CHARLOTTE - It was not what one might call "poetry in motion," but Duke reaffirmed its No. 1 ranking with a 94-61 win over a pesky Davidson College team last night in Charlotte.
The Blue Devils (2-0) used a 17-3 run over the final 4:35 of the first half to blow open a 30-24 game. The run began after a Duke 20-second timeout and two quick baskets by Elton Brand to extend the lead to 10. Will Avery highlighted the spurt with back-to-back steals at halfcourt, which both turned into easy layups at the other end.
"William's two defensive plays toward the end of the first half kind of opened the game up for us," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Our two guards were the key."
The Wildcats played the Blue Devils tough for the first 16 minutes of the contest, and took a 5-2 lead at the 17:43 mark of the first half. Duke responded, however, with a 10-0 run over the next minute and a half to open up a 12-5 lead.
The Davidson defense swarmed Brand, triple teaming him for most of the first half as soon as he touched the ball. As a result, the sophomore was held to only four points through the game's first 16 minutes.
Brand ended the night with 10 points, taking only seven shots and making one trip to the free-throw line.
The Wildcats' focus on the big man, however, opened the door for other players, namely Trajan Langdon. The guard scored 27 on the night and had 19 of Duke's first 37 points.
"I thought our two guards, Langdon and Avery, had terrific games," Krzyzewski said. "Langdon had 19 in the first half.... And then you had to guard him, so that opened up something in the second half."
The second half saw no substantial runs, but Duke kept the pressure on Davidson and slowly extended its lead, which reached 34 on a Chris Burgess dunk with 1:38 remaining.
Duke fine-tuned its offense in the second half, committing only eight turnovers, as compared to 13 in the opening stanza. The guards controlled the ball for the majority of the second half, thus keeping the turnovers to a minimum.
Avery, who ran the point for the majority of the game, contributed in many different areas, recording 10 points and eight assists while committing just two turnovers. On the defensive end, he finished the game with four steals and shut down Davidson's leader, Ali Ton.
"We put really good pressure on the ball," Krzyzewski said. "We played against a kid who is a very good guard, in Ton. You're not going to stop him, but I think we did a great job against him."
Ton, who averaged 6.2 assists per game last season, did not have an assist in the opening half and ended the contest with only four assists as compared with eight turnovers. The defensive pressure troubled the Wildcats the entire evening, as they turned the ball over 25 times.
Krzyzewski believed this game was a good gauge for his team early in the season.
"These two games have really helped learn a little bit more about our team," he said. "The score [of the Davidson game] is not indicative of the intensity of the competition and the quality of the play."
Duke returns to action Saturday night when it hosts South Carolina State.
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