Duhon, Devils mess with Texas in NYC

 NEW YORK -- Mike Krzyzewski rode his sleigh into Madison Square Garden this afternoon, and his reindeers glided to their biggest day of the season, as No. 3 Duke blew away No. 11 Texas, 89-61.

 Chris Duhon guided the sleigh with a glowing 15-point, nine-assist performance, and J.J. Redick dashed and danced his way out of a shooting slump with 20 points. Sixteen of those came in the second half, starting with his three-pointer 13 seconds in that ballooned the lead to 20 points, a margin that wouldn't be cut any further while the Blue Devils never let the poor Longhorns play in this reindeer game.

 "With the way we played, I wasn't surprised that we won, just because we played great defense and our offense was clicking," Redick said. "But when we play like that, I guess it's going to be tough for any team to beat us."

 Texas didn't help itself from the start, missing its first nine shots as Duke started making most of the ones on its end. Then coming out of a timeout with 11:16 remaining in the first half, Sean Dockery turned a double crossover move into two points, and Luol Deng shouldered his way to another two in the post. Duhon picked up yet another Longhorn miss on the ensuing possession and drove coast to coast for a left-handed scoop that gave the Blue Devils a 22-9 lead and sent a Garden crowd that was littered with Duke fans into an uproar.

 Another trio of plays four minutes later made sure the house belonged to the Blue Devils. Dockery stripped Texas point guard Royal Ivey at mid-court and drove for a lay-in, but Brain Boddicker answered with a three. Shavlik Randolph had an answer of his own, though, taking a pass from Deng and pounding it home with a two-handed dunk. Two possessions later, Duhon made a steal in the paint and drove the length of the court again, this time waiting just long enough on the fast break for the Garden crowd to get to its feet before sending a behind-the-back pass to Deng for an earth quaking slam.

 Krzyzewski said Duhon played his best game of the season, as he shot 7-for-10 from the field and committed only one turnover.

 "He was spectacular," the coach said. "His quickness and his verve throughout the game gave us so much confidence."

 Duhon snuck through traffic for a lay-up in the closing seconds of a first half that left Duke up 48-29 and saw Texas shoot just 25 percent from the field to the Blue Devils' 62 percent, with Deng's 12 points matching the entire Longhorn starting lineup.

 "There's no doubt we missed a lot of shots that we have to make, and you get deflated," Texas head coach Rick Barnes said. "We miss a dunk, we miss free throws and all the those types of things, and over the course of time it does wear on you."

 By the time the Longhorns did start sinking some shots in the second half, their frustration took over. Sharpshooter Brandon Mouton hit a three with 12:43 remaining, and when Duhon responded with a layup through three Texas defenders, Mouton started tussling with Dockery under the basket. And after Sydmill Harris nailed one from beyond the arc at the other end of the court, Mouton was busy getting his fourth personal foul for knocking into Dockery and a technical for not letting Redick break it up. Four ensuing made free throws by the Blue Devils put them up by 26.

 From there on, Duke slowed things down, with foul trouble forcing Krzyzewski to go with a four-guard lineup that used up most of the shot clock before penetrating inside.

 In what little time the Longhorns had left, then, they crumbled in the face of the Blue Devil defense. Texas' size, which had given Krzyzewski cause for concern in preparing for what was supposed to be a clash of the titans, was not even a factor. Bulky starting center James Thomas only played four minutes, and freshman forward P.J. Tucker, who came in averaging nearly 15 points per game, didn't score any. Randolph and Shelden Williams, meanwhile, scored in double figures and pulled down nine rebounds apiece while splitting time in the post during Duke's sleigh ride.

 "I'm surprised that we won by double figures," said Krzyzewski, who sent his players home for the holidays before they play Davidson Dec. 29 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. "We came here today knowing that Texas could beat us and they could dominate us on the boards. If we play them tomorrow, it could be different. That's the crazy thing about our sport, because they're good. We were just really good this afternoon, and they didn't function on all their cylinders."