McLeod leads Duke to 65-49 win over N.C. State

RALEIGH - Having watched his 10-deep team get beaten down the stretch Thursday by six-deep North Carolina, men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski took his top-ranked Blue Devils down a new route Sunday. He made a lineup change and stuck with his five starters, and the result was something Duke fans have come to expect-victory.

Krzyzewski matched up with small, quick and defense-oriented N.C. State (12-10, 3-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) by starting 6-foot-8 Shane Battier and 6-foot-6 Chris Carrawell in place of 6-foot-10 Taymon Domzalski and 6-foot-8 Mike Chappell. His new starting five-Battier, Carrawell, Roshown McLeod, Steve Wojciechowski and Trajan Langdon-played more than 80 percent of Duke's minutes, a stunning contrast from Krzyzewski's liberal substitutions of the first 22 games.

The move paid off, as the Blue Devils led almost the entire game and fought off a pesky Wolfpack club, 65-49.

"Those kids deserved to be in the ballgame," Krzyzewski said of his starting five. "They're playing well.

"Sometimes, just in subbing, you might take your team out of a flow. We were in such a good flow in the second half that I didn't want to mess around with it."

One starter, McLeod, felt the flow on offense more than anyone else on the court. The senior forward poured in a career-high 27 points, including 20 of Duke's 22 during a 13 1/2-minute stretch that spanned the late first half and early second half. During that time, the Blue Devils (21-2, 10-1 in the ACC) outscored State, 22-11.

"I'm not going to go away from the success that I've been having playing inside," said McLeod, whose 17.5 points-per-game average in ACC contests leads the Blue Devils. "I want to be a successful basketball player, so I'm going to go with the bread and butter whenever I have an opportunity."

On Sunday, McLeod found his bread and butter near the basket. Ten of his 12 field goals came from inside of five feet, and when he wasn't scoring, McLeod was helping to get State's post defenders in foul trouble.

Duke's field-goal defense Sunday was most impressive during an 18-3 first-half run, in which the Blue Devils forced two turnovers in almost 9 1/2 minutes but held State to 1-of-9 shooting.

"We were all on the same page, we knew where each other were, we were talking, and that allowed us to go on runs and really open up the game," Battier said. "Communication is the key to our defense. When we really talk and really communicate, it gives the guards pressuring the ball a lot more confidence and makes it a lot tougher for the [opponent] to run their offense."

The Blue Devils won't hold on to their No. 1 ranking past Monday, but their defense Sunday was as good as any in the nation. That wasn't the case at Carolina, which shot 63.5 percent against the Blue Devils.

"We needed to be competitive," Krzyzewski said. "In the game Thursday night, I thought we were really excited to play, but we hadn't been in a game like that as a group.

"The only thing that I was upset about [at UNC] was that we weren't competitive every possession. We were competitive for periods, but not every possession. I wanted to get back to being competitive, and I thought we were today, against a very competitive team."

Although their win at N.C. State came less than 72 hours after the loss to UNC, the Blue Devils get little rest before their next contest. They host Florida State, which lost 68-62 Saturday to Maryland, Tuesday at 9 p.m.