Duke rushes past Kareem, Mizzou

GREENSBORO - Their situations could not have been more different.

On one side was Duke, the East region's No. 1 seed who had rocked the 16th-seeded Monmouth Hawks in the opening round, prevailing 95-52. The Blue Devils' opponent, No. 9 Missouri, had barely squeaked out a two-point victory over eighth-seeded Georgia.

Once the game started, however, none of that mattered. What did matter were the next 40 minutes, and when the dust settled, the Blue Devils, led by sophomore sensation Jason Williams' game-high 31 points and senior tri-captain Shane Battier's floor leadership, had knocked off the Tigers, 94-81.

"Duke and Missouri played a hell of a game today," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Their game plan... put the game at a pace that was tremendous."

Missouri came flying out of the gate, holding the Blue Devils to only eight points in the game's first eight minutes while opening up a six-point lead. The Tigers' key players-sophomore Kareem Rush and junior Clarence Gilbert-combined to score 16 of their team's first 19 points. Rush, who finished the day with 29 points, was 11-for-23 from the field and 5-for-8 from three-point range.

"He's a great player," Krzyzewski said of Rush, who announced after the game that he would return to Missouri for his junior season. "He's a beautiful player to watch and I would have loved to coach him."

Duke sophomore Mike Dunleavy joined his coach in praising the Missouri forward.

"He's sweet," Dunleavy said. "I've played with a lot of NBA guys and he is right there with all of them. He is going to be a heck of a pro. He's slippery and hard to guard. He's got everything in his arsenal, and is just real smooth and fun to watch. I got a view of his backside a lot today."

Krzyzewski's faith in his players paid off, as Battier recognized and exploited his mismatch against Missouri's less-agile center, Tajudeen Soyoye.

"We were pretty small and I was the center, so Soyoye had to guard me and we tried to take advantage of it," Battier said. "I didn't shoot a very great percentage from the three-point line, but I think I made up for it from the free-throw line today."

Battier's performance was complemented by Williams' strong outing. The sophomore's tenacious defense helped limit Missouri point guards Brian Grawer and Wesley Stokes to a combined 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting. Although he committed a game-high five turnovers, Willams' five three-pointers and nine assists were key factors in Duke's offensive outbursts throughout the game.

"Jason is talented," Battier said. "After this year, you sort of lose track of great games and you come to expect greatness from him every time he steps on the court and handles the ball.

"I thought we had great execution the whole game. Jason really played a great floor game.... That was really the difference today-our offensive execution was very sharp."

Although he started out slow, Williams was firing on all cylinders by the end of the game. He had six assists in the game's final nine minutes, helping to seal Missouri's defeat.

"They were really pressuring the ball, and every time I was going into the lane I really didn't know what to do with the basketball," Williams said. "As the game progressed, I started doing a better job of getting to the rim and finishing, pulling up for a little jump shot or finding my teammates."

After watching Duke's two superstars end his team's season, nobody was happier to hear the final buzzer than Missouri coach Quin Snyder.

"[Duke is] a great team," Snyder said. "When they went small..., Jason just took the game over-so did Shane. I'm glad this game is over."