 0-3) countered with 18 turn overs, went only 7-of-19 from the free throw line and starts the year with 3 ACC losses for the second straight season.

Lewis Clinch hit a 3 that pulled the Yellow Jackets within 5 with just over 8 minutes remaining. But Jon Scheyer hit twice from beyond the arc and Henderson also swished a 3, stretching the margin far beyond comeback range for GT.

Zachery Peacock, with 13 pts, was the only player in double figures for the Yellow Jackets, who were a little more accurate from the field (41%) than they were from the line (37%).

Duke's previous worst shooting effort was a 41 % against Virginia Tech on Jan. 4. But the Blue Devils, who also started dismally at the line, hit enough free throws down the stretch to bury the Yellow Jackets.

Georgia Tech led most of the first half, building its largest lead when Peacock laid it in off a pass from Lewis Clinch to make it 23-15 about 12 minutes into the game.

The Yellow Jackets made only one more field goal the rest of the half, enduring a scoring drought of nearly 6 minutes. During that span, they missed 8 straight shots, clanked 4 straight freebies and turned it over 4 times before Alade Aminu finally made one from the line.

Duke goes on to face Georgetown at home on Saturday.

Wake Pounds UNC as Tarheels SUCK, Now 0-2 in ACC

Behind Jeff Teague's career-high 34 pts, the #4 Demon Deacons pounded UNC all night for a 92-89 triumph over #3 North Carolina on Sunday that marked the first big victory of the season for coach Dino Gaudio's young but talented team.

"I remember these last three years, we'd try to be like the Chris Paul team. You try to fulfill that role. ... We had everybody trying to fulfill a role, but us as a team, we have our own identity," said guard Harvey Hale, the team's only senior. "That's why we're good."

Chas McFarland matched a season high with 20 pts for the Demon Deacons (14-0, 1-0 ACC), who remained one of three unbeatens in DI and matched the 1980-81 team that also won its first 14 games.

Danny Green scored 22 pts, and Wayne Ellington and Tyler Has-been added 17 each. Hansbrough's came on 3-of-12 shooting, and he missed all five of his shots (LOL POY ESPN!!) in the second half for the Tar Heels (14-2, 0-2).

"It seems like teams are playing me more physical and trying to push me outside," Has-been said. "But it's on me to get inside and get my position." So ESPN, Is this still your FAVORITE BOY for POY? Punks... get punked, repeatedly..

The rest of his teammates probably have lost their prime position in the polls, too.

UNC is now 1-2 for the season.. oh damn, thats right we HAVE to include the other 13 cupcake wins that roy 'CHOKE' williams padded his stats with this season.. Hack, 14-2.

Great game WAKE!! Awesome win Deacs!!

Choke williams, Tyler HAS-BEEN and the rest of UNC, as if you didnt already know, YOU TOTALLY SUCK!!! Don't worry though, you'll rank high in the NIT!!!

Seriously UNC, fire that piece of SHIT roy 'choke' willaims, Bob Knight will resurrect your program and make you a respectable team again...

Henderson Leads Duke Over Fla State

Duke's Gerald Henderson was just about the only player on target Saturday and that was the difference for the Blue Devils.

The 6-foot-4 junior swingman scored a career-high 25 pts, leading the #2 Blue Devils to a 66-58 victory at Florida State.

Duke (14-1, 2-0 ACC) ran off the first nine points of the second half during a 41-11 run to build their largest lead of the game, 46-21 with 12:45 left.

Toney Douglas led Florida State (13-3, 0-1) with 18 pts, but was just 7-of-23 from the floor as the Seminoles shot just 31%.

"We struggled all night against their pressure," Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said. "We drove the ball hard into the lane, but couldn't execute. We had periods where we just didn't execute well offensively."

The first half was believed to be one of the lowest scoring in the ACC since a 45-second shot clock was introduced in the 1985-86 season. It was later cut to 35 seconds.

Duke led 19-14 at the break, making just five field goals — one on a goaltending call to go along with four baskets by Henderson. Florida State scored only 4 pts in the final 13:07 of the half, going scoreless for 8 minutes at one stretch.

In the second half, the Blue Devils went 7:14 without a basket until Henderson's layup with 5:31 left gave Duke a 53-42 lead.

"His athletic ability to create shots was huge," Duke Coach K said. "When they got it down to 10 pts, toward the last 15 seconds on the shot clock, we got the ball to him four straight times and we scored."

Derwin Kitchen scored 16 points and Uche Echefu 10 to get Florida State back into the game in the final minutes. Both players scored all of their points in the final 13 minutes as the Seminoles pulled to single digits, 51-42, with 6:03 left on a pair of free throws by Douglas.

Henderson's 9-of-14 shooting helped Duke shoot 42.9% from the field. Kyle Singler chipped in with 15 and Nolan Smith added a 12 more.

Duke Holds Off Davidson

Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler both scored 22 pts, and Duke held off a late Curry-led charge to beat Davidson 79-67 on Wednesday night.

