DURHAM -- It appears that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has settled on a starting lineup.
For the first time since Kyrie Irving’s injury on Dec. 4, Duke has started the same five players in four consecutive games. Mason Plumlee, Ryan Kelly and Seth Curry are starting along with senior stalwarts Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler.
Curry became a starter after scoring 22 points off the bench against North Carolina on Feb. 9, and hasn’t given his spot back. On Wednesday night, Curry did an excellent job pressuring Temple point guard Juan Fernandez and taking defensive pressure off Smith.
• It’s good to see Temple re-emerge as a top-25 program again.
College basketball is better off when some of the traditional power teams in the big cities in the Northeast – Temple, Villanova, St. John’s – are generating interest in that area of the country.
Fifth-year coach Fran Dunphy has done a good job getting the Owls to play tough basketball with defense and rebounding as their staples.
• For the second straight game, freshman guard Tyler Thornton came off the bench to give Duke a big lift in the first half when the Blue Devils were having trouble scoring.
Thornton scored six first-half points Wednesday after scoring six before halftime in the previous game against Georgia Tech.
• Center Mason Plumlee tried to get a bit too fancy handling the ball for Duke early in the game.
He was called for traveling while trying to operate on the baseline. He had the ball stripped from him while driving into the lane from the elbow.
The latter mistake earned him a seat on the bench.
