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Feb. 5, 2000
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) – More than anything else, No. 3 Duke won a mental battleSaturday.
Forty hours after beating arch-rival North Carolina in overtime on the road,the weary Blue Devils defeated Virginia 106-86 Saturday, getting 25 points eachfrom Chris Carrawell and Carlos Boozer and 21 from Shane Battier.
“It was such a great game on Thursday night that the papers still hadheadlines about it Saturday,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, referring tohis team’s game with the Tar Heels. “But our team was amazingly focused toplay today. And we’re amazingly tired right now. I asked them to give me theirall and they gave me their all.”
The victory extended numerous streaks for Duke (18-2, 9-0 Atlantic CoastConference), including consecutive ACC victories (31), home victories (46) andvictories over non-conference teams (60).
“We need to get away from the game,” Krzyzewski said. “You can see it intheir faces. If you look at Chris Carrawell, there is satisfaction in his eyes,but he can’t play anymore.”
Battier agreed.
“I’m pretty bushed,” the junior forward said. “We played two great teamsthis week. It took a lot of emotional and physical strength to play thesegames.”
Virginia (15-7, 5-4) lost to Duke 109-100 in overtime a month ago atCharlottesville, Va., but this one was over by halftime. Donald Hand led theCavaliers with 27.
Duke’s season-high first-half point total (65) almost matched its shootingpercentage (68.4) over the opening 20 minutes. Virginia coach Pete Gillencalled three timeouts in the first half, but nothing could slow the BlueDevils’ onslaught.
“Our guys got shook, a young team got flustered,” Gillen admitted.”Certainly we were stung right away.”
Carrawell said the crowd was a major factor.
“The fans stayed into it,” Carrawell said. “You could tell they werestill hyped off the Carolina game. That energy carried over to today’s game.Any time the fans can do that, it helps us keep going.”
Carrawell and Boozer had 16 points each in a half in which the Blue Devilsmade 26 of 38 shots and forced 10 turnovers.
The Cavaliers, the second-best offensive team in the ACC, missed their firsteight shots and were 3-for-18 to fall into a deep hole early.
“We missed some point-blank layups. I don’t know if we were nervous orscared,” said Gillen, who has only one senior on his roster. “The more easyshots we missed, the more nervous we got.”
Two free throws by Battier midway through the half put Duke up 31-14 andVirginia was on its way to its 11th straight loss in the series.
Any doubt that Krzyzewski was into the game occurred less than two minutesafter Battier’s foul shots.
The coach yelled across the court at his players, called a timeout andberated his team in the huddle after no one came back to take an inbounds passas Virginia applied pressure.
“To me, that was the first sign of mental fatigue,” Krzyzewski said. “Iwas just trying to attack mental fatigue all afternoon.”
After the lecture, Duke scored on 15 of its next 18 possessions to lead65-33 at the half. Carrawell had nine points over the final 8:25. Boozer addedeight.
Virginia got no closer than 18 in the second half.
It was Duke’s fifth straight 100-point game against Virginia.