Beyond the Arc: Duke basketball vs. Robert Morris

Duke brought the hammer in a 85-56 blowout of No. 16 Robert Morris in the Round of 64 at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C., Friday night. Although the Colonials cut a second-half lead to 10 with around 12 minutes left to play, a crucial timeout spurred a 12-0 Blue Devil run that was part of a larger 29-10 streak to end the game. With the win, Duke joined Kentucky and North Carolina as the only three teams to win 100 games in NCAA tournament play.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Contain the three guards: Robert Morris guards Marcquise Reed, Rodney Pryor, and Lucky Jones combined for 50 of the Colonials’ 56 total points, with Reed and Pryor combining for 45. Still, Duke locked down the frontcourt and rendered all but one bench player nonexistent. The fatigue from a lack of depth certainly may have caught up to the No. 16 seed just as it was starting to come back in the second half. The key for the Blue Devils was forcing poor shots rather than letting the trio of guards attack the rim and create for their teammates. Consequently, Reed, Pryor and Jones shot just 40 percent from the field and took 83 percent of the team's shots.
• Spread the ball around: The Blue Devils shared the love and tore up Robert Morris’ zone defense. Duke both knocked down open perimeter shots in the first half and fed its big men in the post for 22 of the team’s 42 points during the first 20 minutes. Nine of the Blue Devils’ first 11 baskets were assisted, a rate that grew to 28 assists on 32 made shots by the end of the game. An emblem of Duke’s ball movement was Marshall Plumlee's 10-point effort on 5-of-6 shooting, including four dunks and a layup.
• Get off to a hot start: Check, please. The Blue Devils were operating on all cylinders in the first half, and after the Colonials took a 7-5 lead, Quinn Cook turned on the jets. His second three-pointer sparked an 11-0 Duke run that lasted just 1:22, and in the blink of an eye, Duke was off and running. With Okafor and Plumlee dominating both the boards and the paint and Cook and Tyus Jones sharing the love, a Colonial team that had won seven consecutive games was rudely reminded why no No. 16 team has never pulled off an upset in the Round of 64.

Three key plays

• 17:28 remaining, first half. Trailing by three, a Cook corner trey gets Duke off the mat and into scoring position. He would go on to make two more three-pointers as Duke made its first nine field goals to overcome early turnover woes.
• 15:16 remaining, second half: The Blue Devils have one foot in the door before this play, but apparently, their concentration was also only half there. Okafor tries to get cute and misses an uncontested, fast-break dunk by opting for a reverse jam attempt that goes awry. By not running back on defense, he both allows the Colonials to score and makes head coach Mike Krzyzewski visibly upset. The center is then benched and gives momentum to the Colonials, who cut a 20-point deficit in half.
• 11:33 remaining, second half: A timeout and a rejuvenated swingman can make all the difference. Winslow scores his first points of the game on a three-pointer after a timeout that allows the Blue Devils to relax just enough. The next play, he goes coast to coast for a layup that is part of a 12-0 run and triggers a game-ending offensive blitz.

Three key stats

• Duke shoots 63 percent, dishes out 28 assists: The Blue Devils' offensive efficiency was just too much for Robert Morris to overcome given the Colonials' lack of size.
• The Blue Devils score 42 points in the paint: Okafor had 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting, but 20 combined points from Amile Jefferson and Marshall Plumlee also allowed Duke to dominate inside.
• Duke outscores Robert Morris 38-4 in two-game defining runs: The Colonials played the Blue Devils tough for about three-quarters of the game, but two huge runs gave Duke a sizable cushion despite plenty of breakdowns.