No. 7 Duke Defeats Illinois-Chicago, 88-55

Tuesday, December 14

Durham, N.C.

Duke University

UIC

No. 7 Duke Defeats Illinois-Chicago, 88-55

12/14/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

By: Duke Sports Information

Dec. 14, 2004

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By Aaron Beard

Durham, N.C. (AP) - For the second straight game, Duke overcame a slow start to win in a rout.

Shelden Williams had 23 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks Tuesday night to lift the seventh-ranked Blue Devils past Illinois-Chicago 88-55.

J.J. Redick added 21 points for the Blue Devils, who used a big run spanning halftime to improve to 7-0 for the fourth time in five seasons.

Jovan Stefanov scored 15 first-half points to lead the Flames (3-4), who got off to a quick start but soon succumbed to Duke's increased defensive intensity and quick transition game.

Duke shot 49 percent and used a run of 21 points spanning halftime to turn the game into a rout. The Blue Devils' defense took the Flames out of their once-steady offense and held them to one field goal over a 7{-minute span.

The Blue Devils finished with 19 points off 23 turnovers, held UIC to 37 percent shooting and blocked a school-record 18 shots.

The only blemish was that the Blue Devils - as they did against Toledo in coach Mike Krzyzewski's 700th career victory Sunday - found themselves down early. The Blue Devils trailed 10-2 before beating the Rockets 82-54.

On Tuesday, Duke didn't take its first lead until more than 13 minutes in.

"We showed that we can be a really good team," Krzyzewski said. "We need to show it for a full 40 minutes. And it starts with playing good defense."

Last month, the Flames took No. 3 Georgia Tech to the wire at home before falling 60-59 to open the season. The early minutes of their second game against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent gave some cause for optimism, with UIC opening an eight-point lead over the first 10 minutes.

But soon - with Duke's aggressive defense pushing the Flames farther and farther from the basket - the Blue Devils turned the game into another display of their quick-strike attack and Williams' formidable presence inside.

Williams had just three shots in the first half, and Krzyzewski told his team at halftime to look for its big man inside. The results were immediate, with Williams scoring the first eight points after the break and going 6-for-8 from the field in the second half.

"It felt good for us to get rolling," Williams said. "We needed to start the second half the opposite of what we did in the first half. The expression on our face in the first half was kind of blank. We didn't have the energy and intensity that we need."

Duke led 33-31 before getting a baseline drive from DeMarcus Nelson and a 3 from Redick to take a seven-point halftime lead.

The Blue Devils opened the second half with 16 straight points. After hitting two free throws, the 6-foot-9, 250-pound junior got free of Elliott Poole and threw down a dunk for a 42-31 lead.

Then, after a turnover, Daniel Ewing found Williams running down the lane for a fast-break slam that brought the Cameron Crazies to a roar. He followed that by grabbing a missed 3 by Redick in the air and slamming it down.

"Once he catches the ball down on the low post, there are very few people who are going to stop those broad shoulders from going to the hole," UIC coach Jimmy Collins said.

By the time Redick and Sean Dockery followed with 3-pointers, the lead had grown to 54-31 with about 15 minutes left.

Williams was also a rugged presence defensively, swatting plenty of drives to the basket and altering countless more. Shavlik Randolph added four blocks, helping Duke break the old school record of 17 set against Virginia in 1999.

"We certainly learned a valuable lesson on pressure defense," Collins said. "Their pressure took us out of everything we wanted to do."

UIC hit eight of its first 10 shots and led 22-14 in the first 10 minutes. But the Flames struggled offensively from there, shooting 4-for-17 to close the half as the Blue Devils started getting hands in passing lanes and chasing ballhandlers all over the floor.

The lanky 6-9 Stefanov in particular gave the Blue Devils a hard time early. He went 6-for-8 in the opening 20 minutes, coming within a point of tying his career-high. But he couldn't manage another point, illustrating the Flames' offensive struggles after that early burst.