With its 70-51 win over San Jose State, Duke improves to 12-1 on the season and is now 1-0 against San Jose State after the teams' first meeting. Duke is now 3-0 all-time against teams from the Western Athletic Conference with all three games coming under coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Duke owns the nation's longest home winning streak against non-conference opponents at 50 games. The Blue Devils last lost in Cameron Indoor Stadium to a non-league team on February 26, 2000, against St. John's (83-82). The longest such streak in school history was a 95-game effort that ended with a loss to Illinois on December 2, 1995. Duke has also won 180 of its last 183 non-conference home games.
Sophomore Josh McRoberts scored 15 points, grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds and also had game highs with five assists and three blocks. McRoberts became the 12th player under Coach K to record 15 points and rebounds in a game and just the fourth when adding five assists into that mix. His 17 rebounds is his career best by four and season best by six. In the last three games, McRoberts is averaging 15.0 points, 11.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 4.0 blocks and 2.3 steals per game.
For McRoberts, the game marked his second double-double of the season and fourth of his career. It is his second game with 10-plus rebounds this year and seventh of his career and it's his seventh game scoring in double figures this season and 23rd of his career. Duke is 22-1 in his career when he scores in double figures.
Duke has now started 10-0 at home 18 times, including 13 times under Coach K and in nine of the last 10 seasons (1942, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007).
Duke improves to 149-23 under Coach K all-time in the month of December and has won 34 straight in December. The last December loss for the Blue Devils was an 84-83 loss by No. 1 Duke to No. 3 Stanford on Dec. 21, 2000. Duke is 62-3 in December since the 1996-97 season.
Duke held San Jose State to 51 points while scoring 70. Ironically, at home this season, Duke is scoring 69.8 points per game and holding its opponents to 51.0 points per game. The game marked the 11th time in 13 games Duke has held its opponent to 56 or fewer points and overall on the season, Duke is surrendering just 53.3 points per game, good for third best in the NCAA.
Duke recorded seven assists and 10 turnovers in the first half, but took better care of the ball in the second half with nine assists against just one turnover. Duke has averaged 11.1 turnovers in the last four games compared to an average of 17.8 over the first nine games of the season. Duke has also assisted on 66-of-96 (68.8 percent) of its field goals in the last four games compared to just 92-of-202 (45.5 percent) over the first nine games.
Duke recorded a season-high 44 rebounds against San Jose State. Duke also held a slight (44-41) advantage in the rebounding column, marking the 11th time in 13 games that Duke has held the rebounding advantage. Duke holds a +5.8 rebounding advantage over its opponents this season (36.4 to 30.6).
Junior DeMarcus Nelson scored 13 points and added four rebounds, four assists and two steals against San Jose State. For Nelson, it's his 11th game in double figures this season and 26th of his career.
Sophomore Greg Paulus recorded 12 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block against San Jose State, his first block of the season. Paulus has recorded double figures in points five times this season, including each of the last four games. Over the last four games, Paulus is averaging 12.5 points, 3.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. He also has just six turnovers in the last four games.
Sunday marked the 249th consecutive sellout at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The last non-sellout at Cameron was Nov. 16, 1990, in a 100-76 win over Boston College.
With the win, Duke's record improves to ...
1,808-812 all-time, the fourth most wins in the NCAA
223-36 this decade, the best record in the country
699-142 all-time at Cameron Indoor Stadium, including 150 of the last 159 games there
48-20 as the No. 5 ranked team in the AP poll and 475-88 as a Top 5 team
869-217 overall as a ranked team including 614-129 under Coach K
537-86 vs. unranked teams under Coach K, including 224-16 since 1997-98
111-2 at home vs. unranked teams since 1997-98
118-6 vs. unranked non-conference opponents since 1997-98
385-60 vs. non-conference opponents under Coach K, including 197-8 at home
149-23 under Coach K in December, including 7-0 this season and 34 straight
With the win, Coach K now has 765 career victories and remains in10th place in NCAA history. He is third among active coaches. Ninth on the list is Henry Iba with 767. At Duke, Coach K has 692 victories, seventh most all-time (Don Haskins, UTEP, 719).