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Duke Basketball

Duke loses their first Big Ten/ACC Challenge game on the road in Wisconsin

lance wisc

MADISON, Wis. - Even after the game, Trevon Hughes had all the answers.

Hughes had 19 of his career-high 26 points in the second half and Wisconsin's 73-69 win over No. 6 Duke on Wednesday night snapped the Blue Devils' perfect mark in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

"The Big Ten's never won, and I think we won it?" teammate Keaton Nankivil asked postgame.

There was Hughes, right on cue: "Yeah, and the first time Duke lost."

With Illinois' 76-74 rally over Clemson and Ohio State's 77-64 victory over Florida State in the final game, the Big Ten won the 11-year series for the first time, 6-5.

"I'm proud to be a part of the conference when they win something," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said. "We're in it to try to win it."

It was especially sweet for the Badgers (5-1), who never trailed and got a measure of payback against Duke (6-1) after being routed 82-58 two years ago in a challenge game in Durham, N.C. Wisconsin's win ended the Blue Devils' 10-0 streak in the annual event and helped end the ACC's perfect 10-0 record as well.

"It's a point of pride to know that we had something to do with that in a game a lot of people probably didn't think we were going to win," Nankivil said. "It was pretty special."

Kyle Singler scored 17 of his career-high 28 points in the first half for the Blue Devils and Andre Dawkins went 4 of 4 from 3-point range in the second half to finish with 12. Duke cut Wisconsin's 11-point lead with just over 5 minutes left to 70-69 with 5.7 seconds to play on a tip-in by Singler.

But after Hughes hit two free throws to make it 72-69, Singler's inbounds pass to Jon Scheyer was too hard and skipped away. Jordan Taylor's free throw was the final margin.

Wisconsin only committed five turnovers.

"That's five opportunities you didn't get a shot at the basket," Ryan said. "They had 11 opportunities that they didn't have to score. That might have been the difference in the game."

Duke had led the nation in field goal percentage defense coming in and were allowing an average of 58.2 points in their first six games. But in the Blue Devils' first true road game, Hughes kept slashing the lane and when Duke gave him a little space, he'd hit 3-pointers.

"Their offense just beat our defense," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Wisconsin went up 59-54 with 7:40 left when Hughes hit two free throws and the only thing that slowed the senior point guard was when he was inadvertently hit in the face with just under 6 minutes to play.

"Yeah, I got hit with an elbow," Hughes said. "I was checking for blood. It would've been my first nose bleed ever."

No worries.

Hughes came back and hit a 3-pointer that rolled around the rim with 5:08 to go, giving the Badgers their biggest lead at 65-54 until Dawkins answered with three 3-pointers in a span of less than 2 minutes to cut the lead to 67-65.

Duke had a couple of chances to tie it, but never could in the closing moments, only cutting it to 70-69 on Singler's tap-in in the waning seconds.

"I got a lot of buckets going to the basket, and I got to the free throw line," said Singler, who didn't want to talk about his new scoring mark. "That's about it."

Wisconsin improved to 123-10 at the Kohl Center under Ryan and got 17 points and seven rebounds from Jon Leuer. Jason Bohannon added 10 points for the Badgers.

Duke cut it to 53-52 on two free throws by Singler with just under 11 minutes to go, but Singler missed a 3-pointer moments later that would have tied it and Wisconsin opened up the 11-point lead.

Duke would've been in a much bigger hole had it not been for Singler, who hit floating one-handed shots in the lane with both his left and right hands on his way to 17 first-half points.

Singler hit his first six shots and finished 10 of 17 from the field. But the rest of the Blue Devils, who shot just 29.2 percent in a win over Connecticut on Friday, only hit 39 percent and Scheyer finished 2 of 7 with 10 points.

"I don't think we did a good job of just staying patient. They did a good job, didn't give us a lot of open looks and there just wasn't much there," Scheyer said. "We need to know that every game we play, no one's going to give us a game, every team's going to fight."

