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DURHAM — If you tuned in to watch the two best teams in the ACC go head-to-head Thursday night, too bad.

That game never happened. Instead, you saw a shadow of that game.

You saw Kyle Singler shoot 8-for-10 from 3-point range and score 30 points to lead No. 10 Duke to an 86-67 victory over No. 21 Georgia Tech in a chippy game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

But beyond that, you're probably not sure what you saw. Because you didn't get to see the game you expected from either Duke (18-4, 6-2 ACC) or Georgia Tech (16-6, 4-4).

You saw the Blue Devils at their very best, as their perimeter stars almost never left the court. Singler — bad right wrist and all — played 37 of 40 minutes. Jon Scheyer played 39 minutes, shooting 9-for-10 from the foul line, scoring 21 points and dishing out seven assists. Nolan Smith played 39 minutes, finishing with 14 points and four assists.

"We had three days to prepare," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "We spent more time preparing for them than anyone else we've played. I thought we would be ready. And we just weren't."

You saw Georgia Tech's stars sitting on the bench and watching for a long, long time in a game that featured 52 fouls. The Yellow Jackets are built around 6-foot-9 Gani Lawal and 6-10 Derrick Favors — and those two big men played just 6 minutes apiece in the first half of a tightly officiated game.

"The best way to play those guys is to get 'em in foul trouble and put 'em on the bench," Duke 7-footer Brian Zoubek said, "because they're both hell of a players. We were able to get some good calls against them inside, made some smart plays to get 'em on the bench for a good portion of the first half."

Lawal picked up two fouls in the first 33 seconds. Favors picked up his third less than 7 minutes into the game. So they sat. And sat. And sat.

Hewitt tried to play down the impact of having his two leading scorers and rebounders in foul trouble, but by halftime Duke built a 12-point lead. Lawal and Favors combined for three points and four rebounds in the half. Little-used Duke freshman Ryan Kelly matched those numbers by himself in 5 minutes of playing time.

Singler came out briefly near the end of the first half. He sat on the bench with a white-knuckled grip on a towel, grimacing as he flexed his taped right wrist.

He came back in for Duke's final offensive sequence, and sank a 3-pointer from the corner at the first-half buzzer. Then he scored 20 points in the second half to bury the Yellow Jackets.

"Last time they beat us, and we know that at the end they're going to be one of the top teams in our league," Singler said. "So we knew this game would be important. You've got to win on your home court in the ACC, so we knew this game was huge. And we played very well."

Especially the perimeter stars. Singler, Scheyer and Smith scored all but four of Duke's points in the second half and the Blue Devils led by as many as 25 points.

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech's inside stars Lawal and Favors combined for 17 points and seven fouls.

"I think both teams are better than they were a month ago in Atlanta (in a 71-67 Georgia Tech victory)," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Georgia Tech is good. They are really good. We were just better than them tonight."

The matchup of the ACC's best teams never materialized, because the Yellow Jackets best players sat and watched the Blue Devils' best players.

Notes: Singler, Scheyer and Smith combined for 64 of Duke's 86 points. That's 74 percent of the Blue Devils' offense. They came in averaging 64.7 percent of Duke's points. ... Zack Peacock came off the bench to replace Lawal 33 seconds into the game, and Peacock scored the Yellow Jackets' first 11 points. Peacock by himself led Duke 11-7 with 15:28 left in the first half. Peacock, who averages 9.6 points per game, didn't score again. ... Glen Rice Jr. scored 10 points for Georgia Tech, but he was whistled for a technical foul after pushing Scheyer to the floor with 3:13 left and Duke ahead by 23. ... Lance Thomas grabbed 11 rebounds in 33 minutes for Duke.

Contact Jeff Mills at 373-7024 or jeff.mills@news-record.com

GEORGIA TECH (16-6) — Bell 4-5 0-1 8, Favors 4-5 0-0 8, Lawal 3-4 3-8 9, Udofia 0-2 0-0 0, Shumpert 1-7 1-2 3, M.Miller 1-2 3-4 5, Storrs 1-2 1-1 3, Oliver 2-7 4-4 9, Sheehan 0-0 1-2 1, Peacock 4-10 2-4 11, Rice Jr. 4-5 1-2 10. Totals 24-49 16-28 67.

DUKE (18-4) — Singler 9-17 4-5 30, Mi.Plumlee 1-4 0-2 2, Thomas 1-2 4-4 6, Smith 5-12 4-6 14, Scheyer 5-10 9-10 21, Ma.Plumlee 2-5 0-3 5, Kelly 1-2 0-0 3, Davidson 0-1 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Zoubek 1-3 3-6 5. Totals 25-56 24-36 86.

Halftime—Duke 45-33.
3-point goals—Georgia Tech 3-12 (Peacock 1-2, Rice Jr. 1-2, Oliver 1-4, M.Miller 0-1, Storrs 0-1, Shumpert 0-2), Duke 12-18 (Singler 8-10, Scheyer 2-4, Ma.Plumlee 1-1, Kelly 1-1, Smith 0-1, Davidson 0-1).
Fouled out—Ma.Plumlee.
Rebounds—Georgia Tech 32 (Favors 7), Duke 40 (Thomas 11).
Assists—Georgia Tech 12 (Shumpert 6), Duke 15 (Scheyer 7).
Total fouls—Georgia Tech 27, Duke 25.
Technical—Rice Jr..
A—9,314.