Duke Uses History to Beat Villanova

Villanova has three 6-foot-9 players inside, so to beat the No. 4 Wildcats, you had better bring your marksmen.

And Duke’s shooters, Ricky Price and Jeff Capel, had been firing blanks in the worst slumps of their careers. Trajan Langdon was scoring from outside, but no where else.

Oh, and the Blue Devils were fresh off a loss to then-No. 7 Michigan six days ago in which they blew a double-digit lead at home in the last 10 minutes.

Nobody was talking about the shooting during a timeout with 9:54 to play Saturday in Philadelphia. Nobody had to because 14th-ranked Duke held a 14-point lead over No. 4 Villanova and was hitting on all cylinders.

But Coach Mike Krzyzewski made sure the Blue Devil memories were refreshed.

“During that timeout coach mentioned it,” said Capel, who had to go back to the free-throw line when it was over to complete a three-point play in Duke’s 87-79 victory in the first college basketball game played in the new CoreStates Center.

“He said the basketball gods were doing this to us for a reason. We handled it a lot better. We learned a lot from the Michigan game and went out today and got tougher in the same situation.”

Duke lost to Michigan, 62-61, in Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the Blue Devils never lose to a nonconference team.

“That loss helped us a lot because we didn’t hang our heads,” Krzyzewski said. “We took responsibility for the loss. We handled that well and we got better at it and we had to because we only had three points over 10 1/2 minutes.”

The Blue Devils (7-2) were deadly early against Villanova (6-1) from three-point range and then effective from the free-throw line in the final minutes.

Price, who had made 17% of his three-point shots, scored 17 points and was three for four from three-point range, making two in the first 5:19 of the second half when the Blue Devils pulled away from a 40-33 halftime lead. They made 14 of 17 free throws over the final 2:20 and were 26 for 33 in the second half.

Langdon led Duke with 19 points, and Capel, who was shooting 20% on three-point tries, finished with 13 points and was two or three from behind the arc.

No. 2 Wake Forest 71, Massachusetts 47--Tim Duncan fought his way through a smothering defense by Massachusetts (3-5) for 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Demon Deacons (7-0), who hammered the undermanned Minutemen in Winston-Salem, N.C.

It took Duncan some time to solve the defense, in part because it collapsed around him every time he turned toward the lane. He didn’t get his first basket until the 15:53 mark. That basket was part of a 9-2 run that set the stage for the rest of the night. Three more three-point baskets followed and Wake Forest was in control.

No. 3 Kentucky 80, Notre Dame 56--Ron Mercer had eight points during a 27-3 run for the Wildcats (7-1), who overcame a sluggish start to win in Lexington, Ky.

Notre Dame (3-3) was behind, 22-20, and Kentucky had made only 10 of 29 shots before the run, which spanned both halves of the game.

No. 6 Iowa State 81, Iowa 74--Shawn Bankhead’s 23 points led the Cyclones (6-0), who won for the first time on the road in beating their arch-rival.

Andre Woolridge led Iowa (6-3) with 25 points.

No. 8 Arizona 111, Jackson State 83--Donnell Harris, filling in for the injured A.J. Bramlett, had 21 points and 16 rebounds for the Wildcats (5-1), who had only six scholarship players available in a victory in Tucson.

Arizona guard Miles Simon was declared academically ineligible and Bramlett strained a ligament and tendon in his right foot a day earlier. The Wildcats used walk-ons during the final five minutes.

Jackson State (2-5) got 19 points from DeCarto Draper.

No. 9 Utah 83, Weber St. 48--Keith Van Horn’s 41 points and 14 rebounds carried the Utes (5-1) to an easy victory in Salt Lake City.

Van Horn scored 12 points in a late 18-0 run that ended with 2:49 to play and finished off Weber State (3-3).

No. 10 Clemson 80, Charleston Southern 57--Greg Buckner scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and led a 12-5 run that broke open a close game and gave the Tigers (7-1) a victory in Clemson, S.C.

Clemson, enjoying its highest ranking in school history, has won all 11 games it has played against the Buccaneers (3-4).

No. 12 Indiana 86, Santa Clara 74--Neil Reed, held to three points the previous night, scored 30 for the Hoosiers (9-1), who won their Indiana Classic for the 23rd time--every time it has been held--in Bloomington, Ind.

