Thursday, March 28, 2024
39.0°F

Duke tops Butler in rematch

| December 5, 2010 8:00 PM

Nolan Smith scored 24 points to lead No. 1 Duke to an 82-70 victory over Butler (4-3) on Saturday at East Rutherford, N.J., moving Mike Krzyzewski into a tie with Adolph Rupp for third place on the coaching career wins list.

Freshman Kyrie Irving added all but four of his 21 in the second half for Duke, in a rematch of schools that played an epic national championship game in April. The Blue Devils (8-0) won that game 61-59, giving Krzyzewski his fourth NCAA title. He has 876 wins overall, 803 at Duke.

This game, played at the Izod Center, wasn't expected to be as close as that championship game in Indianapolis since Butler lost two starters, including lottery pick Gordon Hayward. But the Bulldogs stayed within striking distance until the final minutes.

No. 3 Pittsburgh 87, Rider 68: At Pittsburgh, Brad Wanamaker had 16 points and 11 assists and Pittsburgh (9-0) shut down Rider's (5-4) 3-point shooters with its man-to-man defense.

No. 6 Michigan State 74, Bowling Green 39: At East Lansing, Mich., Durrell Summers scored 14 points, and Michigan State (6-2) went on a 21-1 run early in the second half to put away Bowling Green (1-7).

No. 8 Syracuse 65, North Carolina State 59: At Syracuse, N.Y., Scoop Jardine scored 23 points, Rick Jackson added 16, and Syracuse (8-0) shut down North Carolina State (4-3) late.

North Carolina 75, No. 10 Kentucky 73: At Chapel Hill, N.C., Tyler Zeller scored a career-high 27 points and hit the go-ahead free throws with 47 seconds left, helping North Carolina edge Kentucky (5-2).

Zeller scored 12 of the final 16 points for the Tar Heels (5-3), who earned a needed victory against a big-name opponent after struggling the first month of the season.

No. 14 Memphis 77, Western Kentucky 61: At Memphis, Tenn., D.J. Stephens had 13 points and 11 rebounds, leading Memphis (7-0) past Western Kentucky (3-5).

No. 15 Minnesota 71, Cornell 66: At Minneapolis, Trevor Mbakwe had 12 points and 16 rebounds, leading Minnesota (7-1) past Cornell (2-6).

No. 16 Georgetown 68, Utah State 51: At Washington, Chris Wright had 21 points and Georgetown (8-0) relied on defense instead of 3-pointers to pass its latest nonconference test, pulling away in the second half for a win over Utah State (5-2).

No. 17 San Diego State 83, Wichita State 69: At San Diego, Billy White scored 24 points and the Aztecs (8-0) beat Wichita State (5-2).

No. 21 BYU 78, Hawaii 57: At Salt Lake City, Jimmer Fredette scored 16 points and sophomore Stephen Rogers added a career-high 13 off the bench to lead BYU (8-0) past Hawaii (5-2).

No. 22 Purdue 66, Alabama 47: At West Lafayette, Ind., E'Twaun Moore had 23 points and nine rebounds to help Purdue (7-1) beat Alabama (4-4).

No. 23 Washington 108, Texas Tech 79: At Seattle, Justin Holiday had 17 of his career-high 20 points in the first half to lead Washington past Texas Tech (5-4).

Matthew Bryan-Amaning added 18 points, Isaiah Thomas had 16 and C.J. Wilcox scored 11 for Washington (5-2), which won its second consecutive game after two losses to Top 25 teams Kentucky and Michigan State at the Maui Invitational.