No. 1 Duke Blows Away DePaul

When Trajan Langdon gets cranking and Elton Brand gets nasty around the basket, there aren't too many teams in the country that can beat No. 1 Duke.

Certainly not DePaul and its phenom freshmen. Maybe not anybody, the Blue Demons coach said.

"They're much scarier up close and personal than any tape could ever describe," Pat Kennedy said after the Blue Devils routed his young DePaul team 96-64 Wednesday night.

"That's a team that's got to be the odds-on favorite to win it all," he said. "There's no one right now competing at their level right now, including the Connecticuts and Michigan States and those folks."

Langdon's 25 points led five Duke players in double figures, and Elton Brand was brutal on defense, blocking four shots and grabbing 14 rebounds to go with his 20 points. Chicago native Corey Maggette added 14 in front of 22,180 at the United Center, the largest crowd ever to see a college basketball game in Illinois.

The Blue Devils had a 47-35 edge on the boards.

"We did a tremendous job on the defensive end," Langdon said. "We came ready to play."

Duke (28-1) tied a school record with its 23rd straight victory. Next up: Becoming the first team to go 16-0 in the ACC. The Blue Devils can accomplish that goal by beating North Carolina on Saturday.

Quentin Richardson led DePaul (16-10) with 21 points and Willie Coleman added 14. Bobby Simmons, who came into the game averaging 11 points a game, had just two for DePaul, which was a dismal 23-of-70 (33 percent) from the floor.

"We're a really good basketball team, and when we starte rebounding and running, we knocked the starch out of them," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "That's a sign of a mature team. We've become that."

DePaul, meanwhile, is still growing. The Blue Demons sauntered into the United Center full of confidence from a five-game winning streak, which dated back to an overtime upset of then-No. 3 Cincinnati. The freshmen trio of Richardson, Simmons and Lance Williams was playing so well the Blue Demons practically had their bags packed for their first trip to the NCAA tournament since 1992.

Not so fast, boys, the Blue Devils said. Get past us first.

And Langdon made sure that didn't happen. The senior, still sporting a nasty cut on his lip from last Saturday's game at Clemson, ripped off nine points in a 90-second span as Duke jumped out to a 13-7 lead with 16:40 left in the first half.

The last of his little run was a huge 3-pointer from well behind the NBA line.

After a hook shot from Williams, Duke went on an 18-8 run that broke the game open, taking a 31-17 lead with 7:20 left in the half.

"They came out, obviously, confident, playing hard," Langdon said. "When we got some shots and started boarding and running and got into transition and got about a 12-point lead, you kind of saw it in their eyes that their confidence decreased."

And just for good measure, Duke opened the second half with 3-pointers from Langdon, William Avery and Langdon again during a 19-4 run.

"Our goal is to get our lead, get our run and kick it up from there," Brand said. "Once we got the lead, we try not to look back."

While beating Duke is never easy, DePaul's horrid shooting and carelessness with the ball didn't help. The Blue Demons turned the ball over 15 times, leading to 23 points for Duke.

Despite the big loss, Kennedy said he thinks his team could still be in the running for the NCAA.

"They've done this to a lot of people this year," Kennedy said of Duke. "This team right now is just playing at an incredible level."

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