No. 1 Priority for Duke Is to Push Harder

The game was a blowout, but No. 1 Duke and Coach Mike Krzyzewski didn’t let up.

Even with leads of more than 30 the entire second half, Krzyzewski kept a substitution pattern that included five-man unit changes and no walk-ons in Duke’s 101-66 victory over North Carolina A&T; in a nonconference game Tuesday night at Greensboro, N.C.,

“We got a lot out of this game, we tried pushing up the ball a little bit faster than we have been doing lately, we wanted to deny like we had been,” Krzyzewski said.

William Avery scored 11 points during a 2 1/2-minute span in the first half for Duke (17-1) in its first game since regaining the No. 1 ranking. Trajan Langdon had 11 of his 16 points in the Blue Devils’ 57-point opening half for the Blue Devils (17-1).

North Carolina A&T; is 4-10.

No. 16 Michigan 65, Minnesota 57--Robert Traylor had 21 points and 12 rebounds at Ann Arbor, Mich., as the Wolverines (15-4, 5-1) took over sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.

Maceo Baston had 15 points and 14 rebounds for Michigan, which began the game in a three-way tie for first with Michigan State and Iowa, who play tonight in Iowa City.

Sam Jacobson scored 21 points for Minnesota (7-10, 0-6). The defending Big Ten champion Golden Gophers have lost six consecutive conference games for the first time since 1991.

No. 21 Cincinnati 60, Tulane 50--D’Juan Baker scored eight consecutive points down the stretch for the Bearcats (14-2, 6-0) in the Conference USA game at New Orleans.

Cincinnati has a 10-game win streak, while Tulane (6-11, 1-4) has lost five of six.

No. 23 West Virginia 80, Rutgers 72--Jarrod West scored 19 points as the Mountaineers (16-3, 6-3) made a season-high 11 three-point baskets in the Big East game at Piscataway, N.J.

West Virginia entered making 33% of its three-point shots but connected on 61% of its attempts from behind the arc against Rutgers (7-9, 1-7).

No. 25 Clemson 69, Virginia 52--Tony Christie had a career-high 17 points for the Tigers (12-6, 3-3) in the Atlantic Coast Conference game at Clemson, S.C.

Christie’s four three-point baskets helped Clemson take a 40-22 lead with 17:38 to go. But the Tigers managed only two field goals the next 10 minutes as the Cavaliers (10-9, 2-4) pulled within eight points.