DURHAM, N.C. (AP)—Duke lost plenty of scoring punch when J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams moved on to the NBA. If the new Blue Devils keep playing defense like this, it might not matter.
Freshman Brian Zoubek scored 17 points Thursday night to lead 11th-ranked Duke to a 75-48 rout of North Carolina-Greensboro, the third straight team the Blue Devils have held to less than 50 points.
“We made a statement with our defense. We really came out there and played really hard on defense for a while,” said Zoubek, a reserve. “That just affects the rest of our game, so that’s what we have to keep on doing every night.”
Freshman Gerald Henderson had 12 points, and David McClure and DeMarcus Nelson added 11 apiece for the Blue Devils (3-0), who shot 53 percent and led by as many as 29 in the closing moments.
Duke never trailed, held the Spartans to 32 percent shooting, outrebounded them 41-31 and forced 24 turnovers. It was the kind of defensive effort that made up for the absence of Redick, the national player of the year, and Williams, one of the best post players in school history.
“That really has to be the identity of our team this year,” McClure said. “We have tremendous athletes, and we’re so young, so it’s going to take a little time to get our offense flowing, but defense can definitely be a point of emphasis on our team.”
Kyle Hines scored 17 points for the Spartans, reaching double figures for the 24th straight game. Ricky Hickman added 12 points as UNC-Greensboro (0-3) fell to 0-18 against ranked teams since moving to Division I in 1991-92.
Duke won its 43rd consecutive non-conference home game, while the Spartans lost their 14th straight road game dating to last season.
They became the latest opponent to wilt against a Duke defense that has allowed its opponents to score 48, 43 and now 48 points.
“The main thing they do all the time is play hard (and) defensive rebound,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Teams aren’t going to go away. You’re playing Duke in Cameron. (With a big lead) you have to defend even harder in those situations to try to stop people.”
The Blue Devils took most of the drama out of this one early, shooting 56 percent in the first half and building a 28-point lead.
UNC-Greensboro returned all five starters from the team that lost 102-69 to Duke last season in Greensboro, though only three of them were in the lineup this time. Hickman had 23 points and Hines added 20 in last year’s game, but that experience didn’t seem to help much this time.
Duke scored the first nine points, and then reeled off 10 consecutive points during a McClure-led 20-5 run midway through the half.
McClure had eight points during the surge, which was capped by Zoubek’s three-point play at the 5:30 mark that made it 33-13.
“Duke gave us a lot of problems tonight with Zoubek on that back side,” said UNC-Greensboro coach Mike Dement, a former Duke assistant. “He’s just so big, and they threw it up to him. … We just didn’t have anybody to do much with him 1-on-1.”
The Blue Devils took their biggest lead of the half when McClure’s layup made it 43-15 with about 2 minutes left in the half.
“We got to the point where it was like everybody was standing around looking at each other, and we didn’t know what to do,” Hines said.
UNC-Greensboro missed nine of its first 11 shots and shot just 23 percent in a miserable opening 20 minutes. But the Spartans showed a little spark shortly after halftime, using a 13-2 run to pull within 16.
“Duke University—just the name itself, just the determination and the will to want to go out there and play with those guys,” Hines said.
They closed to 14 when Kevin Oleksiak’s 3-pointer with 10:51 to play made it 54-40, but the Blue Devils pulled away down the stretch.
The Blue Devils improved to 6-0 all-time against UNC-Greensboro.
