Duke knocks the living piss out of K-State, and other stories..

Kansas State's Frank Martin On Duke: 'They Knocked The Living Piss Out Of Us.'

The Kansas State Wildcats met the Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. The Wildcats were ranked #4 and the Blue Devils were #1 so it was a highly anticipated matchup that .... was basically a blowout.

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The Blue Devils dominated from start to finish. Kansas State held an 11-9 lead at one point but after it wasn't pretty for K-State. They were never quite blown out of the game but they were consistently 8-10 points behind throughout the second half.

Kansas State's Frank Martin says simply: "They knocked the living piss out of us." He says if there' a better team in the country than Duke then he doesn't want to play them. Duke's performance was that complete.

Duke's defense just wouldn't let Kansas State do what it wanted -- that was the bottomline. Kansas State wanted to run on offense and Duke made them slow down. They were exposed in the half court offense. Add in there that Jacob Pullen couldn't do anything offensively -- he was 1-of-12 -- and you see why this game wasn't close.

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And then against #6 Michigan State

It didn't take Duke's Nolan Smith long during practice to notice something special about Kyrie Irving.

"He'll be like, 'Get out of the way, I've got it,'" Smith said. "You don't really hear that too often, when a freshman will tell two seniors on the wings to get out of the way. We have no problem letting him do it."

Easy to see why.

Irving scored a season-high 31 points and led #1 Duke past #6 Michigan State 84-79 in the marquee matchup of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Smith added 17 points and Kyle Singler scored 15 for the Blue Devils (7-0), who shot 47 percent and turned 20 Michigan State turnovers into 28 points. Duke used a 12-2 spurt midway through the second half to take a double-figure lead, then held off the Spartans down the stretch by hitting 9 of 12 free throws in the final 1:15 to seal its second victory over a top-10 team in eight days.

"I think every win we have is a statement," Irving said. "We want to show the world, every time we step on the court, we're the best."

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And then an unranked but gritty Butler

Nolan Smith scored 24 points to lead #1 Duke to an 82-70 victory over Butler on Saturday, moving Mike Krzyzewski into a tie with Adolph Rupp for third place on the coaching career wins list.

Freshman Kyrie Irving added all but four of his 21 in the second half for Duke, in a rematch of schools that played an epic national championship game in April. The Blue Devils won that game 61-59, giving Krzyzewski his fourth NCAA title. He has 876 wins overall, 803 at Duke.

This game, played at the Izod Center, wasn't expected to be as close as that championship game in Indianapolis since Butler lost two starters, including lottery pick Gordon Hayward. But the Bulldogs stayed within striking distance until the final minutes.

The Blue Devils (8-0) were tested for the first time this season as they ran their winning streak to 18 games. Until Saturday, Duke had not trailed in the final 30 minutes of a game this season, including wins over top-10 teams Kansas State and Michigan State.

Shawn Vanzant had 14 points for the Bulldogs (4-3), and his 12-point second half was what kept them close until Duke pulled away in the final minutes.

This was the third straight big game for the backcourt of Smith and Irving. In the last two Duke wins, they combined to average of 33.8 points while shooting 53 percent from the field.

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In the first 8 games Duke has been fun to watch as they mature into their new roles and watching the confidence of Kyrie Irving build to match his level of basketball skill and maturity, the Freshman plays more like a Junior from the point, although he is making mental mistakes that lead to more turn-overs than we would like to see.

I'm positive the consensus of his teammates, coaches and fans alike is that he has surpassed all expectations and has far exceeded the hype that was placed upon his shoulders.

It's hard to believe a quarter of the season is already in the books. We're looking forward to more exciting Duke basketball and anticipate a solid run in ACC play.

GO DUKE!!!