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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke has mostly lived on the 3-point shot
this season. The third-ranked Blue Devils set up shop behind the
arc Saturday in a 35-point victory over North Carolina A&T.
|  | | Jason Williams (22), Shane Battier (31) and N.C. A&T's J.J. Miller go after a loose ball. |
Shane Battier scored 27 of his season-high 31 points in the
first half as No. 3-ranked Duke (11-1) warmed up for its Atlantic Coast
Conference opener next week against Florida State with a 108-73
victory over the Aggies.
The 6-foot-8 Battier was 6-for-12 from 3-point range as the Blue
Devils set a school record and tied the ACC record with 18
3-pointers.
"I've shot the ball pretty well all year," Battier said. "I
didn't feel any different in this game. I just had some good looks.
You could tell they really weren't used to guarding a big guy out
on the court. We saw the crack and tried to exploit it."
Wake Forest in 1998 and North Carolina State in 1992 also made
18 3s in a game. Duke's previous high was 17 on three other
occasions, including earlier this season against Temple.
Nate James added 25 points and Jason Williams had 23, including
7-for-11 3-pointers, as Duke rolled up a season-high point total.
"If we're open we're going to shoot it," Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski said of his team's school-record 38 3-point attempts.
"We've done that for 21 years. We shouldn't have any bullets left
in our gun."
The Blue Devils accomplished the 35-point blowout without
starting center Carlos Boozer, who missed the game with the flu.
Boozer had fouled out of the 84-83 loss to the second-ranked
Cardinal on Dec. 21, when the Blue Devils blew a 15-point
second-half lead.
"It is tough when you lose and have days off," Battier said of
the team's nine-day layoff following its first loss. "As a
competitor you want to get back out there."
The Aggies (2-6) got a career-high 34 points from J.J. Miller,
who got a hand from the Cameron Indoor Stadium crowd when he left
the game with 50 seconds left. He was 14-for-21 from the field.
"Duke overplays a lot and what I was trying to do was get
backdoor cuts when I could and not let them push me out too far,"
Miller said of his career day.
Williams, who guarded Miller along with Chris Duhon, was upset
after the game.
"Right now I have a lot of fire inside of me, it's real hard to
even talk about it that that kid came in here and did that to us,"
Williams said. "When somebody does that to you it kind of takes
away from the fun of the game because it hurts every time you're
getting scored on."
Battier went on a 3-point barrage three minutes after Krzyzewski
called a timeout in disgust as the Aggies trimmed a 15-point
deficit to nine seven minutes before halftime.
But Battier made three long-range shots in a span of 57 seconds
and added another one with less than a minute left before the break as
the Blue Devils outscored A&T 25-3 to go up 63-32.
"I can't remember the last time I scored 27 points in a half,"
Battier said. "I may have to go back to my middle school days."
Duke also scored 16 points in a span of 2:06 early in the half
as Williams hit three 3-pointers and Battier added two.
The Blue Devils were 13-for-23 from beyond the arc in the
opening period in a spectacular shooting display that helped Duke
to its 81st victory in its last 82 games against non-ranked teams.
"I didn't want to come in (the locker room) at halftime,"
Battier said. "Everybody wanted to come in and sit down and relax
and I said, 'No. Let's stay out there and play.' It is tough when
you get rolling and have to come in."
Duke's lead reached 40 with 11 minutes left as the Blue Devils
shot 56.5 percent.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
North Carolina A&T Clubhouse
Duke Clubhouse
Murphy, Battier among Wooden Award candidates
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