It may have been cold outside, but inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, head men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils kept everyone warm with their torrid three-point shooting.
Duke (23-3, 11-2 in the ACC) made a season-high 15 treys in slamming Valparaiso (13-12, 10-5 Mid-Continent) 97-63.
"Duke was extremely hot, and I think that the difference in the game happened too early for us," Valparaiso head coach Homer Drew said. "They went ten for eleven in three-point shooting in that span when they really just dominated us, and if they could have just been human for a while and missed some of those, it would have helped us stay a little bit closer."
The Blue Devils finished the game shooting an otherworldly 58 percent from beyond the arc, led by J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing with three apiece. But the two off guards did not provide all the hot shooting. Eight different players hit threes against the Crusaders, including Luol Deng, Shelden Williams, Shavlik Randolph and Nick Horvath.
Unfortunately for Valparaiso, Duke's defense was just as stifling as its long-distance shooting was accurate. The Blue Devils held the Crusaders to a paltry 31 percent shooting effort from the floor, including a 24 percent effort in the second half.
"I think we were as cold as that snow outside from shooting in that first ten-minute period," Drew joked. "I've always admired Mike's defense from afar, and today I got to admire it from too close."
Senior forward Joaquim "Kikas" Gomes had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Crusaders, who, despite the lopsided score, still managed to outrebound Duke by a 45-39 margin. Sophomore Dan Oppland, the team's leading scorer, added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Regardless, the Blue Devils put the game away early, opening the game on a 21-4 run. Valparaiso countered by cutting the deficit to 27-13, but the Blue Devils then scored 12 points in just 109 seconds to put the game well out of reach.
Junior guard Daniel Ewing started the onslaught with a three-pointer. Sixteen seconds later, Ewing grabbed a steal and found J.J. Redick, who hit another trey despite being fouled. After converting the free throw, Ewing stole the ball again, this time finishing with an emphatic one-handed jam that sent the capacity crowd into a frenzy. A little over a minute later, Ewing capped the run with another three-point basket.
When the smoke cleared, Duke had claimed a 39-13 lead, triple that of their opponents.
"I had some really good, wide-open looks," said Ewing, who finished the game with twenty points to lead all scorers. "We attacked them with the right mindset and we had a good outcome."
Many of the Blue Devils' open looks came thanks to Valparaiso's zone defense, which Duke shredded early with its hot perimeter shooting.
"They were playing the zone and hoping we would miss shots, and we just had a great night shooting," said Deng, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds. "I think Shav and Shelden both had threes, and when that happens, I step to the line with confidence," Deng added, laughing.
Krzyzewski was obviously pleased with his team's all-out effort during the entire game, an effort which generated 16 Valpo turnovers, 11 blocked shots, and 17 team assists.
"I'm really pleased with the effort of our team. I thought we handled things as a mature basketball team tonight," Krzyzewski said. "We certainly respect Valpo. They're extremely well coached. Homer's kids--they're a real good basketball team right now. I would think that they've got a great shot at winning their conference and being an NCAA team.... I thought we played very good defensively against them, and we were ready to play. We handled it properly and we played well and we won. We got double figure minutes for nine guys. We're healthy and we're ready to go to Florida."
The victory allows Krzyzewski to focus on his team's upcoming game against Florida State, where the Blue Devils have been upset the past two years. Nonetheless, Duke, which has won two games by a combined 57 points after consecutive ACC losses, is confident about their chances.
"We have a little momentum; we've played well the last few games, and we just want to keep it going," Deng said. "We're confident; we're not nervous or scared to go down there. We feel that we can win."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.