No. 2 Duke Dominates At Home

The ACC career of Pete Gillen is only four games old, yet the Virginia coach already knows what it takes to win in arguably the best college conference in the nation.

"You have to have two or three (future) pros in your lineup to play in this league," Gillen said after his Cavaliers were pounded Sunday by No. 2 Duke 115-69. "If you don't, you have no chance."

Asked to name Duke's future pros, Gillen didn't hesitate.

"They have nine of them," Gillen said. "You name them -- everybody. (Taymon) Domzalski was a high school All-American and he can't even get into the game. We would build a monument to him at Virginia, right next to Thomas Jefferson."

Elton Brand had a career-high 33 points as Duke won its 31st straight home game against a team that dressed only six scholarship players.

The 6-foot-8, 270-pound Brand made 12-of-14 shots from the field and 9-of-11 from the foul line. His point total bested his previous high of 26 this season against North Carolina State.

"The sign of a great player is when he has an advantage he really exploits that advantage," teammate Shane Battier said of Brand, who was playing against much smaller Virginia players. "Last year, the difference was in a game when he knew he was better he would let up."

Duke (15-1, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) reached the 100-point mark for the sixth time this season. The Blue Devils' home winning streak is the second-longest in the nation and five shy of the ACC record.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers (9-7, 0-4) have lost 14 of their last 16 in Cameron Indoor Stadium and are off to their worst ACC start since 1989-90.

"Sure, we talked about winning," Gillen said. "But we knew it was almost impossible. They are a better team than Connecticut, and that's no disrespect to thm. And this is the toughest place to play in the country."

In addition to Brand, freshman Corey Maggette scored a season-high 21 points and Trajan Langdon had 17. Duke outrebounded the Cavaliers by 20 and blocked a school-record 17 shots -- one shy of the ACC mark.

"Corey is as good as any freshman in the league," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I wouldn't trade him for any freshman. To his credit, he wants to be on an outstanding team and whatever role he has is OK with him."

The 115 points were the most Duke has scored against Virginia since getting 136 on Feb. 11, 1965 -- a span of 76 games. Duke has won 10 in a row overall and Virginia has lost three in a row for the first time this season.

"This was frustrating," Gillen said. "It's tough when you have one hand tied behind your back."

Donald Hand matched his career high with 24 points to lead the Cavaliers, while ACC scoring leader Chris Williams scored 15.

Duke led by 14 at halftime, then went on a 20-9 run to start the second period as Brand scored on two layups, a 6-footer in the lane and a three-point play for a 71-46 lead with 14:36 left.

Virginia, which lost by 44 at Duke last year, never got closer than 17 the rest of the way.

Duke began the game with an 18-4 run and it appeared another rout was on. But Williams and Hand sparked a 23-12 run as Virginia closed to 30-27 six minutes before halftime. The surge was fueled by a full-court zone press the Blue Devils initially had trouble handling.

But Duke adjusted and closed the half with a 21-10 run that included eight points from Maggette and six from Brand.

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