Duke Blue Devils Squash Oregon Ducks

WHAT JUST HAPPENED:

The Duke Blue Devils dominated the Oregon Ducks in Portland Saturday afternoon, 98-71.

Duke jumped out early 7-0, led behind a motivated Kyle Singler, and never looked back. The closest the Ducks would get was down by 11, early in the second half, before Duke pulled away for good.

The Blue Devils improved to 6-0, and with both Kansas State (to Duke) and Michigan State falling this past week, Duke is clearly the number one team in the nation.

THE GAME WAS OVER WHEN…

Duke went on a 19-1 run that started at the 17:54 mark and ended just two and a half minutes later. Up to that point, Oregon had managed to hang around, keeping Duke’s lead at around 12-14 points.

It looked like that would be the case for the rest of the game when Duke came out of the half flat.

In Duke’s first five possessions in the second half, they turned it over three times, failing to make a single basket. Yet Oregon wasn’t able to capitalize, and Duke suddenly caught fire.

The key was the three. Duke was only 4-of-12 from long range at that point, but during the 19-1 run, the Blue Devils went 4-4 from three-point range, two of which came off of offensive rebounds. They would finish 9-15 from three in the second half.

Just like that, Oregon went from looking at a reasonable 12-point deficit to suddenly being down 30 with just over 15 to play.

WHO DESERVES MAD PROPS:

Kyle Singler decided to end his mini-slump on his return trip to his home state of Oregon. He finished with a career-high 30 points. He shot 9-of-15 for the game, 5-of-9 from the three and a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. In his last four, Singler was just 17-of-49 (35 percent).

Clearly Singler wanted to set the tone early.

On Duke’s first two possessions, with his brother E.J. defending him, Singler roamed the baseline before bouncing outside with a screen. In each case, Singler took the ball to the paint, putting up easy shots. He made both shots, getting a plus-one the second time.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT…

the big guy, Mason Plumlee. He only took seven shots, but production isn’t always about points. Mason did a great job taking care of business on the defensive end against a team that likes to score in the paint.

Mason grabbed 12 rebounds, 11 of which were defensive rebounds. Along with brother Miles’ 10 rebounds, the pair held Oregon to only eight offensive rebounds for the game.

In fact, three of those rebounds came during junk time (the final 73 seconds), so really Duke only allowed five offensive rebounds during meaningful playing time.

LOSERS NEED LOVE TOO:

Forward Joevan Catron came in averaging about 19 per contest and he kept that pace up with 18 against Duke. While he struggled from the field (5-for-13), he did manage to get 11 trips to the line, hitting eight free throws.

GOD I LOVE STATS: 2:10 and 4:53—Duke has played 240 minutes of basketball this year. They have trailed for a total of 2:10. They’ve been tied for a total of 4:53. That means the Blue Devils have led for roughly 233 of the 240 minutes this season.

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