Duke Powers Past George Washington

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said he knew things were good Friday in practice.

“Our energy felt like we were in the NCAA tournament,” Krzyzewski said. “I thought, ‘Now we’re ready to go.’ ”

And go the Blue Devils did. They bullied George Washington away from the paint, they disturbed the Colonial players by screaming in their faces and playing belly-up defense.

“There never wasn’t someone touching me,” Colonial forward Omar Williams said.

So the eighth-seeded Colonials left Greensboro Coliseum bruised and monosyllabic and top-seeded Duke left a 74-61 winner Saturday in a second-round NCAA Atlanta Regional game. The Blue Devils (32-3) advance to their ninth straight Sweet 16 and Thursday will play Louisiana State.

The Colonials (27-3) never got a handle on the game. They’re a frenetic team that hoped to rattle Duke’s freshman point guard Greg Paulus, but instead it was George Washington that was out of sorts. It shot only 30.9%, and even though Duke had more turnovers, 18 to 14, George Washington’s mattered more because from the time Duke’s J.J. Redick hit a three-pointer 49 seconds into the game, the Blue Devils were ahead.

If there was a turning point, it seemed to come with 9:40 left in the first half. Duke’s Lee Melchionni had missed a three-point shot and George Washington’s Danilo Pinnock took off aiming for a fastbreak layup. Melchionni grabbed Pinnock, apparently accepting the foul to stop the sure basket.

But no whistle blew. For a second, all the players stopped. As Pinnock stood with his mouth open and the ball free for Melchionni to take, the Blue Devils went on offense.

The score then was 20-16. Less than five minutes later it was 36-20.

“I think I was fouled,” Pinnock said, “but that’s not why we lost. We lost because Duke was better.”

The Colonials got as close as nine points in the second half, but Duke was always able to force a turnover or make a couple of quick layups whenever pressed.

And unlike Thursday, when Duke got all but 12 of its 70 points from Redick and Shelden Williams in a lackluster opening-round win over Southern, four Blue Devils -- led by Redick’s 20 points -- scored in double figures. Williams had 17 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman forward Josh McRoberts had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Paulus had 10 points.

George Washington had come back from an 18-point deficit to beat North Carolina Wilmington in overtime Thursday, and Paulus said the Blue Devils paid attention.

“We didn’t let them back into it by us not turning the ball over,” he said. “Teams that turn the ball over give them free runs and easy baskets. We did a good job of defending them today.”