J.J. Redick had 20 points to lead six players in double figures and No. 3 Duke beat No. 11 Texas 89-61 on Saturday. The game was played before a pro-Blue Devils sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden that sounded as if it were at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
“This was like a home game but still, in a building like this, it was a special experience,” Redick said.
The Blue Devils (8-1) won their fifth straight, and just like the previous four they did it with defense.
“Our defense has been consistently excellent recently,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “And we didn’t do a bad job executing on offense. Today we played extremely well.”
Texas (5-2) missed its first nine shots and shot only 25 percent (9-for-36) in falling behind 48-29 at halftime.
One day after his firing, Mike Jarvis was watching basketball again. The former St. John’s coach was at Madison Square Garden on Saturday for the Duke-Texas game.
Jarvis sat in the first row behind the Blue Devils’ bench.
“He’s a dear friend and he sat with my family that was here,” Krzyzewski said.
Jarvis became the first Big East coach fired during the season after the Red Storm got off to a 2-4 start.
“I feel badly for him and our profession,” Krzyzewski said. “I can’t think of anyone fired before the conference season even starts unless there was an NCAA violation or something huge and there wasn’t here.”
Knight rejected again
A judge rejected Bob Knight’s request to reconsider the ruling dismissing the coach’s lawsuit against Indiana.
Friday’s ruling by Judge Kenneth Todd is the last step for the complaint at the local level. The next step would be for Knight to ask the Indiana Court of Appeals to consider the breach-of-contract lawsuit.
Arizona gets help
Arizona added some much-needed depth to its front line, hurt when Isaiah Fox went down with a season-ending knee injury, when Serbian forward Ivan Radenovic joined the team.
The 19-year-old freshman will be eligible Dec. 28.
RESULTS, SATURDAY’S SYNOPSIS
Iona 54 at #1 Uconn 104
Ben Gordon recorded his 1st triple-double with 17 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists to lead Huskies (8-1) to rout of Gaels (2-5). Emeka Okafor had 24 points for UConn.
#6 Kansas vs. 72 UC-S. Barbara-b 52
Keith Langford scored 19 points and Wayne Simien had 15 points and 16 rebounds to help Jayhawks (6-1) beat Gauchos (5-3) in Wolf Pack Holiday Classic at Reno, Nev.
Jackson State 46 at #8 Oklahoma 68
Freshman Drew Lavender had 23 points, 14 in 2nd half, and 5 assists to help Sooners (8-0) shake off pesky Tigers (2-5). Point guard has led OU in scoring 3 straight games.
#13 Gonzaga 80 at #9 Stanford-c 87
Matt Lottich scored career-high 34 points with six 3-pointers and Cardinal (7-0) remained unbeaten with victory over Bulldogs (7-2) in Pete Newell Challenge at Oakland.
West Virginia 57 at #15 Florida-d 70
Matt Walsh scored 17 points, David Lee added 15 and Gators (6-2) rebounded from consecutive losses with victory over Mountaineers (5-3) in Orange Bowl Classic at Miami.
Middle Tennessee 54 at #16 Cincinnati 89
Tony Bobbitt made all 6 of his shots for 15 points and Bearcats (6-0), at full strength with addition of transfer James White, used trapping defense to beat Blue Raiders (4-3).
Murray State 49 at #18 Pittsburgh 70
Levon Kendall, barely used in 1st 9 games, led decisive 1st-half surge on way to scoring 11 points that carried Panthers (10-0 for 1st time since 1929-30) past Racers (8-1).
Siena 61 at #19 Syracuse 74
Hakim Warrick had 24 points and 10 rebounds and Craig Forth added career-high 14 points to lead Orangemen (5-1) to 5th straight victory, beating Saints (3-5).
Austin Peay 63 at #20 Louisville 80
Francisco Garcia scored 21 points, going over 20 for 4th straight time, and Luke Whitehead added 17 points and 7 rebounds to lead Cardinals (5-1) to 5th straight win.
Prairie View 65 at #24 Dayton 78
Sean Finn scored career-high 27 points and Keith Waleskowski added 16 to lead Flyers (9-0, best start since 1965-66 team went 11-0) over Panthers (0-6).
Northern Iowa 64 at Illinois State 61
Chris Foster hit 2 FTs with :15.8 left and Ben Jacobsen had 22 points to lead Panthers (5-3) over Redbirds (4-4) in MVC opener for both teams. Trey Guidry had 13 points for ISU.
Florida State 47 at Chicago State-e 42
Anthony Richardson made 2 FTs with :13 left, the only scoring in the final 4 minutes, and unbeaten Seminoles (10-0) held on for unimpressive victory over Cougars (1-9).
Eastern Illinois 79 at Western Illinois 84
J.D. Summers scored 19 points and T.J. Gray added career-high 18 as Leathernecks (2-8) earned 1st back-to-back wins since January by beating Panthers (1-6).
Bradley 80 at Pepperdine 81
Glen McGowan scored 24 points and made winning dunk with :02 left to lift Waves (4-6) past Braves (7-3), who got 25 points from Philip Gilbert and 24 from James Gillingham.
Northern Illinois 41 vs. San Jose St. 53
Eric Walton scored 14 points to lead Spartans (4-3) over Huskies (4-4) in opening-day action at the round-robin Surf N’ Slam-Hawaii Tournament in Laie, Hawaii.
a-at New York; b-at Reno, Nev.; c-at Oakland; d-at Miami; e-at Pittsburgh.
