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Duke looks for continuing contributions from young players

Nov 12, 2007 - 3:27 PM New Mexico St (0-1) at No. 11 Duke (1-0) 7:00 pm EST

DURHAM, North Carolina (Ticker) - Duke is hoping youth continues to serve.

The No. 13 Blue Devils look for another strong effort on Monday from three first-year players when they host New Mexico State at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Taylor King, Kyle Singler and Nolan Smith had 51 points on 17-for-22 shooting in Duke's 121-56 season-opening rout of North Carolina Central on Friday. King scored 20 points, Smith added 16 and Singler - the only starter of the bunch - had 15 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

The 121-point effort was part of sixth-highest point total in school history.

New Mexico State will be heading into one of college basketball's toughest environments, as Duke will be targeting its 53rd consecutive home win over a non-conference opponent.

Marvin Menzies, who spent the last two seasons as an assistant at Louisville, lost in his coaching debut at Ohio 80-72 on Friday.

If New Mexico State is to pull the big upset and avoid its third straight loss to a Top 25 team, it will likely another big game from forward Justin Hawkins, who averaged 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds for last season's 25-9 team that lost to Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He had 19 points and 11 rebounds in Friday's setback.