Tulsa
Duke
Tulsa Falls To No. 5 Duke 70-52
2/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2010
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| Box Score 
DURHAM, N.C. -- Tulsa put in a great effort against the nation's fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils but fell short 70-52 in front of a sellout crowd of 9,314 fans and an ESPN 2 national television audience at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Thursday night.
Tulsa fell to 19-9 overall, while the Blue Devils extended its home non-conference winning streak to 77 games and improved to 24-4 on the season and 16-0 at home this year. It was the 18th double-digit win of the season for Duke.
Jerome Jordan led three Tulsa players in double digits with 12 points, followed by Justin Hurtt's 10 and Steven Idlet's 10 points. Duke was led by Nolan Smith's 18 points, 17 by Kyle Singler and 15 points by Jon Scheyer. Brian Zoubek, the 7'1" center, had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
Tulsa's leading scorer Ben Uzoh, who entered on a streak of three straight 20-point games, finished with eight on 3-of-15 shooting. After the first 30 minutes, Duke held only a four-point lead at 34-30. In the first half Tulsa had balanced scoring as seven of eight players scored for the Hurricane, led by Justin Hurtt's 7 points.
Duke jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first 6:40 of the game, but the pesky Hurricane battled back and eventually tied the score at 28-28 with 3:10 left on the first-half clock. The Blue Devils out-scored Tulsa 6-2 in the final 2:55 for the four-point halftime lead.
The Hurricane came out in the second half and tied the score at 34 on a dunk by Jordan and two Hurtt free throws. Duke then went on an 11-0 run to take a 45-34 lead at the 16:57 mark. Tulsa brought it back to nine points once, while Duke built its biggest lead to 21 points on a Smith jumper and free throw to make the score 69-48 with 1:52 left in the contest.
Duke out-scored Tulsa 36-22 in the second half, while out-rebounding the Hurricane in the final 20 minutes, 20-13. Duke shot 40-percent in the second half, while the Hurricane managed just 26-percent, converting six field goals, as Jordan had three and Uzoh, Idlet and Donte Medder had one second-half field goal apiece.
"I thought it was a really hard-fought game and a very physical game. We knew that coming in. We watched the Virginia Tech game on Sunday night and wanted to emulate them. They have some tough kids that kept attacking in transition and getting stops. That's what we tried to do tonight," said Wojcik. "I'm proud of my team. Duke is very talented with a lot of depth."
Although losing the rebounding battle to the Blue Devils, 47-37, the Hurricane did pull down 14 offensive rebounds.
"I thought we did a good job on the big three," Wojcik said. "I thought we handled their ball screens very well. They get you in the end. Singler is a terrific player and Jon Scheyer has become a terrific player and Nolan Smith is really quick. We got beat by 10 on the glass, but competed on the glass. We got 14 offensive rebounds and 13 turnovers. I can live with that. We had some shots inside that we didn't convert."
Tulsa held the Blue Devils to 35-percent shooting from the field, which was the fourth-lowest of the season for Duke. The Hurricane shot 33-percent from the field, and could only connect on 1-of-10 free throws, the second time in the last three games that Tulsa has converted just one three-pointer (Tulsa was 1-of-7 at Marshall).
"We won a hard-fought game tonight. We knew that it would be when we scheduled the game," said Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. "
"Tulsa has had a great tradition of basketball. They've been one of the really good programs in the United States and a who's who of coaches - the head coaches there. They got down a little bit, and Doug, over the time that he's been there has really done a great job. I find it hard to say that for a Navy guy, but he's done a great job," added Krzyzewski, an Army graduate.
"His kids play really hard. The kid, Uzoh, is a big-time player. That's why he's the third-leading scorer in the history of their school. Anybody in our league would love to have that kid. Anybody in our league would like to have Jordan. I'll tell you that," said Krzyzewski. "And their other kids play hard, I like their team."
"They're good and they're well coached. To play against two players the caliber of Uzoh and Jordan is a good experience for our guys," added Krzyzewski.
Tulsa finished the non-conference portion of the schedule tonight with an overall 11-4 record.
"I'm glad we played the game and have had the experience. We're going to get better from this," said Wojcik.
Tulsa returns to Conference USA play on Saturday night in Greenville, North Carolina against the East Carolina Pirates. Game time is 7 pm (ET)/ 6 pm (CT) at Minges Coliseum.