Duke Basketball

Duke at Wisconsin Official Game Notes

Plumlee brothers go at it in practice - copyright BDN Photo
Plumlee brothers go at it in practice - copyright BDN Photo

Game 7   •  Big Ten/ACC Challenge

Duke (6-0) vs. Wisconsin (4-1)

Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009  •  9:15 p.m.  •  ESPN

Kohl Center (17,230)  •  Madison, Wisc.

The Opening Tip

Duke (6-0), ranked sixth in the AP poll and fifth in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, faces unranked Wisconsin (4-1) on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 9:15 p.m in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Wednesday’s contest will be aired by ESPN with Brent Musburger, Bob Knight and Holly Rowe calling the action.

The Last Time Out

Duke is coming off a 68-59 win over Connecticut on Friday in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The Blue Devils claimed the tournament title for the fourth time in school history with senior Jon Scheyer grabbing Most Outstanding Player honors.

Scheyer finished with a game-high 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Nolan Smith, an all-tournament team selection, had 16 points and freshman Andre Dawkins added 11 points.

Senior Lance Thomas recorded his first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while Brian Zoubek also grabbed 11 boards (seven offensive). Duke held a 56-43 edge on the glass for the game and finished with 25 offensive rebounds.

Big Ten/ACC Challenge History

Duke is 10-0 all-time in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, including an 82-58 win over Wisconsin on Nov. 27, 2007. The Blue Devils have won three true road games in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and are one of two undefeated teams (Boston College [3-0] is the other) in the event. The ACC has won all 10 challenges to date.

Numbers Game

l The Blue Devils have won seven of their last eight games against Big Ten opponents. Duke is 62-24 all-time against the conference.

l The Atlantic Coast Conference has won the previous 10 Big Ten/ACC Challenges. The ACC is 62-35 (.639) in the event, including a 10-0 slate by Duke.

l Duke has won seven of its 10 Big Ten/ACC Challenge games away from Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils are 4-0 in neutral site games and 3-0 on the road.

l The Blue Devils are 156-25 in the month of December under Coach K. Duke has won three straight games and is 48-3 since the 1999-2000 season in December contests.

l Junior Nolan Smith has reached double figures in scoring in four straight games. He is averaging 18.5 points per game, a scoring jump of +10.1 ppg. from a year ago.

l Jon Scheyer has 32 assists and just four turnovers in 208 minutes of action on the year. The Northbrook, Ill., native has led the Blue Devils in assists in all six games and leads the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 8.0:1. He is also tied for fifth in the league in assists per game (5.3).

l Andre Dawkins leads the ACC in three-point field goals (2.7 3pg.) and has made two or more threes in five of six games. Dawkins is 10-of-14 (.714) from three-point range in the last three games.

l Senior Brian Zoubek leads the team and ranks ninth in the ACC in rebounding at 8.5 rpg. He is tied for the league lead in offensive rebounds at 4.8 orpg. Zoubek, who will play in his 100th career game on Wednesday, entered the season averaging 3.1 rebounds per game.

l Junior Kyle Singler has made at least one three-point field goal in 21 straight games dating back to last season. He is eighth in the ACC in three-point percentage (.414) and tied for 10th in three-point field goals per game (2.0) on the year.

l Duke has held its last five opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field. The Blue Devils are 297-9 under Mike Krzyzewski when holding opponents under 40 percent shooting.

l Duke shot just 28.4 percent from the field in Friday's win over Connecticut, marking just the fourth time under Coach K the Blue Devils have shot below 30.0 percent in a game. Prior to Friday’s contest, Duke's last win when shooting under 30.0 percent was Feb. 4, 1950 against Navy.

l Duke outrebounded Connecticut, 56-43, marking the sixth time the Blue Devils have outrebounded the opposition this season. Duke is 483-55 under Mike Krzyzewski when holding the edge on the boards.

l Nolan Smith has played all 40 minutes in each of the last two games.

l Duke held Connecticut without a three-point field goal in last Friday’s win. The Blue Devils are allowing just 3.7 three-point field goals per game on the year.