As fellow Duke students prepared for finals this weekend, the men's basketball team had a test of its own to take care of on the basketball court.
With a 104-61 drubbing of the Michigan Wolverines (2-5), one might say that Duke more than aced its first exam of finals week. The Blue Devils killed it.
"I think it's obvious that we played an outstanding basketball game," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Our kids were sensational. It's tough to single out any one person because I thought that everyone played well."
Not that many years ago, the traditional Duke-Michigan game was a tough late-December matchup for both teams. As of late, however, the annual showdown has been more lopsided than interesting (or than anything else).
The Wolverines came into the game sporting an unimpressive 2-4 record with double-digit losses at home to Maryland and St. John's. The Blue Devils were licking their chops even before tip-off.
"From the beginning of the game, we saw their guys jumping around and celebrating like they were the No. 1 team," senior co-captain Nate James said. "We got in the locker room and we said 'Hey, we are going to go out there and play our asses off and shut these guys down.'"
Needless to say, the Wolverines' unmerited swagger did not sit too well with the Blue Devils.
"They kind of disrespected us early by stomping on our floor and things like that," freshman guard Chris Duhon said.
Michigan's pregame tactics backfired in a big way as the Cameron crowd and the Duke defense jumped all over the Wolverines from the get-go.
Duke raced to an 11-2 lead, feeding off its defense and the boisterous crowd. The Blue Devils put even more space between themselves and the Wolverines on the strength of an amazing 25-0 run that left Michigan trailing 34-2 with 8:51 left in the half.
With Duke holding a 59-18 lead going into the locker room at halftime, the second half was a mere formality. Michigan did manage to keep Duke's final margin of victory from ballooning to over 50 as it played with more composure in the second stanza en route to the final 104-61 count.
After the game, Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe struggled to find the words to adequately describe his team's performance.
"We did not execute at all," Ellerbe said. "The young guys were very, very shell-shocked. I'm not that articulate of a guy, I'm not sure what other word to use.
"They just didn't function in the environment."
Krzyzewski and the rest of the Blue Devils, on the other hand, basked in the glow of one of the more impressive wins of the year, especially coming off a lackluster performance against Davidson Tuesday night.
"We kind of had a chip on our shoulder [tonight] because we didn't come out and play like we wanted to against Davidson," Duhon said. "We had something to prove tonight and Michigan just happened to be the team."
Duke displayed great offensive balance throughout the entire game. Shane Battier scored a team-high 21 points and Jason Williams lit up Michigan's inexperienced backcourt for 20 points of his own on 8-for-12 shooting from the field.
Four other Blue Devils-James, Carlos Boozer, Mike Dunleavy and Casey Sanders-also scored in double figures for Duke.
Krzyzewski was especially complimentary of Sanders, who came in and played with tremendous energy and enthusiasm in the first half. Picking up the slack for a foul-ridden Boozer, Sanders gave the Blue Devils a shot in the arm off the bench.
"Sanders' play in the first half was so fiery," Krzyzewski said. "He had, I think, four offensive rebounds. That just makes us a better team."
Heading into exam week and the winter break, Krzyzewski seemed pleased with the overall progress of his team. He also expressed appreciation for the effort students had made to support the team with final exams looming.
"I thought our crowd was sensational," he said. "This is so good. We're starting exams and there are kids in line all day. It was a great atmosphere-nine o'clock at night on a Saturday before exams. I'm really proud of our supporters."
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