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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
NEW YORK -- For Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, victory No. 501
couldn't have been easier.
|  | | Duke's Jason Williams is surrounded by Longhorns, but in the end the Duke corralled Texas with ease. |
The Blue Devils (No. 1 ESPN/USA Today; No. 2 Associated Press) never let Texas in the game Wednesday
night, soundly defeating the Longhorns 95-69 to reach the final of
the Preseason NIT.
Duke (3-0) will meet Temple (4-0) in the championship game
Friday night. The Owls advanced with a 69-61 victory over Indiana,
which will play Texas in the third-place game.
"I was really pleased with our defense tonight," said
Krzyzewski, who reached the 500-victory plateau last week against
Villanova. "Our defensive rebounding was the key. It got us fast
break opportunities."
And Duke didn't miss many of those chances.
The Blue Devils beat Texas off the boards 47-38 with Carlos
Boozer grabbing 11. That repeatedly set the offense in motion. And
with Duke playing fundamentally sound basketball at both ends of
the court, it wore Texas down early.
The Blue Devils scored the game's first seven points and
steadily increased the lead to as many as 20 points in the first
half. It reached 31 in the second half.
Nate James scored the first three baskets of the game and in
what seemed like no time, Duke had a 20-8 lead that just increased
after that. James led all scorers with 26.
"Nate was incredibly efficient," Krzyzewski said. "He didn't
have the ball in his hands more than 30 or 40 seconds. He got some
open looks. Our guys look for him. Nate got the ball and knocked
them down."
Shane Battier, Boozer, Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy quickly
picked up the pace for the Blue Devils, taking turns at shredding
the Texas defense. Williams had 20 points and Battier 16.
Duke led 46-29 at the half and then ran off an 18-4 spurt at the
start of the second half to put Texas away.
"I thought our team played well overall," Krzyzewski said.
Brandon Mouton led Texas (2-1) with 18 and Maurice Evans had 17.
Duke, making its fourth appearance in the Preseason NIT, will be bidding for its first championship since the inaugural
tournament in 1985, when the Blue Devils defeated Kansas.
Temple will be playing in the championship for the first time.
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ALSO SEE
Mens College Basketball Scoreboard
Texas Clubhouse
Duke Clubhouse
Temple's baskets-by-the-bunches too much for Hoosiers
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Duke's Chris Duhon steals the ball and rolls it to Mike Dunleavy, who finds Nate James cutting to the hoop.
avi: 1028 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Duke's Jason Williams makes the nifty move before scoring the basket.
avi: 1056 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Texas' Fredie Williams feeds Maurice Evans for the alley-oop.
avi: 1210 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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