Blue Devils get easy win

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- For the first time since the end of the regular season, Duke was able to breathe somewhat easily Friday night.

No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament are supposed to win easily over No. 16 seeds, and the Blue Devils did that in a 73-44, first-round defeat of Arkansas-Pine Bluff at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Junior forward Kyle Singler scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Duke, which previously survived three tight games to win the ACC tournament.

“We weren’t looking past tonight,” said guard Jon Scheyer, “but we wanted to set the tone for the tournament. Tonight it was good to get a convincing win and really just blow it out there in the second half.”

Duke took advantage of its superior size by pounding the ball into the post early and building a lead at the free throw line. Jon Scheyer added 13 points and Lance Thomas 12 for Duke, which should see the competition get much stronger in the South Region from now on.

The Blue Devils (30-5) will meet the winner of Friday night’s late game between No. 8 seed California and No. 9 seed Louisville on Sunday at a time to be announced.

Arkansas-Pine Bluff (18-16), the winner of the tournament’s “play-in game” Tuesday night over Winthrop, was at a serious size disadvantage. Duke starts three players 6-foot-8 or taller.

All of Arkansas-Pine Bluff’s starters are 6-8 or shorter. The Lions had plenty of experience against high-quality competition and bigger players, though, having met Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Missouri and Kansas State early in the season.

The Lions planned to use their quickness to counter Duke’s superior size the way they had against some of those other big teams.

That plan didn’t produce the results the Lions were looking for. Although they surprised Scheyer once with a full-court trap that created a turnover, the Blue Devils handled the pressure well.

On one sequence, Arkansas-Pine Bluff jumped Nolan Smith with a quick trap in the halfcourt. Smith simply threw over it to a wide-open Thomas for an uncontested dunk.

Duke exploited its size advantage right from the start. The Blue Devils are known for shredding defenses with the 3-point shooting of Scheyer, Smith and Singler, but delivered the ball inside with regularity in the first half Friday.

Within two minutes, 7-foot-1 center Brian Zoubek had a pair of baskets on hook shots from the right block. Singler and Thomas also attacked in the low post early.

“We just wanted to be aggressive throughout the whole game,” Singler said. “One of the keys for us was just to attack, attack their defense.”

Arkansas-Pine Bluff had little choice but to hack the Blue Devils and committed 13 personal fouls in the first half alone. At halftime Duke led 39-20 and was 15-for-20 from the free throw line.

Duke’s also defended well, holding Arkansas-Pine Bluff to 32.1 percent from the field.

“It’s good to move on,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “It wasn’t a sloppy game.”

The Blue Devils expect to play in close games soon enough as the tournament continues. Thomas said the three tight games Duke played in the ACC tournament – winning by 11, three and four points – will help the Blue Devils in tight situations later.

By the same token, Scheyer said it was nice to see the team show some killer instinct Friday.

“We defended them,” Thomas said. “We limited them to one shot. We rebounded. If we do that, we can beat anybody.”