NCAA New No. 1: Duke Dominates Temple in Mid-Week Clash

"Slumping shooters need to keep shooting." 

Coaches always make that statement time and time again as star players hit cold spells.  No one in the country has been as cold as the Duke Blue Devils' Kyle Singler over the past month.  His shooting woes have gathered quite the attention and one of the only negative points in Duke’s tough play. 

Luckily his bad play has been on the heels of the great play of Nolan Smith.  As the Temple Owls brought an eight-game winning streak into Cameron Indoor, Kyle Singler was poised and determined to make his presence felt.

From the opening tip Kyle Singler looked like he was at least going to be aggressive.  His first shot of the game was a horrible miss on a point-blank layup which seemed like a precursor of things to come, but it was certainly not the case at as Duke dominated Temple, 78-61.

Singler was able to turn around his cold streak by getting easy looks.  The game plan consisted of a heavy dose of Singler in the paint, and it was just what the doctor ordered.

In the end, Kyle led all Duke scorers with 28 points while taking a game high 19 shots.  It was a nice night for the slumping senior, who finally stepped up and looked like the team captain and superstar of last March.

Nolan Smith pitched in scoring 15 of his own (which I predicted on the button in my game preview).  Smith at times looked unstoppable as he looked a lot more like Jay Williams than himself from earlier years.  He is quickly becoming an all around point guard right before our eyes.  He had a team leading four assists on the night as well.  While he may not be able to complete with the Jimmer or Kemba, he has all but already won ACC of the Year.

One of the most impressive stats on the night is something that will get overlooked tomorrow on ESPN.  Sophomore Mason Plumlee pulled down an impressive 13 rebounds.  As the player who was supposed to pick up the slack of losing Brian Zoubek from last season, he stepped up big in this one.  His 13 boards tied Lavoy Allen for the game high, a notable accomplishment since Allen is Temple's all time rebounds leader.

Allen was Temple's only bright spot as they were out played from the opening tip.  While the score seems close, it is not indicative of the actual game.  Duke was in control of this one and was never truly in jeopardy. 

Duke will take their top ranked team up north to Virginia Tech as they will look to push their winning streak to eight games.  Temple will continue their road trip and head to D.C. in hopes of getting back on their winning ways against the George Washington Colonials.