No. 19 Miami rolls past Duke 81-59, moves to 13-0 at home
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Norchad Omier had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Miller added 16 points and No. 19 Miami had little trouble on the way to a 81-59 win over Duke on Monday night.
Wooga Poplar scored 14 and Isaiah Wong scored 11 for Miami (19-5, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Hurricanes led by as many as 26 and improved to 13-0 at home.
Ryan Young and Dereck Lively II each scored 11 points for Duke (17-7, 8-5), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped. Jeremy Roach added 10 points for the Blue Devils, who were outrebounded 38-31 and committed 21 turnovers.
It was the second-biggest Miami victory margin in the series between the schools, topped only by the Hurricanes’ 90-63 rout of then-No. 1 Duke on Jan. 23, 2013. Miami also enjoyed huge edges in points off turnovers (23-9), second-chance points (24-9) and fast-break points (17-7).
It also gave Miami payback for a 68-66 loss at Duke earlier this season.
“We had something to prove,” Miller said. “They beat us last time. We were revved up for this game and we got it done.”
Duke fans started leaving with 4:24 left and Miami up by 26, the Hurricanes’ student section serenading them as they departed.
Miami ran out to a 13-1 lead and stretched it to 34-17 later in the first half — making this only the third game this season where the Blue Devils faced that much of a deficit. They trailed N.C. State by as many as 29 in what became an 84-60 loss, and lost by 19 to Purdue in late November.
It was 40-26 at the half. Omier sent the teams into the break with an alley-oop dunk over Duke’s zone. And when Miami opened the second half on a 9-0 run to build a 23-point lead, the outcome quickly became academic.
BIG PICTURE
Duke: Maybe it’s too difficult to reset after a rivalry game. This is now the third consecutive year the Blue Devils have lost the game immediately following their first matchup with North Carolina of the season.
Miami: The Hurricanes remained one of six teams from major conferences to be unbeaten at home — the others being Alabama, UCLA, Providence, Iowa State and Duke. Across Division I, 20 teams entered Monday with perfect home marks.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Miami has been in the poll for nine straight weeks, the program’s longest such run since being ranked in each of the first 11 polls of the 2017-18 season — and figures to stay there if it tops Louisville on Saturday. Duke has been out of the AP Top 25 for the last four weeks; the Blue Devils were two slots away in the poll released Monday, behind only Florida Atlantic on the “also receiving votes” list.
BARRY HONORED
Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry, Miami’s all-time leading scorer, was presented with a customized basketball during a first-half stoppage of play.
UP NEXT
Duke: Visits No. 8 Virginia on Saturday.
Miami: Hosts Louisville on Saturday.
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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25