Evansville Purple Aces at Duke Blue Devils

Carter leads No. 4 Duke to 104-40 rout of Evansville

They wasted no time taking out their frustrations on Evansville.

Practice time was scarce before that, with the Blue Devils playing 12 games and criss-crossing the country from Nov. 10-Dec. 9.

"We just zeroed in on what we need to do as a team, and we just practiced that," Carter said. "Everybody got familiar with what we're going to do as a team, no matter what."

Marvin Bagley III added 18 points and Grayson Allen finished with 16 to help the Blue Devils (12-1) bounce back from their lone loss with one of their best defensive performances of the season.

Duke blocked nine shots, forced a season-best 21 turnovers and turned them into 39 points against a slow-paced Evansville team.

Dainius Chatkevicius had 12 points to lead the Purple Aces (10-3), who had their five-game winning streak snapped. Evansville entered allowing an average of 61.9 points per game. The Blue Devils nearly had that at halftime, leading 58-18 the break.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 13 points to help Duke put this one out of reach early. The Blue Devils needed just 13 1/2 minutes to build a 20-point lead and 2 1/2 more minutes to go up by 30.

They hit 12 of their first 16 3-point attempts and finished with a season-high 16 3s after shooting 27 percent from long range in the 89-84 loss at Boston College on Dec. 9.

BIG PICTURE

"We got no excuses," coach Marty Simmons said of a team missing key scorers Ryan Taylor and Dru Smith. "We knew what we were getting ready to play. We just didn't do a good enough job as coaches, as players. They took us out of everything we wanted to do. We couldn't get into anything."

INJURY REPORT

Not that he was needed in the slightest, but the Blue Devils played without injured sophomore forward Javin DeLaurier, after coach Mike Krzyzewski said he had a tight hamstring. Big man Marques Bolden and freshman guards Alex O'Connell and Jordan Goldwire were the first players off the bench for the Blue Devils.

STAR WATCH

Don't sleep on Carter's long-range touch. The freshman big man entered with three 3-pointers all season and surpassed that in this one, hitting 4 of 7 from long range. That was a big part of the season-best nine field goals he hit. "We kind of rolled the dice," Simmons said, "and he made us pay."

UP NEXT

Evansville: The Purple Aces host Illinois State on Saturday in their Missouri Valley Conference opener.

Duke: The Blue Devils have another extended break, this one lasting nine days before Florida State comes in Dec. 30 for their first home ACC game.

---

More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

How can I watch Evansville vs. Duke?

• TV Channel: Evansville at Duke 2021 College Basketball, week 7, is broadcasted on ESPN2.
• Online streaming: Sign up for Fubo Free trial.
  Try Vidgo for free.