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GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Jason Williams scored half of his 22 points in the opening 2:04 as top-seeded Duke crushed Monmouth, 95-52, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament's East Region at the Greensboro Coliseum. The 43-point victory margin matched the 10th-biggest in NCAA Tournament history, but it was not the largest in school annals. The Blue Devils routed Connecticut, 101-54, in the 1964 East Region final. "I'm really happy with our team's performance," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We had a lot of respect for Monmouth, especially their perimeter. We wanted to press to start out so they wouldn't control the tempo. We played hard and we are difficult to beat if we do that." Duke held an 11-0 lead before the contest was 90 seconds old as Mike Dunleavy Jr. drilled a 3-pointer on the game's first possession and Williams followed with a pair of baskets from beyond the arc. After Cameron Milton got the Hawks on the board by making the final of three free-throw attempts, Williams hit another 3-pointer and Dunleavy's follow with 17:18 left in the first half made it 16-1. "It was a learning experience to say the least," Monmouth caoch Dave Calloway said. "They're just a class act. Every one of their players congratulated every one of ours after they whipped our butts, on winning a championship and being here. That's because they follow the example of Mike Krzyzewski." Monmouth scored nine of the next 12 points and was within 19-10 on a 3-pointer by Gerry Crosby with just over 15 minutes to go until halftime. But Dunleavy had a pair of layups around Williams' fourth 3-pointer to push the advantage back to 26-10. The Blue Devils (30-4), whose biggest lead was 52 points on two occasions in the second half, will play Missouri in the second round on Saturday. Naismith Award winner Shane Battier collected 21 points and 10 rebounds and made nine 3-pointers for Duke, which finished 18-of-38 from beyond the arc and at 58 percent (38-of-66) from the field. Slightly hobbled by a right ankle injury suffered on Sunday in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, Williams also had four assists but committed five of Duke's 15 turnovers. Freshman Chris Duhon had nine assists. "The biggest thing for me to do was to play well defensively," said Williams. "Our team has a 'no excuses' rule. If you're on the court, you give 100 percent mentally even if you're not 100 percent physically." The Blue Devils had 25 assists and won by 43 points despite making just one free throw. "We wanted to come out and play well," said Battier. "Watching the lower-seeded teams win earlier today didn't hurt our motivation. We wanted to come out and set the tone for the rest of the tournament." It was the fifth straight first-round victory for Duke, which has not been eliminated in the tournament's opneing round since 1996. Crosby and Steve Bridgemohan netted 12 points apiece for the 16th-seeded Hawks (21-10), who were making their second NCAA Tournament appearance and have never won an NCAA game. Monmouth, the Northeast Conference champion, connected on 35 percent (19-of-54) of its shots, including 5-of-23 from beyond the arc. Rahsaan Johnson, who entered averaging over 19 points, was held to 11 on 4-of-13 shooting. "I thought we were going to win," Johnson said. "Oddly enough, I had a dream about it the other night. But it didn't come true." Duke has won both all-time meetings between the schools. |
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