Notes: St. John's 93, Duke 78

Team Notes:

Duke's seven game winning streak against St. John's came to an end. Under Coach K the Blue Devils fall to 20-7 overall at MSG. Overall Duke is 25-15 when playing at Madison Square Garden.
The Blue Devils suffered just their second loss of the season and first double-digit setback since an 89-77 setback at Georgetown last season. Duke had won 37 of its last 39 games dating back to the Georgetown loss.
Duke has now had a 20-point scorer in 16 straight games. They have had two players score 20 or more in seven games on the year.
The Blue Devils shot over 50 percent in the second half, marking the 14th time this season they have shot at least 50 percent after halftime.
It was the first time this season Duke allowed more than 80 points in a game. The previous high for an opponent was 79 by Michigan State. The last time the Blue Devils allowed over 90 points was back in 2009 in a 101-91 victory over Wake Forest.
St. John's also posted season highs by an opponent for field goals made (32), field goal percentage (.582), three-point field goal percentage (.600), free throws made (26), free throws attempted (33) and assists (21). It was the first time an opponent shot over 50 percent from the field against Duke this year and first time since Maryland shot 50 percent in Duke's last loss of 2009-10.
The Blue Devils shot a season-low 19.2 percent from behind the three-point line. The previous low was 25 percent against Virginia.
Duke faced its largest deficit of the season at the half, trailing by 21 point, 46-25. The Blue Devils have only trailed in two previous games this season, by four points at Florida State (28-24) and by six against Virginia (31-25). The 21-point halftime deficit is tied for the sixth largest in school history and is tied for the third largest under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The 46 points allowed by Duke in the first half were seven more than the previous season high of 39 against Kansas State.
St. John's shot .571 from the field in the opening 20 minutes. It is just the sixth half this season that a Blue Devils opponent shot 50 percent or better. The shooting percentage was the highest in any half by a Duke opponent this season, passing the .548 total by N.C. State in the second half.
The Blue Devils made only one of 13 three-point field goal attempts in the first half. It is the third time this season Duke has made only one trey in the first half. They were 1-of-10 against Maryland and 1-of-12 against Virginia.

Player Notes:

Ryan Kelly

Sophomore Ryan Kelly pulled down a career-high nine rebounds, one more than his previous high of eight against N.C. State and UAB earlier this year.
Kelly also blocked three shots for his ninth multi-block game of the year. He has five games with three or more and seven in his last two outings.

Mason Plumlee

Sophomore Mason Plumlee blocked two shots to give him a team-high 38 on the year. It was his ninth game with two or more.

Kyle Singler

Senior Kyle Singler drew his team-leading 89th consecutive start and has now started in 131 of his 132 career games. The 131 career starts ranks sixth most on Duke's all-time list.
Singler notched his eighth game with at least 20 points this season and 40th of his career. He has scored in double figures in 115 career games and 20 of the 21 games this season. His 115 double-digit scoring games ranks fifth on Duke's all-time list.
Singler continued to climb up the ACC career scoring list, passing Bob Sura (Florida State) and Mark Alarie (Duke) into 23rd all-time. His total of 2,144 ranks sixth on the Duke career list.

Nolan Smith

Senior Nolan Smith scored 32 points, including 27 in the second half for his second career 30-point game. It was one shy of his career high of 33 against UAB earlier this season.
Smith posted his ACC-leading 11th game with 20 or more points. He has 28 career games with 20 or more and has scored at least 20 in four of the last five games. He reached double figures in scoring for the 20th time in 21 games this season. He has 79 career games with 10 or more points.
This marks the fifth time this season Smith has made at least 10 field goals in a game.
Ten of his 32 points came at the free throw line. It is the second time in his career he has made 10 or more free throws.
It is the 12th game this season that Smith has posted at least five rebounds. He has seven games this season with 20 points and five rebounds.
Smith also had three steals in the game, giving him 18 in his last six games. He has had three or more steals in five games this season.