Gerald Henderson added 11 pts on 3-of-11 shooting for the #2 Blue Devils (13-1). They never trailed, outscored the Wildcats 20-7 to start the second half and won their 67th straight non-conf home game by withstanding a furious comeback attempt that for a while seemed destined to add to Curry's legend.

"All was good in Krzyzewskiville. And then, all of a sudden, the clouds came," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "The story's going to end bad. But you don't win every round against good teams. They're going to make you look bad, stop you, or you're going to stop them and we stopped them a little bit more than they stopped us."

Curry, the nation's leading scorer, scored 29 points — the most Duke has allowed any player this season — on 10-of-22 shooting but was just 1-for-8 from 3-point range and turned it over six times for Davidson (10-3).

He scored 21 points in the second half as he tried to rally his team from a 25-point deficit, including eight in a 90-second span that came during a 14-2 spurt midway through the half to help the Wildcats close within 13.

"After they made that big run in the second half and got up 20-plus, we didn't panic," Curry said. "We've been in that situation before — kind of too often now — and we just got back to hitting singles, as coach would say, and making the easy play."

Davidson then pulled to 69-61 on Lovedale's basket in the post with 3:53 left, but couldn't get any closer. Lance Thomas hit two critical free throws and Scheyer scored six pts in the final 2 minutes — including the 1,000th of his career — to help Duke pull away late.

"I've been doing this for 20 years against Duke," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. "They expose you. They undress you. And unless you stay in the center ring and fight from the center of the ring, instead of backpedaling and getting caught on the ropes, you're never going to be successful against Duke."

Duke Dominates VT by 25 to Begin ACC Play

It takes a lot to please Coach K, but there might be only one way for #5 Duke to top the dominance of its defense after halftime against Virginia Tech.

"Probably (allowing) single digits, he would have been really happy," guard Jon Scheyer quipped.

Coach K will just have to settle for allowing 13 points in the second half of his team's 69-44 rout of the Hokies to open ACC play.

Kyle Singler scored 19 pts and keyed Duke's decisive late burst. Gerald Henderson added 15, Nolan Smith had 13 and Jon Scheyer finished with 11 for the Blue Devils (12-1, 1-0 ACC).

"We want to have that be our staple — we want to bring defense and rebounding to every game," Singler said. "We know we can rebound the ball and play defense. If we do that, we'll have a good enough chance to win as many games as we want to."

They did it this time with a punishing defensive performance in the second half, when they held the Hokies to 6-for-18 shooting and out-rebounded them 22-10. Duke also outscored VT 30-9 over the final 17 minutes of the game.

"Our defense the last 17½ minutes was outstanding — we're talking, switching, guys were rebounding," said Krzyzewski, calling it his team's best defensive half of the season.

Malcolm Delaney scored 12 to lead Virginia Tech (9-5, 0-1). Leading scorer A.D. Vassallo was held to 7 — 12 below his average. Those two and Jeff Allen were a combined 2-for-8 in the final 20 minutes.

"No one's stopping them from getting shots except the guys in the white shirts," VT coach Seth Greenberg said.

The Hokies shot 36.7% and committed 18 turnovers in losing its 8th straight game against AP Top 25 teams.

Singler finished 7-of-11 from the field and almost single-handedly made sure the Blue Devils wouldn't need any Sean Dockery-like heroics to take care of the Hokies this time, scoring 9 and dishing out two no-look passes that led to layups during the game-breaking run that put Duke up by 20 pts to stay.

On a side note, cross town rival UNC got dealt a beat down by unranked BC in their first conference game. A fitting welcome to ACC play by the once #1 fluff team in the country. As usual they start each year undefeated during their perennial cupcake schedule, and will follow up this devastating defeat by tackling a tough and gritty foe in Charleston, SC. Wow, way to man up! Dont hurt yourself there roy 'choke' williams.. Hey! See if you can knock off a few community colleges and church teams on your way back up, eh?

Duke Rolls Over Loyola

Kyle Singler scored 20 pts to help #5 ranked Duke beat Loyola of Maryland 92-51 on Wednesday despite playing much of the game without starting point guard Nolan Smith.

Gerald Henderson added 19 for the Blue Devils (11-1), but Duke lost Smith midway through the first half to an apparent left-knee injury, leaving the sophomore to spend most of the day sitting on the bench and wearing an ice bag on his knee.

Still, Duke had too much depth and size against the smaller Greyhounds (4-9), taking a double-digit lead in the first 6 min and never looking back. The Blue Devils shot 55% and scored 34 pts off 24 turnovers to extend their non-conf winning streak at Cameron to a national-best 66 games, a span of nearly nine years.

Brian Zoubek had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Duke, while Jon Scheyer added 12.

Brian Rudolph had 13 points to lead Loyola, which shot 32% for the game.

Duke led 48-23 at the break and quickly pushed the margin past 30 a few minutes into the second half.

Enough fluff, practice is OVAH!

Bring on the ACC baby!! Looks like a good start to a better year, good luck Duke and Coach K!!