DURHAM -- Duke freshman Elliot Williams glided to the basket and flushed home a crowd-pleasing 360-degree slam for his first career points as a member of the Blue Devils.
The dunk capped Duke's usual treatment of non-conference opponents as it defeated Presbyterian 80-49 in the season opener in the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer Monday night.
Duke has now won 60 straight non-conference games at Cameron and will return to their house tonight to face Georgia Southern at 9.
Williams and the rest of his teammates just hope there are more offensive fireworks tonight than what they showed against the Blue Hose. Duke turned in a dominant defensive performance, but the offensive rust was evident by 21 turnovers and a struggle to convert easy opportunities.
"I thought we played really hard or else we wouldn't have forced 28 turnovers," Duke coach Mike Kryzyewski said. "It just didn't translate to being fluid on the offensive end.
"I'm a big basketball gods guy. I think sometimes you get punished and miss layups when you don't see that open guy. It's almost like we're trying a little bit too hard on the offensive end. But, you know, it's the first game."
Duke managed just one field goal in the first five minutes, and the big men had a night they would like to forget, as Brian Zoubek fouled out in just seven minutes and freshman starter Miles Plumlee had three turnovers and did not score in 13 minutes.
Kyle Singler had a handful of layups rim out, but still posted game-highs with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Nolan Smith (15), Jon Scheyer (12) and Lance Thomas (12) also reached double figures. Scheyer, in his new role as a starter, said they had to chalk it up as an ugly day and put it behind them.
"We would make a few nice plays but then we would force a shot or something," said the junior tri-captain. "When you have teams on the ropes like that, you have to take advantage of it -- it could have been better, we just have to move on."
The suffocating defense came to the rescue, securing easy points on fast-break buckets and limiting the Blue Hose to just 30 percent shooting. The Blue Devils scored 35 points off the 28 forced turnovers and dominated the boards, 44-29.
It marked the first meeting between the schools and 27th consecutive home-opening victory for the Blue Devils.
Presbyterian, in just its second season at Division I, was led by Al'Lonzo Coleman and Dominc King, each with 13 points.
Five of the top six scorers from last year are back for Duke, but senior point guard Greg Paulus is now the first man off the bench, replaced by Smith.
Scheyer is also back in the starting lineup. The junior scored all 12 of his points in the first half.
Smith played well in spurts in his debut at the point, but promised the team would fare better tonight.
"To start the season, it's good to have back-to-back games. We have this quick turnaround and we'll work on what we didn't do right today," he said.
"Offensively, we were just off -- missing layups, not hitting the open guy -- those are plays we usually make, and we'll make them tomorrow."
PRESBYTERIAN (0-1)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Bostic 18 0-2 0-1 0-1 0 3 0
Coleman 24 5-10 3-6 3-4 1 5 13
Miller 30 3-10 0-0 2-6 3 0 7
Johnson 32 2-7 1-2 0-3 0 1 6
Gibbs 23 1-2 0-0 1-5 0 3 2
Davis 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
King 23 3-15 6-6 0-1 0 2 13
Brown 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Holmes 15 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 2
Sligh 17 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 4 0
Jazwiecki 16 1-5 4-4 1-3 0 4 6
Totals 200 16-53 14-19 10-29 4 25 49
Percentages: FG .302, FT .737.
3-Point Goals: 3-17, .176 (Johnson 1-3, Miller 1-5, King 1-7, Davis 0-1, Bostic 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 6.
Blocked Shots: 5 (Jazwiecki 3, King, Johnson).
Turnovers: 28 (King 6, Bostic 3, Holmes 3, Coleman 3, Gibbs 3, Miller 3, Johnson 2, Jazwiecki 2, Sligh, Brown).
Steals: 5 (Johnson 2, King, Sligh, Coleman).
Technical Fouls: None.
DUKE (1-0)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF Pts
Singler 26 5-12 8-9 2-10 2 3 19
Henderson 22 2-7 3-5 3-4 0 0 7
Plumlee 13 0-2 0-0 2-2 0 2 0
Smith 21 6-7 2-2 0-2 3 2 15
Scheyer 26 5-9 2-2 0-3 3 3 12
Paulus 22 2-7 0-0 0-2 2 0 5
Pocius 8 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Czyz 5 2-4 0-0 2-2 0 1 4
McClure 15 1-3 0-0 0-3 0 0 2
Williams 17 1-3 0-0 0-1 0 3 2
Thomas 18 5-6 2-3 2-5 2 2 12
Zoubek 7 1-2 0-0 1-1 1 5 2
Totals 200 30-63 17-21 14-44 13 21 80
Percentages: FG .476, FT .810.
3-Point Goals: 3-11, .273 (Singler 1-2, Smith 1-2, Paulus 1-5, Henderson 0-1, Scheyer 0-1).
Team Rebounds: 8.
Blocked Shots: 4 (Singler 2, Plumlee, McClure).
Turnovers: 21 (Singler 4, Paulus 3, Zoubek 3, Plumlee 3, Czyz 2, Pocius 2, Smith 2, Thomas, Henderson).
Steals: 17 (Paulus 4, Smith 3, McClure 2, Singler 2, Scheyer 2, Plumlee, Williams, Henderson, Thomas).
Technical Fouls: None.
Presbyterian 22 27 -- 49
Duke 46 34 -- 80
A--9,314.
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