Defense lifts Duke

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Duke guard Nolan Smith had hoped to face Louisville - where his father, the late Derek Smith, once played - on Sunday.

But California's first-round win knocked Louisville out of the NCAA tournament and created a challenging matchup for Smith.

He responded with one of the best games of his career, and Duke used tight perimeter defense to take a 68-53 win and advance to the South Regional semifinals.

Duke (31-5) will play No. 4 seed Purdue (29-5) at 9:57 p.m. Friday in Houston.

Smith played a huge role in getting the Blue Devils to the regional semis. He was assigned to defend the Pac-10 player of the year, Cal guard Jerome Randle.

"From the get-go, I really wanted to make it clear that I was going to be in his jersey the whole game," Smith said. "That was the game plan."

Duke's coaches were concerned about California's perimeter shooting because Randle, Jorge Gutierrez and Theo Robertson all entered the game shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range.

No. 8 seed Cal (24-11) was shooting 37.7 percent from 3-point range as a team. The plan was for Duke's guards to stay as close as possible to Cal's shooters on the perimeter.

On ball screens, Duke's post players were supposed to jump out and prevent 3-point shots until the guards could recover.

The plan worked beautifully, as Cal was held to three 3-pointers - its second-lowest total of the season - in 12 attempts.

Smith held Randle to 12 points. He was averaging 18.8 points per game before Sunday.

"Randle gives them such verve," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. " ... And Nolan sees that, and he helped keep them under control while still scoring 20 points. That was a marvelous performance by Nolan."

Cal's defense demanded a big game from Smith in order for the Blue Devils to win. The Bears used their best defender, Gutierrez, against Jon Scheyer, who shot 1-for-11 from the field.

The Bears also ganged up on Kyle Singler in the first half every time he got the ball. That left driving lanes for Smith, who scored a game-high 20 points on 9-for-18 from the field. Singler added 12 of his 17 points after halftime, and 7-foot-1 Brian Zoubek exploited his size advantage to score 14 points, grab 13 rebounds and make all six of his field goal attempts.

"This team has so much talent and so much potential," Smith gushed after the game.

It showed Sunday in a defensive performance Krzyzewski called "beautiful."

Cal's only 3-point goal in the first half came when Randle at 5-foot-10 found himself guarded by 6-10 center Miles Plumlee after a Duke defensive switch. The Bears made consecutive 3-pointers early in the second half to cut a 37-24 halftime deficit to 44-35 with 15 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.

Krzyzewski immediately called a timeout and reset the defense. The Blue Devils didn't allow another 3-pointer for the rest of the game.

So Smith didn't get to play Louisville but got what he really wanted, which was to advance to the Blue Devils' next stop in Houston. Duke will meet a Purdue team that the Blue Devils defeated last season in West Lafayette, Ind., and has banded together after losing its best player, Robbie Hummel, to a late-season knee injury.

"When you lose a player you come more together," Smith said. "Things are different, but you play harder knowing that a man is down. They're definitely doing that. We played them a year ago and they're pretty much the same team. ... It's going to be a great game."