Those on the West Coast who still feel that the Pacific-10 is better than the Atlantic Coast Conference received a rude awakening yesterday afternoon in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Led by Trajan Langdon, who matched his career-high with 34 points, the second-ranked men's basketball team erupted for a 19-3 run in the first seven minutes of the game and destroyed No. 12 UCLA, 120-84, before a national television audience. The 120 points was the most the Bruins have ever given up in their storied history.
On top of that, Elton Brand returned for the first time since Dec. 21 and scored 14 points in 16 active minutes.
"Our kids were really ready to play this afternoon," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They were excited to play, and to play against a very talented team was terrific for us. Langdon was-you can't do much better, especially in the first half. Of course it was great to see Elton back."
Langdon scored 10 points in the first six minutes as Duke (25-2) built an early 21-8 lead on the hapless Bruins (20-6). By then, the biggest suspense was reserved for the return of Brand.
The freshman entered the game at the 13:58 mark of the first half and quickly grabbed a defensive rebound. The applause for Brand soon turned into cheers for his teammates, who were hitting three-pointers at will.
Langdon nailed 5-of-6 in the first half, and Duke as a whole shot better from the three-point arc than it did the free-throw line in building up a 57-33 lead at the intermission.
"It was good taking them out of the game early," Langdon said. "I think it's one of the better games I've played. I came in and just tried to get looks. We didn't think it was going to be easy."
The shots were easy because the Blue Devils' offense was as fluid as its been in weeks. Open looks were created as the ball was patiently worked around the court. For the game, Duke had 23 assists and nine turnovers with Steve Wojciechowski recording an assist-turnover ratio of seven to zero.
Wojciechowski added 11 points and a career-high seven rebounds. His backup, William Avery, also played well, scoring 11 points in 21 minutes. Avery squared off for the first time in college against his freshman counterpart, Baron Davis. Davis, who played 36 minutes until he fouled out, scored 18 points but also turned the ball over four times and was six-of-14 from the field.
Defensively, Duke held the Bruins to just 26-percent shooting in the first half and forced 10 turnovers in the final 20 minutes.
"I think it was a total team effort," Roshown McLeod said. "We hit some shots early in the game and just never let them back in. This was definitely the best game that we've played all year."
McLeod, who stepped up when Brand was hurt two months ago, showed that his game isn't going to change with Brand's return. He scored 23 points, 14 in the first half, and combined with Brand to balance Duke's scoring on the inside and outside.
The Blue Devils turned an easy win into a blowout early in the second half. Wojciechowski knocked down a three from out top to finish off a 10-0 run and put Duke ahead 69-38. UCLA got no closer than 25 the rest of the way.
"It's pretty clear why we know today that Duke is going to be the number one team in the nation," UCLA coach Steve Lavin said. "They played about as well as anyone we've played going back to the North Carolina game [in November]. That displays why they're the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation.
"That shows you what a great conference the ACC is. I thought they just played a tremendous game."
As Lavin said, the Blue Devils are likely to retake the top spot in the country for the third time this year following UNC's loss to N.C. State on Saturday. Duke leads North Carolina by a full game in the ACC, and the two are set for a rematch on Saturday in Cameron.
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