DURHAM — Duke looked mentally drained and played like a bunch of guys more worried about making the grade on mid-term exams than making jump shots.
Still, even on a Tuesday night filled with sloppy play and sloppier shooting, Duke was good enough to overmatch visiting Davidson 102-60 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Just as everyone knew the Blue Devils would be. They’ve beaten the Wildcats 14 straight times.
Duke point guard Jason Williams scored 25 points and dominated the game whenever he felt like it. Forward Nate James pumped in a workmanlike 20 points. Freshman guard Chris Duhon, a budding superstar, was quietly spectacular, scoring 13 points and logging five steals and four assists in 23 turnover-free minutes. How amazing was Duhon’s line? UNC freshman guard Brian Morrison, by way of comparison, had seven turnovers in 10 minutes on Monday night.
And swingman Mike Dunleavy was decent. Not great, but OK, with 12 points and three blocks.
That foursome aside, it was a night to forget for the rest of the nation’s top-ranked squad.
Everybody’s All-American Shane Battier had perhaps the worst outing of his illustrious Duke career, missing all six of his 3-point tries, two free throws and a dunk. He didn’t make a shot until the game was 24 minutes old. Once, Battier was even whistled for a blocking foul on an attempt to draw a charge — something Duke-despisers from College Park to Tallahassee never thought they’d live long enough to see.
“I’m not concerned about Shane’s shot,” offered Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, although the look on his face indicated otherwise. “Shane’s exhausting himself getting everyone ready to play and getting everyone involved. Plus, he’s getting a lot of attention from opposing defenses.”
Davidson coach Bob McKillop loved the way his outmanned team challenged Battier’s shots, but advised fans to read between the lines when examining the superstar’s 3-for-13 struggle.
“Yes, Battier missed shots, but we still lost by 42,” said McKillop. “That tells you something about how good Duke is as a team and what they can do to you.”
Then there was Duke center Carlos Boozer, who made Battier’s night look pretty good. No one had any explanations for Boozer’s off evening. Coach K didn’t mention any flu bugs going around, so maybe Boozer just has a tough exam today. The big guy’s stat sheet showed one made field goal in 14 minutes. It didn’t show his missed dunk, after which he was exiled to the bench for the duration.
Then there was the Duke bench beyond Duhon. That gang continues to raise more questions than it answers. Right now, in real games, Duke (8-0) is a six-man team. It’s the same guys as last season, only with the 6-foot-1 Duhon replacing 6-6 Chris Carrawell. Coach K desperately wanted to see one or more of his reserves step forward against Davidson (3-5) and handed out opportunities. No one impressed.
Nick Horvath shot 1-for-9 and 0-for-5 on 3s. Freshman forward Andre Sweet made one of five. Mighty Casey Sanders did score 10 points but got them late. He was genuinely awful in his first-half appearance. Burly Matt Christensen was praised to the heavens by Krzyzewski — mostly for his four offensive rebounds. But Christensen also managed to foul out in 12 minutes and went 0-for-4 from the line with — no kidding — a pair of airballs. The best guy on the bench actually looked like football player Reggie Love, who just joined the team. Love scored four points, had a block and a steal and didn’t do anything crazy in his five-minute audition on Coach K Court.
Duke, 2-for-16 on first-half 3s and 7-for-28 from the arc for the game, won by playing hard in spurts. The Devils led immediately 7-0, then watched the scrappy Cats go on a 13-2 run for a 13-9 lead. Who expected that from a team that had lost to Elon and been bombed by Georgia Tech?
But Williams answered with back-to-back 3-point plays (one long one, one old-fashioned one) to put Duke ahead to stay. Then a Devil march to the foul line — McKillop got a technical in the middle of it for expressing his dismay— keyed a 45-29 halftime edge.
“Coach said we had better tighten up our game at halftime,” grimaced Battier. “He got his point across.”
Duke’s point man got the point, for sure. Williams went berserk early in the second half, making three 3-pointers in just over two minutes, as Duke built its lead to 63-43.
“Shane is still the man, but my role is pretty big, too,” said Williams. “I’m showing people that I’ve improved a lot.”
With 13 minutes remaining, the Cats hit a scoring drought against some pretty scary defense. Suddenly, the Devils were on a 27-4 Duhon-led run and their bulge mushroomed to 90-47. By then, fans who weren’t sadists had seen enough.
McKillop had seen enough as well.
“Duke’s great,” he said. “I hope people appreciate just how great they really are. Mike’s got something special.”
McKillop may have a point. After all, how many teams can look lousy and win by 42?
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