Eleven minutes into the second half, Florida State's 6-foot-10, 350-pound center Nigel Dixon wandered the key wearily, drenched in sweat, as he tried to keep an eye on Duke's Casey Sanders.
Two seconds later, the sophomore fouled out as he knocked into senior Shane Battier with 8:16 remaining in the game. Dixon retired with two points and two rebounds as the leaner, meaner Blue Devils showed that frontcourt speed and agility outweigh sheer brute strength.
With the lead fluctuating for over 10 minutes in the first half and leading scorer Jason Williams contributing more from behind the scenes with only eight total points, Duke's big men took up the offensive slack.
Battier and guard/forward Nate James combined with center Carlos Boozer for 58 of the Blue Devils' 100 points, tying the Seminoles total score. Duke dominated the key, scoring 44 points in the paint, 26 in the second half alone.
After only scoring eight total points in his last two home games, Boozer led all scorers with 23, including a fleet-footed fast-break layup on a pass from James. Battier, struggling with the flu, outpaced the Seminole defense to score not only 21 points, but also notch three steals and two assists.
"We wanted to establish some of the things we got away from in the past games-our inside presence with [Boozer] and overall our teamwork," sophomore Mike Dunleavy said. "You saw that [yesterday] afternoon. [Williams] was spectacular distributing the ball, and our guys were really playing unselfishly. We attained all of our goals today."
One of Sanders' goals was to add strength and confidence at the post. The sophomore center scored five points in 13 minutes while banging up against Dixon and potential ACC rookie of the year Michael Joiner.
At 6-11, 218 pounds, there was concern that Duke's tallest player would not be able to match up against stronger post players, but Sanders showed increased strength and aggressiveness as he wrestled successfully with Dixon for a loose ball and then harried Joiner into knocking the ball out of bounds for a second Seminole turnover in the first half.
"I've put in a lot of extra work to keep myself in good shape [for the game]," Sanders said. "A lot of it was mental, just knowing that I could get in there and contribute."
Like any successful frontcourt, Duke's big men were only as good as the guards that fed them the ball yesterday afternoon.
Along with Williams' pinpoint passes, Chris Duhon contributed two steals and six assists as the freshman guard fed off of Williams' almost prophetic knowledge of his teammates' whereabouts. Williams added six steals and 10 assists to finish with double-digits in the assist column for the fourth time this season.
"[Yesterday] was one of Jason's best games," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "He played such good defense on the ball, and then his floor game offensively, having 10 assists and two turnovers was really good. For him to learn that he can have that kind of impact on a game without really shooting the ball was good."
Small forward Dunleavy played like a big man yesterday afternoon, as he repeatedly dunked on the Florida State defense thanks to what could have been called the Williams-Dunleavy express.
The two Blue Devils connected four times in the first half to demoralize a tired Florida State team whose leading scorer, senior Delvon Arrington, only scored five total points.
"Ever since the Georgia Tech game, Dunleavy's been playing at a higher level," Krzyzewski said. "He has such a good presence on the court and has looked like a veteran in the last four games. There were a couple of times he and Jason connected and it takes courage to run the court like that."
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