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GREENSBORO — Mike Krzyzewski finally passed his old nemesis Wednesday night, then went off in search of his mentor.

In front of a large Duke crowd on a familiar floor, Krzyzewski guided the Blue Devils to a 108-62 win over UNCG before being engulfed by players, assistants and memories. In the days leading to the game, Krzyzewski said he'd tried to stay focused on his team and not the number of wins he and Carolina's Dean Smith had piled up through the years. But in the moments after the 880th win of his career, which pushed him past Smith for second on the all-time NCAA Division-I list, he was overcome by emotion.

"I was surprised by this," he said. "I knew we would have a lot of fans, but to see so many Duke fans ..."

His voice trailed off. He was red-eyed and moved by the achievement and by the outpouring of support from the fan base and, quite frankly, from Greensboro.

"Outside of doing it in Cameron, this is the place you'd want to do it," Krzyzewski said. "I've always said, and my family has always said, we love Greensboro."

It was here that he first coached against Smith, losing to the UNC coach in the 1980 Big Four. It was here that he won his first ACC tournament championship in 1986 and where he won four others, including last season.

He's 39-9 in the coliseum, having won all 12 NCAA tournament games Duke has played here since he became the Blue Devils' coach in 1980. Duke defeated Smith and Carolina in 1984 in what Krzyzewski considered his breakthrough win in a tournament semifinal, knocking off Michael Jordan and the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels 77-75.

Smith sent a congratulatory message in the moments afterward, and Krzyzewski said it meant more to him than he could express.

"I congratulate Mike on this milestone victory," Smith wrote. "I'm sure he would want to share the credit for the wins with all his players and staff. I enjoyed competing against Mike's teams throughout the many years I was at UNC. I wish him continued health and personal success."

They were a lot alike really, a lot more than the die-hard fans of the two schools might want to admit. Smith was the standard to which Krzyzewski held his program back in the early days. On his staff in 1982-83 was a young assistant named Mike Dement, now the UNCG head coach.

Dement, from Louisburg, said Smith was the coach they all looked up to back then.

"For all of us who grew up in North Carolina, the younger guys, the coach we all studied was Dean Smith," Dement said. "We read his books and copied everything."

Krzyzewski met his old assistant near midcourt in the moments before the game, exchanging a private conversation about the old days.

"I told him it was a long time since '82-83," Krzyzewski said.

Afterward, when they met again, Dement said simply, "Congratulations, Coach."

The game was one-sided from the beginning, and the huge crowd thundered from all corners as the Blue Devils poured it on the Spartans. Even in one of Duke's finest hours, there were Carolina fans there to remind everyone of the bigger picture.

One fan brought a big picture of Smith, with a tongue hanging out. He sat directly across from the Duke bench, holding the sign until security took it away. Another fan stood with a Carolina flag and waved it during free throws until he was booed out of the arena in the final minutes.

It was a night for Duke, with a nod to Carolina. And in the end, Krzyzewski said he was humbled to pass Smith and didn't even want to think about chasing the all-time leader in wins -- his college coach, Bob Knight.

"I talk to Coach Knight about once a week, but we don't talk about number of wins," Krzyzewski said. "We talk first of all about whatever he's shooting at that time, wherever he's hunting. I always ask him 'Who, um, what did you shoot?' And hopefully it's not somebody, it's something."

Krzyzewski said he won't be thinking about Knight or his 902 wins from here on out. He'll be thinking about the next game, Sunday against Miami, and then the game after that. But for one night, he was thinking about a lot of other things. He was thinking about Smith, and he was thinking about his players and his staff.

Krzyzewski thanked Greensboro and said he couldn't wait to come back.

"I've been involved in a lot of games here, and I've been involved in a lot of huge wins here," he said. "The people here in Greensboro love basketball. The coliseum represents what the ACC is about. It's a great place. There's a genuine-ness with the people who are here supporting our conference whether you're a Duke fan, Carolina, State, Wake ... . They love the ACC, and it's made our conference the best over the years."

Krzyzewski and Smith and Knight have been the best over a lot of years. On Wednesday night, in front of a huge Duke crowd, Krzyzewski allowed himself to take it all in before getting back to the hunt.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com