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Paulus, Duke continue to beat up on Big Ten

Nov 28, 2007 - 6:48 AM DURHAM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Although the players change, the one constant for Duke is its dominance over the Big Ten Conference.

Greg Paulus scored 13 of his 18 points in the first half as the seventh-ranked Blue Devils pounded No. 20 Wisconsin, 82-58, in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday.

Freshmen Taylor King and Kyle Singler had 15 and 13 points, respectively, for Duke (7-0), which remained the only undefeated team in the annual event at 9-0.

The Blue Devils also captured their 54th consecutive home win against non-conference foes - the longest active streak in the nation.

"This was a really good game for us," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We respect the heck out of them, and I think the fact of us playing in Maui against some of the teams we did really prepared us for this level of game. Playing at home obviously helped too. We beat a really good team that is going to get better and better."

Making the trip south to face the Blue Devils for the first time, the Badgers were overwhelmed early, falling behind, 25-14, just 8 1/2 minutes in when Paulus sank consecutive 3-pointers to cap a 15-5 run.

"If anything could go wrong it did," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "We dug ourselves a hole and in the second half things looked kind of even on a sheet but when you're playing down in a hole like that it's almost impossible in a place like this to come back."

One of the top defensive teams in the nation last season, Wisconsin continued to fall behind as Duke kept bombing away.

A 3-pointer by Singler made it 28-16 two minutes later and King knocked down one of his five baskets from the arc for a 46-23 cushion with 2:33 remaining before the half.

Over the first 20 minutes, the Blue Devils connected on 9-of-15 3-pointers en route to a 48-25 advantage.

"The three should be a huge weapon for us," Krzyzewski said. "We practice it and play it.

"(Wisconsin) plays more of a top-of-the-key defense, so we thought if we could set our screens a little better, we would get some open looks, and we got a couple of those."

Things did not get much better for the Badgers (5-1) in the second half, as they had just 29 points when top big man Brian Butch was forced to the bench about three minutes in. The 6-11 senior finished with 11 points.

Despite getting quality shots, the 6-11 Butch finished with 11 points, going 5-of-12 from the field.

"Brian had some nice looks early ... this could have been one of those games for him," Ryan said. "By penetrating we did make some things happen where we kicked to him and Brian had probably the most open looks of anybody in the first half, they just weren't going down for him."

Butch was not the only key player to struggle for the Badgers as leading scorer Trevon Hughes was whistled for two quick fouls en route to a 1-of-8 effort in the first half.

"Our gameplan was to make it hard for him the whole time and make him work for everything, because he's been doing really well early in the season," sophomore guard Jon Scheyer said. "We did a pretty good job. He's a tough player to control."

A significantly smaller team than the Big Ten squad, Duke gave Wisconsin fits with its speed, getting out in transition and putting up a 17-2 advantage in fast-break points.

"We tried to push it," Paulus said. "We're a little bit smaller than they are, so we tried to use that quickness to our advantage."

Surprisingly, Paulus only had one assist, but DeMarcus Nelson finished with a career-high seven to go along with nine points and seven rebounds.

Gerald Henderson scored 11 points and Scheyer added 10 for Duke, which once again picked up a big win against a team from the state of Wisconsin. Last Wednesday, the Blue Devils captured a 77-73 victory over then-No. 13 Marquette to win the Maui Invitational.

Hughes and reserve Jon Leuer had 12 points each for Wisconsin, which shot just 37.5 percent (24-of-64) from the field and 3-of-14 from the arc.