WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - After consecutive seasons fielding two of the most inexperienced teams in school history, Duke showcased its experience Tuesday night in the Blue Devils' 76-60 disposal of No. 9 Purdue at Mackey Arena.
It was fourth-ranked Duke's first true road game of the year and easily its biggest test through the first month of the season. But you could never tell by looking at the Blue Devils, who appeared relaxed and in control for all 40 minutes in front of a hostile crowd of 14,123.
"I really felt like I've been in a lot of these situations like we were in today even though we hadn't really played a game like this early in the year," junior guard Jon Scheyer said. "We have an old group, and I think that showed tonight."
Duke's veteran composure stood in stark contrast to the youthful anxiety illustrated by the home team. Purdue, one season after bursting on the national scene with a talented corps of underclassmen, seemed overly excited early and fell into a deficit out of which it could never climb.
The Boilermakers' talented sophomore stars, E'Twaun Moore and Robbie Hummel, looked especially off their game. Moore turned the ball over twice in the game's first two minutes and misfired badly on his first four shots while Hummel missed an easy layup.
"I think it was important for us to get off to a good start," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They were so amped up that they did miss a couple layups right at the start. They wanted it so bad, you could tell they were so ready to play."
A large part of that was the fact that this may have been Purdue's biggest home game in more than a decade. It was the first contest at Mackey Arena matching two top-10 teams since January 1993, when the No. 9 Boilermakers lost to third-ranked Michigan.
"We have a handful of games like this each year; they have this kind of game every single night," Purdue head coach Matt Painter said. "Our guys have to step up and play, regardless of the environment. But a lot of that has to do with youth."
That's the kind of thing Krzyzewski has been saying the last two seasons, when his own stars were underclassmen. The Blue Devils lost their first road game two seasons ago at Georgia Tech and struggled on the road down the stretch of last season, losing two straight at Wake Forest and Miami.
Now, six of Duke's top eight players have spent significant stretches of their careers in the starting lineup, with sophomore Nolan Smith and junior Brian Zoubek entering the starting five for the first time this year. That allows seniors Greg Paulus and David McClure and junior Lance Thomas to provide experience off the bench.
"I don't know if [the team's experience] is a luxury so much as it is an asset," Krzyzewski said. "Our three upperclassmen came off the bench and really gave us strong performances."
Paulus, McClure and Thomas each played more than 20 minutes Tuesday, chipping in when Smith and Zoubek got in foul trouble. While Paulus, still wearing a sleeve on his right arm for a forearm injury, scored seven points, McClure and Thomas combined for 11 points and eight rebounds. The two forwards also made key contributions on the defensive end, occasionally checking Moore and Hummel.
The Blue Devils' experience-garnered over two, at times, tumultuous seasons-manifested itself on the game's biggest possessions. Duke got off to a fast start to help take the raucous Boilermaker crowd out of it early and always had an answer for Purdue's runs.
When the Boilermakers cut the Blue Devils' lead to three in the first half, a Kyle Singler backdoor layup spurred a 14-4 spurt to push the advantage up to 13. Singler's back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the second half stemmed another Purdue run, instead giving Duke its largest lead of the game at 20.
"This was a new thing for us. We hadn't done this yet," Scheyer said about going on the road. "A lot of people wanted to see how we'd come out tonight, against our first ranked opponent, our first road game. We were really hungry."
That hunger showed itself in the dives for loose balls, the Blue Devils' plus-20 on the boards, but most of all, in their quiet confidence in a hostile atmosphere.
"We've got to get accustomed to playing in these environments. Our veterans are because that's usually the way it is wherever we play," Krzyzewski said. "I'm glad we were able to win the first game like that."
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