Duke 76, Gonzaga 41, FINAL
With improved shooting in the second half, the Blue Devils cruised to an easy victory.
Scheyer and Smith combined for 44 of the Blue Devils' 76 points, and Singler finished the game with nine points and 11 rebounds.
Be sure to check out The Chronicle for more coverage of the game later tonight! For now, we're off to the locker room for some interviews.
Duke 57, Gonzaga 30, 7:23 left in the second half
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Miles Plumlee just fouled out and will watch the rest of the game from the bench.
On the possession before, Singler hit a nice runner to extend Duke's lead to 27. He now has 5 points and nine rebounds and might somehow end the night with a double-double despite having a quiet day on the offensive end.
It looks like the Blue Devils will secure another marquee win at The Garden with a victory over the Bulldogs tonight.
Duke 49, Gonzaga 28, 11:30 left in the second half
Scheyer and Smith are still leading the Blue Devils on the offensive end. Scheyer has 20 points to go along with six assists, and five rebounds, while Smith has 19 points, three assists and three rebounds.
Singler, despite pulling down eight boards so far, has provided little on the offensive end. The forward has just two points so far today. Fortunately for the Blue Devils, even without Singler the team has managed to jump out to a 21-point lead.
Duke 40, Gonzaga 24, 15:45 left in the second half
We're back ready for the second 20 minutes of play. In the first half, the Bulldogs had 13 turnovers and just four assists.
Krzyzewski went deep into the bench during the first half. Nine players got action in the first half, including all three freshmen.
In the first few minutes of play, it appears as though Duke has found its shooting touch. Nolan Smith has two 3-pointers so far this half. The Blue Devils hold a healthy lead of 18.
Duke 31, Gonzaga 17, Halftime
Scheyer has picked up where he left off last game. The senior had 36 points, nine assists, and eight rebounds against Gardner-Webb Tuesday. Today, Scheyer has 13 points in the first half to go along with three assists. He has led the Blue Devils on the offensive end so far along with Smith, who has nine points of his own.
Duke surely hasn't played as well as it might have hoped, but in going into the second half with a 14-point lead, it could certainly be in a worse position. It will be interesting to see if the Blue Devils can build on this lead in the second half or if the Bulldogs find their shooting touch.
In the last nine minutes of the half, Duke went on a 23-7 run.
Duke 19, Gonzaga 10, 6:12 left in the first half
Duke seems to have gotten into a bit of a rhythm and has a nine point lead after a basket by Singler.
Both teams have had trouble putting the ball in the basket, though. Duke is shooting 32 percent from the field, and Gonzaga 25 percent. Neither team has hit a shot from long range.
Duke 11, Gonzaga 10, 8:46 left in the first half
Sophomore Nolan Smith just got fouled hard and hit the ground, but appears to be fine. He made one of two free throws to put Duke ahead.
Ryan Kelly has made a few nice contributions so far today. He had a nice jump shot and has a block coming off the bench.
Duke 4, Gonzaga 2, 14:25 left in the first half
Duke won the tip and has secured an early lead. It's been an ugly game so far, with neither team shooting particularly well.
Brian Zoubek and Mason Plumlee were the first two Duke players off the bench this afternoon. Zoubek has picked up two quick fouls, though, and will head back to the bench.
Definitely a pro-Duke crowd tonight—that doesn't come as too much of a surprise in New York City, though. Nolan Smith has been calling Madison Square Garden "Cameron North" throughout the week on his Twitter feed.
PREGAME:
With just a minutes left before tipoff, we're getting ready for Duke to face off against Gonzaga in Madison Square Garden. The Blue Devils are 20-6 all-time under head coach Mike Krzyzewski on this court.
Kyle Singler, Miles Plumlee, Lance Thomas, Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer will start for Duke.
Throughout the week, there have been a number of interesting stories involving the Blue Devils.
- Jon Scheyer is currently leading the NCAA with a 6.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. He turns the ball over just once in every 39.5 minutes of play.
- Sophomore forward Olek Czyz is set to transfer. He hasn't announced where he will attend yet, but is not at the game today.
- Looking for a reason to believe in the Blue Devils? Duke has traditionally done well in poor weather when playing at the Garden.
- The leading scorer for the Bulldogs, Matt Bouldin, is set to return tonight. Bouldin is averaging 16.8 points per game but was injured Dec. 9 in a contest against Augustana College.
- Finally, The Chronicle caught up with former Blue Devil David McClure, who is currently playing for the Austin Toros in the NBA Development League.
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