No. 7 Duke Dominates No. 20 Wisconsin

Mike Krzyzewski and Duke sure know how to handle a Big Ten test. <br/><br/>Making up for a glaring size disadvantage by turning up the tempo, the seventh-ranked Blue Devils ran No. 20 Wisconsin right out

Wednesday, November 28th 2007, 11:29 am

By: News On 6

Mike Krzyzewski and Duke sure know how to handle a Big Ten test.

Making up for a glaring size disadvantage by turning up the tempo, the seventh-ranked Blue Devils ran No. 20 Wisconsin right out of Cameron Indoor Stadium in an 82-58 rout Tuesday night.

Greg Paulus scored 13 of his 18 points during the decisive first half, helping Duke improve to 9-0 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and remain the only team with a perfect record in the annual event.

``We could not play a game where we were going to try to muscle them inside,'' Krzyzewski said. ``Otherwise, we'd get killed. They're so efficient we have to try to make it more of a perimeter game, and we were able to do that a lot. That's why we won.''

Freshman Taylor King added 15 points on five 3-pointers in his second consecutive strong game off the bench. Fellow rookie Kyle Singler had 13 points, Gerald Henderson added 11 and Jon Scheyer scored 10 for the Blue Devils (7-0), who have won five games in nine days.

Duke entered wondering how it would match up against a Badgers front line that featured three players in the rotation who are 6-foot-10 or taller. But its up-tempo offense and swarming, aggressive defense dominated from the opening tip.

``They're a big team, and they're a very good team, and we needed everybody defensively to rebound, or try to, because they're a little bit bigger than us,'' Paulus said. ``We needed everybody to help out, dig out loose balls, and I thought we did a good job of that.''

In other Top 25 games, it was: No. 3 Memphis 104, Austin Peay 82; No. 11 Tennessee 93, North Carolina A&T 59; No. 14 Pittsburgh 80, Boston University 53; No. 15 Indiana 83, Georgia Tech 79; and No. 18 Clemson 61, Purdue 58.

Duke, which didn't start a player taller than 6-8, held its own on the glass: Wisconsin had just a 42-40 rebounding advantage. The Blue Devils also forced 18 turnovers, hit 11 3-pointers and scored 17 fast-break points, turning their first legitimate test at home into a blowout. It was their NCAA-best 55th straight non-conference home-court victory.

Jon Leuer and Trevon Hughes scored 12 points apiece and Brian Butch had 11 for Wisconsin (5-1), which was denied its first 6-0 start since 1996-97. Hughes, the team's leading scorer, was held more than seven points below his average on 4-for-13 shooting.

``If anything could go wrong, it did,'' Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. ``The second half seemed pretty even on the (stat) sheet, but when you're playing down in a hole like that, it's almost impossible for our kids to come back.''

No. 3 Memphis 104, Austin Peay 82

At Memphis, Tenn., freshman Derrick Rose had 19 points and 12 assists, and Memphis shot 64 percent from the floor.

Rose was coming off his worst game of the season, a four-point performance against Arkansas State a week before. This time, he shot 6-for-8 as Memphis (6-0) built the lead to 23 early in the second half.

Chris Douglas-Roberts led Memphis with 23 points on 11-for-15 shooting, and Shawn Taggart added a career-high 17 points. Joey Dorsey was one of three Tigers with 10 points. He also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Memphis has won all its games by double digits.

No. 11 Tennessee 93, North Carolina A&T 59

At Knoxville, Tenn., Chris Lofton scored 18 of his season-high 24 points during a first-half burst and Tennessee rebounded from its first loss with an easy victory.

Tyler Smith had 17 points and Ramar Smith added 11 for the Volunteers (6-1), who shot a school-record 50 3-pointers coming off a 97-78 defeat to Texas in the championship game of the StubHub Legends Classic on Saturday in New Jersey.

Lofton got all his points on 3-pointers, making six in a 3:42 span of the first half to start a 42-11 run.

No. 14 Pittsburgh 80, Boston University 53

At Pittsburgh, Ronald Ramon made all five of his 3-point attempts to score 15 points, and Pittsburgh put away BU with a 20-3 run in the first half.

The Panthers (6-0), again showing off their new, faster-paced offense, also got 14 points from leading scorer Sam Young, 11 points and eight assists from point guard Levance Fields and 11 points from Mike Cook.

The Panthers have a chance to open at least 9-0 for the sixth straight season. Pitt's average winning margin against mostly lightweight competition is 31 points.

No. 15 Indiana 83, Georgia Tech 79

At Bloomington, Ind., Eric Gordon scored 29 points and D.J. White added 18 to rally Indiana.

Jamarcus Ellis scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half for the Hoosiers (5-1) in their 21st straight regular-season win at Assembly Hall. It also was the Big Ten's first victory in this year's Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Georgia Tech (3-3) was led by Lewis Clinch with 18 points. Anthony Morrow and Gani Lawal each added 17.

Indiana played without freshman guard Jordan Crawford, whose three-game suspension was announced just minutes before the opening tip.

No. 18 Clemson 61, Purdue 58

At Clemson, S.C., K.C. Rivers' floater with 31.2 seconds left broke a tie and sent Clemson to a victory in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

Rivers finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, saving the Tigers (6-0) in their first game without star forward James Mays, expected to miss four to six weeks with a fractured hip.

Scott Martin had one last try at a 3-pointer for Purdue with 3 seconds to go, but Rivers grabbed his final rebound and Clemson moved to 19-0 in the past three Novembers. Martin led the Boilermakers (3-1) with 13 points.