Indiana is 46-0 in the tournament.

The Hoosiers led by only two points, 64-62, with 9:05 to play after Brian Jones converted a three-point play for Santa Clara (4-4). But Indiana went on a 13-4 run over the next five minutes to take control.

No. 13 Texas 98, No. 16 Fresno St. 86--Reggie Freeman slashed to the basket, made off-balance jump shots inside and bombed from outside in scoring 43 points for the Longhorns, who took care of Fresno State (6-2) in Austin, Texas.

Freeman, who also had 10 rebounds, was 15 for 27 from the field and 11 for 15 from the free-throw line. He dominated in the second half with 26 points as Texas (5-1) broke open a close game.

Texas Christian 93, No. 18 Texas Tech 89--The Horned Frogs (7-1) got 23 points from Malcolm Johnson and 22 from Damion Walker, two coming on free throws with 6.6 seconds to play in Fort Worth, and handed Texas Tech (5-1) its first loss.

The victory was the first for TCU (7-1) against a ranked nonconference opponent since an upset of Oklahoma in 1986. TCU’s last win over any ranked opponent was in 1990 when the Frogs knocked off 12th-ranked Arkansas in the old Southwest Conference.

No. 19 Xavier, Ohio 79, Hofstra 43--Gary Lumpkin and James Posey scored 13 points apiece and the Musketeers (7-0) overcome 23 turnovers in a victory over Hofstra (3-4) in Cincinnati.

No. 21 Stanford 72, San Diego 70--Kris Weems made five three-point baskets and had 18 points for the Cardinal (4-1), which tied a school record with 12 three-pointers and needed every one of them in San Diego.

Stanford made only three of eight free throws down the stretch to give San Diego (3-4) a chance to get close.

No. 22 Louisville 88, Purdue 72--DeJuan Wheat had 25 points and the Cardinals never trailed in producing their first 6-0 start since the 1991-92 season with a victory in Indianapolis.

Purdue (4-3) had two freshmen--starter Mike Robinson and top reserve Gary McQuay--on the bench the entire game serving one-game suspensions imposed by Coach Gene Keady after they were arrested for shoplifting.

No. 24 Alabama 100, Western Carolina 48--Eric Washington and Demetrius Alexander each had two three-point baskets and scored 20 points for the Crimson Tide (8-0), off to its best start since 1983 after a victory over Western Carolina (3-2) in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

OTHER GAMES

Freshman Corey Benjamin, cleared to play after clearing up his entrance test scores, scored nine points and had three assists in 18 minutes for Oregon State (4-2), which was a 79-60 winner over Portland State (0-6) in Corvallis. . . . Kyle Milling and Jamal Lawrence scored 15 points apiece in Eugene to lead Oregon to an 88-65 victory over Cleveland State (1-5), giving the Ducks their first 5-0 start since the 1974-75 season and putting Coach Jerry Green over .500 for the first time since he took over the program in 1992. . . . Isaac Fontaine scored 27 points and Washington State (6-1) used a 23-1 first-half run in a 69-57 win over Idaho (3-4) in Pullman, Wash. . . . Rodney Buford’s 18 second-half points pushed Creighton (4-3) to a 59-42 win over Sacramento State (1-6) in Omaha, Neb. . . . Chatney Howard scored 26 points for James Madison (3-2), which erased a 12-point deficit in a 68-63 win over Montana State (3-5) in Harrisonburg, Va. . . . Matt Heldman made four three-point shots and scored 23 points for Illinois (8-2) in a 91-55 rout of Coppin State (2-4) in Champaign, Ill. . . . Bryce Drew scored 23 points for Valparaiso (6-1) in a 77-68 win over Chicago State (1-4). . . . Derrick Dukes had 19 of his 20 points in the second half for Georgia (5-1), a 60-57 winner over Virginia Tech (4-3) in Blacksburg, Va. . . . Josh Unruh and Brad Millard each scored 15 points to lead St. Mary’s (6-2) to a 58-57 win over Boise State (2-4) for the championship of the Cougar Classic in Provo, Utah. . . . Kenya Capers scored 20 points for Houston (5-2), which rallied from a halftime deficit in an 89-69 rout of Brigham Young (1-6) in the consolation.