St. John's 93-78, END OF SECOND HALF: Nolan Smith gets close to his career high with 32 points, but St. John's earns a well-deserved victory in a game the Red Storm dominated from start to finish.
St. John's 85-73, SECOND HALF 2:05 remaining: Andre Dawkins just hit first three of the game, but the Blue Devils can't come up with any stops. Even trading threes for twos isn't enough to give Duke a chance.
St. John's 79-64, SECOND HALF 3:11 remaining: Duke is getting no production beyond its senior captains, and the wear is showing on Singler and Smith. Singler just missed a potential and-one opportunity because he didn't seem to have the legs for the free throw. Meanwhile, everyone from St. John's is still playing full speed and the Red Storm keep finding good shots close to the basket to keep the game out of reach.
St. John's 75-50, SECOND HALF 5:11 remaining: The Blue Devils aren't the type to go down quietly and have cut the deficit to 15, the closest it's been in the second half. There's just too little time to make this a game again, though.
St. John's 73-52, SECOND HALF 7:49 remaining: St. John's is shooting 60 percent from the field, including 11-of-17 in this half because seemingly all of their field goals have come within 10 feet of the basket. Duke still has its starters in the game, but the Blue Devils are threatening some records for margin of defeat right now.
St. John's 69-49, SECOND HALF 10:12 remaining: It's the halfway point of the second period, and Duke has still made virtually no dent on a 21-point halftime deficit. Singler and Smith are busting their butts to keep the Blue Devils as close as possible, but they are getting no offensive help from anyone else, save one layup from Miles Plumlee in this half. Seth Curry or Andre Dawkins will have to connect from deep soon and often if Duke has any chance of mounting a late rally.
St. John's 60-38, SECOND HALF 11:55 remaining: Just when it looked like Duke might be making a run to cut the lead to 15, the Johnnies have stormed back, no pun intended, and are firmly back in control of this game. St. John's is doing a good job of beating the Blue Devils' trapping defense and keeps getting easy layups.
The game got a little chippy as four technical fouls were called within one minute and Nolan Smith bore the brunt of some hard fouls. The Red Storm appeared to be losing focus with all of the stoppages, but Mason Plumlee's travel after he stole the ball was the only break the home team needed to regain momentum.
St. John's 56-35, SECOND HALF 15:49 remaining: Not a whole lot new to report here. The Johnnies are still having their way on offense, and Justin Brownlee just had the play of the game. He got the ball in space at the free-throw line, took two steps and took off for an emphatic slam to take a 23-point lead. Duke is starting to score, but the Blue Devils have to do a lot more than trade baskets at this point.
St. John's 46-25, END OF FIRST HALF: This is Duke's biggest halftime deficit of the year---by a large margin, too---and there aren't a lot of signs as to how the Blue Devils can claw their way back into this game. The team is shooting 29.6 percent from the field on a lot of bad shots and 7.7 percent from beyond the arc while St. John's is shooting 57 percent and has made 3-of-5 threes. Duke has also turned over 11 times, compared to three assists and just eight made field goals. You can't help but be reminded of this date last year, when Duke came out completely flat against another Big East opponent, Georgetown, and was embarrassed at the Verizon Center.
St. John's 37-22, FIRST HALF 3:54 remaining: St. John's looks nothing like a team that has lost five of its last seven games. The Red Storm are faster than the Blue Devils and stronger to the ball. They've been aggressive in the lane and excellent at finding open men when the defense collapses. Duke really has no rhythm on offense or defense, and is mired in what is likely the biggest deficit of the season.
St. John's 24-16, FIRST HALF 7:48 remaining: We're seeing some life from Andre Dawkins for the first time in what seems like a long while. He had a fastbreak dunk off his own steal and found Miles Plumlee for a beautifully executed alley-oop that stopped a three-minute scoring drought. Unfortunately for Dawkins, he picked up his second foul and has been replaced by Seth Curry. Hardy is still having his way with the Blue Devils' defense as the Johnnies are making a living at the foul line. Nine free throws and counting for St. John's.
St. John's 18-10, FIRST HALF 11:56 remaining: Things are going south fast for Duke, so bad that head coach Mike Krzyzewski has removed both Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler in an effort to motivate the Blue Devils. Tyler Thornton has still had a little bit of trouble with the press from St. John's, but the problem for Duke is that once they get the ball, someone commits a stupid foul or a stupid turnover in the half court offense. On the defensive end, it is far too easy for the Red Storm to get in the lane, and they are scoring at will. Senior Dwight Hardy has a game-high six points.
Coming out of the media timeout, still no sign of Smith or Singler.
St. John's 9-6, FIRST HALF 15:26 remaining: Not a great start for the Blue Devils. Duke has been exploiting its height advantage inside and is crashing the boards, particularly on the offensive end, but the Blue Devils have been turning the ball over and taking bad shots and the offense just looks out of rhythm. The Johnnies are taking full advantage of their home crowd and have been making some good hustle plays en route to a three-point lead.
PREGAME: Live from the most famous arena in the country, we're here as No. 3 Duke takes on St. John's. The Red Storm will be playing their eighth consecutive ranked opponent, and are 2-5 so far on this stretch. Blue Devil fans may refer to Madison Square Garden as the Cameron of the north, but rest assured, the St. John's fans will be giving Duke an earful.
STARTERS:
Duke: Mason Plumlee, Kyle Singler, Nolan Smith, Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry
St. John's: DJ Kennedy, Dwayne Polee, Justin Brownlee, Dwight Hardy and Paris Horne
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