Just in case you were worried that the men's basketball team would play with lessened intensity against South Carolina State, No. 1 Duke wasted little time before proving it wouldn't suffer a letdown Monday night.
Three seconds, to be exact. That was how much time had ticked off the clock when Steve Wojciechowski dove for a loose ball and crashed into the press table after the opening tipoff. The rest of the Blue Devils (6-0) followed the lead of their senior point guard for the ensuing 39:53 and dispatched the Bulldogs (0-2) with surgical precision, 98-40, in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"There's no question we're more talented than South Carolina State," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We have bigger people and more of them; we should win this game. But I thought we played well. To me, that was the key. The score of the game is insignificant; the quality of the game is significant. I thought we played good basketball throughout no matter what lineup-even with guys in there the last few minutes of the game they still respected the game."
Playing for the first time since knocking off then-No. 1 Arizona, the Blue Devils celebrated their top ranking by dominating every aspect of the game versus S.C. State, last year's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament champions. Duke jumped out to a 12-0 lead to start the contest, blew the game open with 22 unanswered points over seven minutes at the end of the first half and beginning of the second and held its largest advantage of the night (58 points) when the final buzzer sounded.
"Obviously, S.C. State is not as good as Arizona, but it was a good game," said senior forward Roshown McLeod. "It was a good chance to show what kind of team we'd be coming off a big win like that. We showed great poise tonight, and we had a few spurts in the second half."
Five Blue Devils reached double digits in points,
"We had a chance to see how good the No. 1 team in America is.... In my opinion this is the best team we've ever played," Bulldog coach Cy Alexander said. "We had 33 turnovers, which is the most ever in my 11 years of coaching. It's because of the tenacity of the Duke team. They're big, quick and strong and play hard."
Offensively, freshman point guard William Avery had his first opportunity to run the team for a significant period of time. After coming off the bench to lead the Blue Devils in scoring against the Wildcats, Avery had a team-high nine assists Monday. His favorite target was fellow freshman reserve Chris Burgess, who had his most productive game this year, totaling a career-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
The center had 12 of his points in the second half as he showed off his repertoire of inside moves. Just over seven-and-a-half minutes into the half, Burgess took an Avery feed and converted a hook shot to the delight of the home crowd. The Cameron Crazies went even wilder when, with 4:32 to go in the game, the point guard found him alone underneath the basket for an emphatic dunk. Twelve seconds later Avery stole the ball from Blakney and got the ball to Burgess for another two-handed slam and an 88-36 Duke lead.
Burgess and Avery, who played 21 minutes apiece, were two of nine Blue Devils to get double-digit minutes.
"It was nice to see the other guys go out," said Wojciechowski, who received an eternity-14 minutes-of rest. "We've got a big week ahead of us. It's kind of nice seeing the other guys playing a little bit."
Trajan Langdon, who hit 1-of-10 three-pointers against Arizona, rebounded with a 4-of-6 shooting night from downtown and 17 points. Wojciechowski found him open in the corner 2:55 into the game ,and the junior guard got himself back on track, drilling his first trey for an 8-0 Duke advantage.
"I was getting open looks against Arizona, and they weren't going down," Langdon said. "I was shooting the ball like I regularly did, and I was just trying to stay confident after that game. I was fortunate to get open looks tonight, and I made some big shots for us."
When Langdon got an early start resting up for Wednesday's game against UNC-Greensboro, with 5:16 to go and the Blue Devils ahead 84-32, the only contest remaining was between the Crazies and Bulldog forward Brian Neis. The sophomore fouled out with 6:59 remaining but refused to sit down on the bench and allow the Duke fans to do their customary "See ya!" chant.
The Crazies continued to wave and yell-stopping only for Blue Devil free throw attempts-until S.C. State left the floor, when they were finally able to shout a farewell to a team which had just seen what Duke is capable of this year when it plays hard for 40 minutes.
"That's the sign of a great team," said freshman forward Shane Battier, who had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting. "They play 100 percent 100 percent of the time, where most teams play hard only for stretches."
Injury update: Nate James had an MRI on Sunday and results showed he has a high ankle sprain. Duke hopes to have him back for its ACC opener on Saturday against Virginia. Chris Carrawell is still suffering from lower back spasms and his status is doubtful for the rest of the week.
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