GREENSBORO— Sometimes watching a lot of television isn’t a bad thing.
Prior to their 7:40 tipoff Thursday night, the Duke Blue Devils spent the day glued to their TV sets. They saw No. 2 seed Kentucky struggle against Holy Cross in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And No. 3 Maryland’s near-disaster against George Mason.
Before they even took the court at the Greensboro Coliseum, they decided it wouldn’t do at all for the East Region’s No. 1 seed to mess around against No. 16 Monmouth.
“It’s kind of nice not having to play in that first set of games so you can get a feel for the tournament,”Duke forward Mike Dunleavy said. “We realized there were some close calls, and we didn’t want that to be the case for us. We didn’t want to let them feel like they had a chance, and I think we accomplished that tonight.”
And then some. The Blue Devils scored the game’s first 11 points en route to a 95-52 romp. Duke, the top-ranked team in the nation with a 30-4 record, drained an East Region and school-record tying 18 attempts from the 3-point line.
“There were a lot of wide-open shots,”said freshman guard Chris Duhon, who hit both of his 3-point attempts for six points. “Everybody set their feet, took their time and made their shots.”
Sophomore point guard Jason Williams, who went 6-for-10 from long range, and senior forward Shane Battier (5-for-9), each set school records for 3-pointers in a season. Trajan Langdon’s mark of 112 fell first to Williams, then to Battier.
Williams led all scorers with 22 points. He scored 11 straight in the opening minutes of the first half, draining three 3-pointers and converting a steal and layup to put Duke up 14-1.
Monmouth (21-10), the Northeastern Conference champs, entered the game 0-10 all time against ranked teams and had realistic expectations. The Hawks had hoped a quick start, combined with poor Duke shooting, could keep the game close, but the Blue Devils just didn’t miss.
Duke finished the first half up 62-29, hitting 65 percent from the field and 59 percent from the 3-point arc. Williams already had 20 points, and Battier 16. Dunleavy and Nate James both scored nine.
The Monmouth media guide stated that the Hawks went 14-0 in games in which they held their opponents to 60 or fewer points. There wasn’t a category for 60 first-half points.
“We went in thinking we had to play the perfect game and they had to play poorly for us to have a chance,”Monmouth head coach Dave Calloway said. “Coming out of the game, I think we had to play better than perfect and they had to play worse than poorly for us to have a chance.”
The Blue Devils, advancing now to Saturday’s second round against Missouri, didn’t let up after halftime, scoring the first eight points out of the locker room. James drained back-to-back 3s to push the lead to 52 points, the biggest margin of the night.
A few minutes later, Mike Krzyzewski cleared his bench — shortly after Williams fell awkwardly on his previously injured ankle. Duke’s reserves allowed the Hawks to trim the lead all the way down to 40 points.
“We really don’t feel sorry for them,” Battier said. “They are champions, they’ve tasted what it feels like to cut down the nets and they belong in this tournament.
“It’s not a matter of trying to make friends now or feeling sorry for someone, it’s going out and respecting them by playing hard.”
The Hawks appreciated that gesture, as hard as it was to accept.
“It was a learning experience, to say the least,”Calloway said. “They’re a class act. Every one of their players congratulated us after the game — after whipping our butts — that we won our conference and deserved to be here.”
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