Friday's Top 25, Big Ten basketball: No. 1 Duke holds off Patrick Ewing's Georgetown at MSG
New York — Patrick Ewing had already yanked off his tie, and soon he needed to be restrained by the Georgetown coaching staff to keep from getting tossed. Ewing was hot, the Hoyas were unraveling and the crowd at Madison Square Garden was absolutely howling over the chaos on the court.
Keeping its cool in the other huddle, top-ranked Duke was waiting to pounce.
“It was kind of crazy out there for a little bit,” Duke guard Tre Jones said.
The Blue Devils are used to playing big games at the Garden, while the improving Hoyas are still finding their way.
Mike Krzyzewski set the record for wins coaching a No. 1 team as top-ranked Duke got 20 points and 10 rebounds from Vernon Carey Jr. to beat Georgetown, 81-73, on Friday.
The Blue Devils (6-0) beat Cal and the Hoyas on consecutive nights to win the 2K Empire Classic and give Krzyzewski another slice of history. Krzyzewski is 218-34 when the Blue Devils hold the top spot, a mark they hit this week in The Associated Press poll. Hall of Famer John Wooden went 217-11 while UCLA was No. 1 during his run there.
When Jones and Carey were asked to describe what it’s like to play for Krzyzewski, the Hall of Fame coach interjected, “great.”
The Blue Devils looked it in long stretches against a Hoyas (4-2) team that made them grind for it in front of a lively crowd at the Garden.
Carey, a five-star recruit who inherited Zion Williamson’s No. 1 jersey, has become the focal point of Duke’s offense, and he had a breakthrough in New York. Carey dunked, screamed, chest-bumped and controlled the game for the Blue Devils to help keep them undefeated.
Cassius Stanley, who led the Blue Devils with 21 points, made a pair of 3s to stretch the game open and shake off Georgetown, which was looking to knock off two straight Top 25 teams. The Hoyas, picked to finish sixth in the Big East preseason poll, knocked off No. 22 Texas a night earlier and went basket-for-basket with Duke in the first half.
Omer Yurtseven led the Hoyas with 21 points.
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It was a mixed homecoming for Ewing, the Knicks great whose No. 33 hangs in the rafters.
The Hoyas were positioned to pull off an upset until the game started to get away from them in the middle of the second half. Ewing tossed the tie and lost his cool moments later, stomping his feet and getting hit with a technical for an outburst over a perceived missed call. Georgetown assistant Louis Orr, another former Knick, restrained Ewing from going on the court and possibly getting tossed. Ewing barked at Orr to get out of his way.
On his way to the locker room, Ewing could be heard yelling, “You can blame the officials. They (screwed) me.”
He was more subdued in his postgame press conference.
“I thought a couple of calls didn’t go our way that I thought should have gone our way,” Ewing said.
The game matched “Dream Team” assistant coach Krzyzewski against 1992 Olympian Ewing for the first time in college.
“Patrick and I are not good friends, we are great friends,” Krzyzewski said.
Big Ten men
►(At) No. 6 Maryland 86, George Mason 63: Anthony Cowan Jr. scored 16 points, Jalen Smith had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Maryland overwhelmed previously unbeaten George Mason.
The Terrapins (5-0) closed the first half with a 19-2 run to go up by 12 and coasted to the finish against the Patriots, who went 8 for 30 (27 percent) from the floor after halftime.
This was the last of five straight home games for the Terps to open the season, and they won all of them by at least 18 points. The last time Maryland won five in a row by double figures was in the 1998-99 season.
Smith was held scoreless over the first 16 minutes but ended up with his third double-double of the season. Aaron Wiggins scored 15 and 6-foot-10 freshman Makhi Mitchell had 12 points and eight rebounds – all in the second half.
AJ Wilson scored 19 for the Patriots (5-1), who were off to the most successful start in school history.
►(At) No. 10 Ohio State 85, Purdue-Fort Wayne 46: Kaleb Wesson had 15 points and seven rebounds as Ohio State used a big second half to rout Purdue-Fort Wayne.
Freshman D.J. Carton scored nine of his 13 points in the second half for the Buckeyes (5-0). CJ Walker chipped in 11 points.
Marcus DeBerry led Purdue Fort Wayne (2-5) with 16 points, while Brian Patrick had 13 points.
The Buckeyes grabbed control with an early 16-0 run, including 3s by Walker and Duane Washington Jr., and four points from freshman E.J. Liddell.
Ohio State led by as many as 21 points in the first half before settling for a 42-25 lead at the break. Washington had eight first-half points for the Buckeyes.