Dawkins leads No. 7 Duke past Elon, 86-48

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- No. 7 Duke proved it's anything but a one-man show. These Blue Devils showed they also can win rather easily when they spread the scoring around.

Duke routed Elon 86-48 on Tuesday despite not producing a 20-point scorer for the first time this season.

Andre Dawkins scored 15 points, Rodney Hood had 13 points and freshman Jabari Parker had 12 points and a season-high-tying 10 rebounds for Duke (11-2).

"We didn't know who was scoring," Dawkins said. "We just knew we were putting points up."

The Blue Devils never trailed and had little trouble winning their fifth straight, shooting 48.5 percent, forcing 22 turnovers and turning them into 25 points.

"We just wanted to get into their legs," Hood said. "We wanted to contest them, make them take tough shots the whole night and we did that, and I could see the frustration on their face. They got a little tired (and) it was because of our defensive pressure."

At least one Blue Devil reached the 20-point mark in each of their previous 12 games -- and in 10 of them, it was Parker. But they had little need to put the scoring burden on any one player in this one.

"It was one of those days where everybody played hard and well, and they embraced playing defense," coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Elon's 48 points were a season-low allowed by Duke, and at no point in the game did the Phoenix (7-7) have more field goals than turnovers.

"We were beaten in every situation," Elon coach Matt Matheny said.

Ryley Beaumont and Lucas Troutman scored 11 points each for the Phoenix, who shot 35 percent and fell to 1-26 against ACC opponents since their 1999 move to Division I.

Dawkins set season highs with 20 points and six 3-pointers three days earlier against Eastern Michigan. He finished this one with five 3s -- including four during the first-half run that gave Duke an insurmountable lead.

Rasheed Sulaimon and Quinn Cook each had 11 points for the Blue Devils, who can finally focus on conference play. The ACC's preseason favorites visit Notre Dame on Saturday in their league opener.

Hood -- a 17.6-point scorer -- was 4 of 12 in this one after managing just eight points against Eastern Michigan while playing through an illness.

But the Blue Devils didn't need much from him to end a two-game losing streak at the Greensboro Coliseum -- where they've won seven ACC tournaments under Krzyzewski and in a few months will go for their eighth.

Dawkins wasn't around for the last loss -- an 83-74 clunker in the quarterfinals of last year's ACC tournament -- because he spent last season away from the team for personal reasons.

But he certainly shot better than he did in his last visit here -- Duke's stunning loss to 15th-seeded Lehigh in the 2012 NCAA tournament, in which Dawkins missed seven of his nine attempts.

He turned the decisive run in this one into a personal game of around the horn, hitting 3s from the corner, wing and key during the 22-7 run that effectively ended this one at halftime.

"When the first one goes in, that's when it's kind of, `Let's see how far this can go," Dawkins said. "It's easy when you've got teammates that are always looking for you, setting screens for you, things like that. All I've got to do is catch the ball and shoot it."

His 3 from the right corner off an inbounds pass capped the burst and made it 26-9 with 7 1/2 minutes before the break.

"Dawkins' 3s are daggers," Matheny said. Pointing out the Duke guard's knack for swishes, he added: "I don't know if he's even touched the rim."

Cook gave Duke its first 20-point lead when his 3 from the corner made it 33-11 with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the half. The Blue Devils then reeled off the first eight points of the second half and went up by 30 on Sulaimon's 3 with 11 minutes left.

Since making the Division I jump, the Phoenix have yet to finish closer than 22 points against Duke.

"They knocked us down," Matheny said, "and we didn't get up quickly enough."

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