DURHAM, N.C. _ The second-ranked team in the nation played like it Tuesday night as the Duke Blue Devils rolled past the University of Central Arkansas Bears 105-54 before a crowd of 9,314 at storied Cameron Indoor Stadium.

The Blue Devils, presumably about to rise to No. 1 after Kentucky lost on Tuesday night, shot 60 percent for the game and held the Bears to just 21.7 percent. Duke also forced the Bears into a season-high 21 turnovers and won the battle of the boards 46-26.

"I think the thing is when teams like us play teams like Duke,' UCA head coach Russ Pennell said, "what you hope as a coach is that you can see a similarity to what your team should be. And I didn't think we had enough of those possessions, and it's a credit to Duke. The pressure defense they applied took us out of a lot of things, and some of our inexperienced players didn't handle that really well.

"But what I'd like to complinent Duke on more than anything is this... I think what's missed on Duke is how hard they play. People talk about all their All-Americans and NBA guys, and Coach K, and all that is certainly a big thing. I'm not downplaying that. But I think the thing that separates Duke from a lot of basketball teams is how incredibly hard they play every play. They just simply don't take plays off. And I think all of the rest of us are trying to mimic that the best we can, where we can get out team to sell out and play as hard as Coach K gets his team to.' 

The Blue Devils, winners of five NCAA national championships during Coach Mike Krzyzewski's tenure, grabbed an early 6-5 lead and then went on a 19-0 run over the next 4:30 that more or less put the game away. Duke led 26-5 before the Bears scored again by shooting nearly 65 percent for the first 10 minutes of the half. UCA was 3 of its first 16 from the field and also got in some early foul trouble as starters Rylan Bergersen and Eddy Kayouloud both picked up three fouls in the first 14 minutes.
 

The Blue Devils settled for a 57-20 halftime lead after holding the Bears to just five field goals and forcing 15 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes 

"It's just the relentless pressure,' Pennell said. "Everything you do is an adventure, whether its dribbling, trying to make your entry pass. And I think the thing you have to do with a team like that is _ first of all you have to have some of the horses to match up _ but you have put them on their heels. You have to make plays toward the rim. If you play east-west, sideline to sideline, they're going to eat you up. Once they did that early in the game, I'd look at timeouts and see kind of some sagging chins. They'll take your heart from you.

"Full credit, these guys will make you do some silly things. They're No. 2 in the country for a reason.'

The Bears made a considerably better showing in the second half, scoring 34 points and shooting a respectable 46.4 percent from the field. Bergersen, a junior transfer from BYU, was the spark offensively, scoring 10 of his game-high 13 points in the final 20 minutes. Kayouloud, a sophomore, helped out with all nine of his points in the second half.

"It helped that they took the full-court pressure off,' said Pennell. "I'm not silly to think that we just all of a sudden solved the issue. But we did look a little bit more like our team. We don't have the physical post players so we do a lot of five out, dive, back cuts, that kind of stuff. And the second half we found a little bit of a rhythm for the first seven, eight minutes. When we did back cut, when we fought the pressure at the rim, we had some success. I think we had four or five backdoor layups in the second half.

"Eddy had great energy, and I felt like he was one of the guys who was trying extremely hard. A couple of times he was a little misguided, but you love his effort and his hustle. And if we get more guys going that direction, it's going to bode well.'
 

Duke finished with six players in double figures, led by 6-foot-9 freshman Matthew Hurt off the bench with 19 points. Vernon Carey, a highly-recruited 6-10 freshman center, had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

UCA junior point guard DeAndre Jones, who was hobbled since Saturday with a left calf strain, started and played 24 minutes, contributing 7 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists.

"I didn't think he was playing, even at shootaround today,' Pennell said. "He wasn't moving that great. But he's a gutty kid. He wanted to play. And not only just play, he played a lot of minutes and took a couple of big shots. He's a true hard-nosed point guard. I love that kid and I think his heart is contagious.'

The Bears concluded their two-game road trip that took them to two perennial powers, Duke on Tuesday and Georgetown last Saturday. They return home to host the Little Rock Trojans at 2 p.m. Sunday in the "Governor's I-40 Showdown" at the Farris Center.

"This is the mecca,' said Pennell. "Everything around here is bluebloods and basketball. You look up there and see the five (national championship) banners. And to be honest, this place is old and it doesn't look all that special. But man, does it rock and roll when they get going. And the thing for our guys, it's something they'll remember for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately the outcome wasn't what we wanted it to be, but the experience was.'