PORTLAND — With just a little more than five minutes remaining, Kyle Singler left the court to a standing ovation, one of many the top-ranked Blue Devils received during their short stay at the Rose Garden.
With just more than five minutes remaining in regulation and his team well in control, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski brought Kyle Singler to the bench. As he walked up and down the sideline congratulating his teammates on yet another strong performance, the 12,914 fans in attendance gave Kyle Singler an overwhelming send-off.
The game was still in play as the ovation quickly turned into ‘KY-LE SING-LER’ chants. His younger brother, Oregon sophomore E.J. Singler, was at the other end of the court shooting free throws at the time — he missed both — and Oregon fell 98-71 for its second loss of the year.
“It was fun,” E.J. Singler said. “Having the opportunity to play a program like Duke is once in a lifetime.”
Duke physically dominated Oregon from the tipoff, running Kyle Singler off several screens on the opening two possessions to score the first five points of the game for the No. 1 Blue Devils (6-0). Duke went on an 11-2 run to open the game and never looked back.
The nerves seemed to get the best of Oregon early on, and though they eventually settled, Duke quickly took advantage of its size down low. Brothers Mason and Miles Plumlee combined to grab 13 boards in the first half, while helping the Blue Devils to an 18-12 edge in points in the paint during the opening 20 minutes. They both finished with double-digit rebounds.
“Their size really gave us a problem with some of our finishes around the basket,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said.
Though Oregon eventually evened that number to 28 points in the paint for each squad by the end of the game, Duke’s physicality did not go unnoticed as they took a 15-point lead into halftime.
Those crucial opening minutes of the second half were hard fought by the young Oregon team (4-2) as the lead was cut to 12, at 42-30, before the Blue Devils went on a 19-1 run over the next 2:37 to stretch their lead to 61-31.
Despite the big lead, Oregon had a much better showing in the second half. The Ducks held a 16-10 advantage in the paint and a 14-4 lead in points off turnovers during that time.
Offensive troubles continued to plague Oregon, however; the Ducks shot 27.8 percent from the field in the first half and finished the game at 33.8 percent overall.
“We’ve just got a long ways to go,” Altman said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do fundamentally, especially on the offensive end. We’re not making good decisions.”
Those poor decisions mounted too quickly and Duke took advantage of nearly all of them in their sixth win of the season, and 801st victory for Krzyzewski at Duke.
Offensively, Kyle Singler showed time and time again why he was a preseason first-team All-American selection, liting up the scoreboard for 30 points on 9 of 15 shooting with a 5 for 9 mark from behind the three-point line.
Coming into the game, the Medford native was averaging 13.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game, but established early that he wanted to put on a show for his home state fans.
It was certainly an emotional day for the Singler brothers, playing their first organized game against one another, but Krzyzewski and Altman both knew what to expect from their respective players.
“Kyle’s the same all the time. Kyle’s all about business,” Krzyzewski said. “Kyle never has a bad practice — he might make a mistake, but he never has a play in a practice or a game where he’s not working hard — ever.”
E.J. Singler finished the game with 14 points and three rebounds, all coming in the second half, though he struggled with a 2 for 7 showing from the charity stripe. Senior Joevan Catron led the way for Oregon in the sixth straight game this season with 18 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
On the other side, three other Duke players finished in double figures. Freshman sensation Kyrie Irving and senior Nolan Smith scored 16 and 18 points respectively, while sophomore Andre Dawkins came off the bench to hit four three-pointers to add 14 points.
Oregon’s next came will be Thursday night against Missouri. Tip-time is set for 8 p.m. at McArthur Court.
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