Duke rolls over Cal to advance to 3rd round in NCAA Tourney

Defense has always been the foundation of Mike Krzyzewski's team, and the top-seeded Blue Devils sent their coach of three decades into a regional semifinal for the 19th time with a stellar performance in a 68-53 victory over California on Sunday.

After winning both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, they are playing the type of suffocating defense that could put Krzyzewski back in the Final Four for an 11th time.

The Blue Devils last reached the national semifinals in 2004, not that their coach feels as though they've let him down lately.

"You know, I hate when somebody compares those teams of the last couple years with our national championship teams, and they say they underachieved," Krzyzewski said. "Are you kidding me? They won 30, 29 games. But they were limited teams, and they couldn't play the defense that this team can play because we have big guys."

Exploiting a huge advantage in size and depth in the frontcourt, the Blue Devils opened a double-digit lead in the first half and Cal never seriously threatened to get back into the game.

Brian Zoubek, Duke's 7-foot-1 center, had 14 points and 13 rebounds while teaming with Lance Thomas and reserves Miles and Mason Plumlee to dominate a short-handed Cal frontline featuring 6-foot-8 Duke transfer Jamal Boykin — and little else.

Nolan Smith led the Blue Devils (31-5) with 20 points and spearheaded Duke's trademark man-to-man defense that made it difficult for Cal's high-scoring trio of Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson to get uncontested shots.

Hounded by relentless "D," Randle — the Pac-10 player of the year — was limited to 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting.

"From the get-go, I really wanted to make it clear that I was going to be in his jersey the whole game. That was the game plan," Smith said. "I just stuck with him with the help of my big guys. They really helped me out, and I owe it all to them. They made my job easy fighting over screens and giving them no open looks."

Kyle Singler scored 17 for Duke, which advanced to the South Regional semifinals in Houston, where the Blue Devils will face fourth-seeded Purdue on Friday. Zoubek's 6-for-6 shooting more than made up for leading scorer Jon Scheyer going 1 of 11 and finishing with seven points.