College basketball: Devils dominate bigger Badgers

11/28/2007

DURHAM, N.C. - Duke figured out how to make up for its size disadvantage against Wisconsin: Turn up the tempo.

Greg Paulus scored 13 of his 18 points during the decisive first half, and No. 7 Duke ran No. 20 Wisconsin right out of Cameron Indoor Stadium in an 82-58 rout last night.

Freshman Taylor King added 15 points in his second straight strong game off the bench for the Blue Devils (7-0), who entered wondering how they'd contain a Wisconsin front line that featured three players in the rotation who are 6-foot-10 or taller.

Fellow freshman Kyle Singler had 13 points, Gerald Henderson added 11 and Jon Scheyer scored 10 for the Blue Devils.

Duke's up-tempo offense and swarming, aggressive defense dominated from the opening tip, helping the Blue Devils improve to 9-0 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and remain the only team with a perfect record in the annual event.

Duke, which didn't start a player taller than 6-8, held its own on the glass - Wisconsin had just a 42-40 rebounding advantage - and that helped turn the Blue Devils' first legitimate test at home into a blowout, their NCAA-best 55th straight non-conference home-court victory.

Jon Leuer and Trevon Hughes scored 12 points apiece and Brian Butch had 11 for Wisconsin (5-1), which was denied its first 6-0 start since 1996-97. Hughes, the team's leading scorer, was held more than seven points below his average.

NO. 3 MEMPHIS 104,

AUSTIN PEAY 82

MEMPHIS - Freshman guard Derrick Rose had 19 points and 12 assists, and Memphis shot 64 percent from the floor.

Chris Douglas-Roberts led Memphis with 23 points on 11-of-15 shooting, and Shawn Taggart added a career-high 17 points. Joey Dorsey was one of three Tigers with 10 points. He also grabbed 10 rebounds.

No. 11 Tennessee 93,

North Carolina A&T 59

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Chris Lofton scored 18 of his season-high 24 points in the first half and Tennessee (6-1) rebounded from its first loss with an easy victory over North Carolina A&T.

No. 14 Pittsburgh 80,

Boston University 53

PITTSBURGH - Ronald Ramon made all five of his 3-point attempts to score 15 points, and Pittsburgh (6-0) put away Boston University quickly with a 20-3 run in the first half.

No. 15 Indiana 83,

Georgia Tech 79

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Eric Gordon scored 29 points and D.J. White added 18 to help Indiana rally past Georgia Tech.

Jamarcus Ellis scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half for the Hoosiers (5-1) in their 21st straight regular-season win at Assembly Hall. It also was the Big Ten's first victory in this year's Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

No. 18 Clemson 61,

Purdue 58

CLEMSON, S.C. - K.C. Rivers' soft floater with 31.2 seconds left broke a tie and sent No. 18 Clemson to a victory over Purdue in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

Rivers finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, saving the Tigers (6-0) in their first game without injured forward James Mays.