With its 63-55 victory over Mississippi State in the second round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, Duke improves to 27-5 on the season. It was the third match-up between the Blue Devils and Bulldogs, but the first since January 3, 1938, and Duke earned its first win over the Bulldogs with the series now 2-1 in MSU's favor. Duke also improves to 113-57 over teams from the Southeastern Conference. Counting the Delaware State Hornets and Mississippi State Bulldogs, Duke improved to 11-2 over teams in the 2005 NCAA Tournament.
Duke advanced to the Regional Semifinal game for an NCAA-best eighth straight season. All-time, Duke is 16-4 in NCAA Tournament second round games and 15-5 under coach Mike Krzyzewski. For games until 1979, the second round was also the Regional Semifinal and thus refelected in that record. Duke will make its 22nd Sweet 16 appearance, its 15th under Cocah K and eighth in a row.
Duke earned its ninth No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and improves to 35-6 as a No. 1 seed. Duke won the 1992 and 2001 National Championships as a No. 1 seed.
With the win over Mississippi State, head coach Mike Krzyzewski becomes the NCAA Tournament's all-time winningest coach. With 66 career victories, he moves out of a tie with former UNC coach Dean Smith, who compiled 65 in his career. Krzyzewski has 21 more wins than any other active coach as the next closest coach is Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight with 45 including their win today. Lute Olson (44), Jim Boeheim (40), Eddie Sutton (37), Roy Williams (37) and Jim Calhoun (36) are other active coaches with 35 or more NCAA Tournament wins. Coach K has compiled all 66 wins since 1985, and in that time frame, he has 29 more victories than Olson (37) and Roy Williams (37).
Krzyzewski's 66-17 mark in the NCAA Tournament gives him a .795 winning percentage, second all time behind John Wooden (47-10, .825).
Duke advanced to face the Michigan State in the Sweet 16 in Austin next Friday. Duke is 5-1 all-time against the Spartans, including a 81-74 win on Nov. 30, 2004 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. J.J. Redick and Daniel Ewing scored 29 points apiece for the Blue Devils as Shelden Williams recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Michicgan State's Paul Davis cut the margin to one late in the game, but an off-balance jumper from Sean Dockery, his only of the game, gave Duke a 75-72 lead and helped them to hold on and improve to 4-0 on the young season.
The victory over Mississippi State gives Mike Krzyzewski 721 career wins and keeps him in sole possession of 16th place on the all-time wins list. Ray Meyer and John Chaney are next on the list with 724 wins each.
Krzyzewski's 721 wins are the most in the first 30 seasons in a coaching career. In each of their first 30 seasons, Dean Smith compiled 717 wins, Jerry Tarkanian 710, Lute Olson 690 and John Chaney 675.
Duke's defense held Mississippi State to just 55 points in the game, and in two NCAA Tournament games, Duke has allowed a combined 101 points (50.5 per game). Delaware State and Mississippi State combined to hit 39-of-114 (.342) from the field.
In its last eight games, Duke has held its opponent under 70 points eight times. In those games, Duke has held its opponent to an average of 59.3 points per game and its opponents have combined to shoot just 31-of-110 (.281) from behind the three-point arc.
Duke improves to 83-25 in NCAA Tournament action, meaning they have won an NCAA-best .769 of their tournament games. Both the 83 victories and 108 games ranks fourth all-time.
The Mississippi State game marked the 22nd game and 18th victory for Duke since the 2000 Tournament. Both those marks are the most in the nation. Duke is 18-4 in that time span, followed by Kansas (15-6), Michigan State (15-4), Maryland (14-4), Arizona (13-5), UConn (13-4), Syracuse (11-4), Illinois (11-5), Kentucky (11-5), Oklahoma State (10-5) , Wisconsin (10-5) and Texas (9-6). All records are updated through the second round.
Duke held Mississippi State to just 22 first half points, the fourth lowest total of the season for a Duke opponent. Only UNC-Greensboro (21 on 11/27), Clemson (19 on 1/3) and St. John's (17 on 2/26) scored fewer points than the Bulldogs against the Blue Devils this season.
Duke outscored Mississippi State 8-2 after Duke had a 55-53 lead at the 3:16 mark to pull out the victory. Daniel Ewing scored six of the eight points for the Blue Devils down the stretch, while Lee Melchionni hit two free throws with :37 left to put Duke up six at 61-55.
Duke has now won 16 straight games in the Charlotte Coliseum and 19 of its past 22 dating back to 1993-94, including regular season, ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament games. Duke's last loss in the Coliseum came March 16, 1997, in a second-round NCAA Tournament game against Providence by a score of 98-87.
With the win over Mississippi State, Duke is now 179-31 since the 1999-2000 season and the 179 victories are the most by any team this century. Kansas (160 wins) is the next closest team.
Shelden Williams had 13 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks against Mississippi State, marking the 30th game this season and 67th of his career he has reached double figures in scoring, the 22nd time this season and 43rd of his career he's had 10-plus rebounds and he also has an ACC-leading 20 double-doubles this season and 38 in his career.
Williams three blocks against the Bulldogs give him 66 in the last 17 games, an average of 3.88 per game. He has blocked three or more shots in 13 of his last 15 games and also has a Duke record and ACC-leading 120 blocks this season.
Williams 15 rebounds gives him 361 on the season and moved him past Ronnie Mayer (348 in 1954-55), Randy Denton (358 in 1968-69) and Mike Gminski (359 in 1979-80) and into sixth place on the season chart. Immediately ahead is Christian Laettner, who had 364 rebounds in 1989-90.
Daniel Ewing scored 22 points against Mississippi State, marking the 28th game of the season and 87th in his career he has scored 10 or more points and the fifth time this season and 10th in his career with 20 or more points. He was also 4-of-7 from behind the three-point arc and had four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.
Ewing's 22 points gives him 1,577 in his career and he moved past David Henderson (1983-86) and into 23rd place on the Duke career scoring chart.
J.J. Redick scored 16 points against Mississippi State, marking the 30th game this season and 85th of his career he has reached double figures. With a leaning jumper at the 3:46 mark of the first half, Redick became the 16th Blue Devil to surpass 700 points in a season. He now has 708 points in 2004-05. Redick also had five rebounds, was 4-of-4 from the line and had two steals while playing the entire 40 minutes.
Redick's complete game gives him 11 on the season, the second most for a player in a season under Krzyzewski. Only associate coach Johnny Dawkins had more with 14 in 1983-84.
Duke has held 31 of its 32 opponents to less than .500 shooting percentage on the season. With the Bulldogs .323 percentage, Duke has held 18 opponents to under a .400 shooting percentage.
Duke improves to 118-43 (.733) in March under Mike Krzyzewski.
Duke now has 1,764 all time wins.
Duke has won 193 of its last 207 games vs. unranked opponents. Additionally, Duke has won 97 of its last 102 games against unranked, non-conference opponents and has won 103 of its last 115 games vs. unranked opponents on the road or on a neutral court.
Overall away from home, Duke has won 137 of its last 168 games.
Under coach Mike Krzyzewski, Duke is 358-56 vs. non-conference opponents, including a 13-0 mark in 2004-05. Coach K's teams are 123-34 on a neutral court vs. non-conference opponents, including a 5-0 mark this year, and when counting ACC foes, Duke is 166-51 on a neutral floor, including a perfect 8-0 mark this season.
As the No. 3 ranked team in the AP poll, Duke is now 95-19 all time, including a 8-2 mark in the NCAA Tournament.
Duke has been ranked in the AP poll in 319 consecutive games dating back to close of 1995-96 season.