CHARLOTTE - Welcome back, Dunleavy.
Mike Dunleavy returned to the court for the first time in four games, and showed no signs of having ever suffered from mononucleosis.
The freshman sixth-man drained four of Duke's ACC tournament record 17 three-pointers as the top-seeded Blue Devils (25-4, 16-1 in the ACC) blew away No. 9 seed Clemson (10-20, 4-13) 94-63 last night in the first round of the ACC tournament at the Charlotte Coliseum.
Duke broke a 15-14 contest wide open with a 31-4 run midway through the first half, hitting six threes during the run.
The Blue Devils shot a blistering 71.4 percent from behind the three-point line while building a staggering 51-28 halftime lead.
"Our guys came to play, there's no question about that," Mike Krzyzewski said. "We shot the ball extremely well."
That could be the understatement of the year. Duke shot 64.7 percent from the field, continually capitalizing on open looks given to them by an outclassed Clemson defense.
Five Blue Devils finished in double figures, led by Shane Battier's 19.
"They shot the ball terrific," said Clemson coach Larry Shyatt. "They beat us to loose balls, they were the first on the floor and they beat us consistently.
"Once they took over, I don't think we ever were capable of putting them back on their heels. Everybody became a shooter."
Among those shooters was oft-forgotten Nate James, who poured in 18 points on 4-of-7 shooting from three-point land.
"They gave us looks," James said. "But I'd like to say a lot of those shots were luck, so any future opponents don't have to worry about me much."
Duke only built upon its lead in the second half, and the outmatched Tigers never came within 20 points.
The second half offered little drama, and as fans filed for the exits, Mike Krzyzewski gave his rather shallow bench plenty of playing time. Jason Williams, Chris Carrawell and Battier all saw significant time on the bench for the first time in a while, as every Blue Devil saw the floor for at least one minute.
During the game's decisive first half run, Duke scored on every possession except for one, at one point scoring on 12-straight possessions. During the eight-minute stretch, Duke missed just five shots, two of which were put back for buckets. The Blue Devils were 6-of-7 from behind the arc, and James and Dunleavy combined for 14 points.
"I thought [James and Dunleavy] were the keys to the game," Krzyzewski said. "They had a lot of open looks and they hit them. I think we took good shots."
Defensively, Duke managed to stifle Clemson's offense for the third time this season, holding the Tigers to 37.3 percent shooting. Carrawell once again kept ACC leading scorer Will Solomon in check, holding the star sophomore to just 14 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
"We came out to play," James said. "Even though we beat them twice, you never know what can happen in tournament time."
Just like no one would have known Dunleavy would do what he did.
"I didn't know how many minutes Mike was going to play," Krzyzewski said. "I was watching him out there to see if he was going to let up defensively or if he was gasping for air, but he never looked that way.
"He never looked tired so we let him play a little bit longer."
The additional PT was never wasted, as the freshman seemingly never lost a beat.
"I've never been out that long, but I guess it's like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it," Dunleavy said. "My timing still needs some work, but I just wanted to get into the flow."
With the win, Duke earns a bye until the semifinal round Saturday at 1:30. The Blue Devils will face today's winner of the North Carolina-Wake Forest game.
"Whoever we play, it's going to be a tough game," Carrawell said. "It's always tough to beat any team three times in a row."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.