No. 1 Duke Routs Wake Forest

The winning margins keep increasing. So does the level of despair for opponents of No. 1 Duke.

The streaking Blue Devils on coach Mike Krzyzewski's 52nd birthday won their 20th straight overall and 35th in a row in Cameron Indoor Stadium, destroying Wake Forest 102-71 Saturday.

"Everything worked perfectly for them. They made almost everything," Wake Forest's Rafael Vidaurreta said of Duke. "They make everybody look like beginners."

The victory clinched at least a tie for Duke's third straight ACC regular season title, marking the first time since North Carolina (1976-78) that a team has won three straight ACC regular season crowns. The win by Duke (25-1, 13-0 ACC) also clinched the No. 1 seed in next month's ACC tournament in Charlotte.

"It is really neat that we just go out and play ball every day," Shane Battier said when asked about the historic significance of a third straight league crown. "In our conversation in the locker room and off the court we really don't talk about history. If we are in the midst of a history-making season we really aren't that aware of it."

Others sure are.

"When you do it with as much talent as they have, as much commitment as they have, and being coached as well as they are, it's tough for anybody to handle that," said Wake Forest coach Dave Odom, whose team gave up 100 points for the first time in a span of 182 games.

Trajan Langdon led the way with 20 points as Duke placed six players in double figures for the fourth time in the last five games.

Robert O'Kelley led the Demon Deacons (13-11, 4-8) with 19 points.

"We can be a positive factor in the ACC tournament, a positive factor, and not just a lame-duck factor," Odom said of his young team. "Time gives you hope and that's where our team is right now and I don't think it's hopeless."

The game was delayed about 30 minutes whe Wake Forest reserve Ed Kargbookorogie, who also plays football, broke one of the glass backboards in warmups. The mishap forced both teams to use Cameron's backup portable basketball standards.

"He was playing football when you go over those kinds of things like no dunking in warmups," Odom said. "He probably didn't think he was going to play and wanted to do everything to help us before the game and got carried away."

"It certainly is uncalled for and I think we all have to responsible for that and I take ultimate responsibility," Odom added. "I do apologize to the officials at Duke for causing them some anguish and certainly offer to pay for it."

During the game, the Blue Devils mascot carried a sign that read "You break it, you buy it."

The delay didn't seem to bother Duke at all. In fact, the crafty Krzyzewski turned it into a positive for his team.

"The only thing he said was that it kind of simulated an NCAA tournament-type of atmosphere, where a game before yours may go into a single- or double-overtime and you've got to wait," Langdon said. "That's kind of how it was today."

Duke went on a 16-0 run midway through the opening half to build a 34-15 lead. Battier capped the spurt in typical Blue Devils fashion, diving and intercepting a pass and then seconds later nailing a 3-pointer on the offensive end.

"I call that Bird-like plays," Krzyzewski said of Battier's brilliant display at both ends of the court. "Not that he's Larry Bird, but when I talk to my teams those are unusually great plays because they're plays of inner strength, not physical strength."

Wake Forest lost by only 10 points to Duke Jan. 13 in Winston-Salem, but fell behind 54-30 at the half this time around as Duke unveiled its full-court press and finished with its multi-dimensional offense.

The Demon Deacons turned the ball over 13 times and committed 16 fouls in the opening 20 minutes and never could get in gear offensively. Then again, not many teams do against Duke in Cameron.

Duke increased its lead to 30 points with 13 minutes left and cruised to its eighth 100-point game of the season. The Blue Devils, who beat Virginia 100-54 on Thursday night, last posted consecutive 100-point ACC games in 1988 against Wake Forest and Clemson.

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