Less than 40 hours after a four-point overtime victory over archrival North Carolina, Mike Krzyzewski was worried about mental fatigue and a letdown against Virginia.
But when the Blue Devils finally did give in to fatigue, it was way too late. Duke (18-2, 9-0 in the ACC) jumped out to a 32-point halftime lead and easily cruised past Virginia (15-7, 5-4) 106-86 Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium. In scoring 100 points against the Cavaliers for the fifth straight time, the Blue Devils took a four-game lead in the conference race.
After losing the opening tip, the Blue Devils took over, quickly jumping ahead 8-0. Duke shot 68 percent in the first half, and on 12 first-half misses, the Blue Devils had eight offensive rebounds. Duke scored on its final 12 possessions to build an insurmountable 65-33 lead.
And while the quick start may have surprised most everyone in attendance, Chris Carrawell said he expected it.
"After losing our first two games, we got back our focus and said, 'We're not going to lose. And if we're going to lose, we're not going to beat ourselves,'" Carrawell said. "We definitely can be beat, and we know that. We have a sense of urgency for every game we play."
And while Duke seemingly could not miss, the Cavaliers could not buy a bucket. In the game's opening minutes, Virginia bricked shot after shot, many inside the paint. All total, the Cavs missed 15 of their
"It was like a first-round knockout," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We had some point-blank shots that we should make; we just got shook. The game was over in the first five or six minutes.... The more easy shots we missed, the more nervous we got."
The second half began in similar fashion, and a Mike Dunleavy three-point play four minutes in gave the Blue Devils a 37-point lead. But then Duke hit the wall.
Consecutive inside buckets by Adam Hall kicked off a 20-2 Cavalier run that trimmed Duke's lead to 19 points. But Virginia would get no closer than 18 the rest of the way, and Duke had its 31st-straight ACC win.
At his postgame press conference, Krzyzewski blamed the run on physical and mental fatigue, but did not express much regret.
"That first half was as good a half as we've played all year.... I'm not going to make apologies for 20-point wins," Krzyzewski said. "Our kids played great."
Among the "kids" who played great was Jason Williams, who perhaps had his best day running the floor. The freshman dished out 13 assists compared to two turnovers.
Williams' performance was a beautiful sight to his coach, who thought he might have lost his point guard to injury after the North Carolina game. Early in the second half Thursday night, Williams' right hand was stepped on. Williams believed it was fractured, but X-rays cleared him to play Saturday.
Williams says the medical scare gave him extra motivation before the game, and his coach was relieved to see him back on the floor.
"Thank goodness for Jason. Jason was great today," Krzyzewski said. "After the Carolina game, we thought his hand was broken.... I'm thinking of almost breaking his hand every week."
Three different Blue Devils scored more than 20 points. Carlos Boozer and Carrawell led the way with 25 apiece, each shooting 11-of-16 from the floor. Virginia found no answer for Boozer, who had a field day down low, taking almost all of his shots in the paint.
"Carlos is really growing as a basketball player," said Shane Battier, who scored 21 points and grabbed 11 boards himself. "We keep telling him, 'You're 6-8, 250 pounds, you should be a force down low.' Now he's starting to realize his strengths."
Before the game began, Krzyzewski challenged his team to treat the contest as if it were an NCAA quarterfinal contest. If Krzyzewski wanted to see how his team would handle two tough games less than two days apart, he must have left the court a happy man.
"If you want to play for a national championship, you're going to have a game like the Carolina game, you're going to have a game like Virginia," Carrawell said. "How do you respond? Are you going to play well against Carolina and lose the regional championship? No. We treated this like a championship game."
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