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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Mike Krzyzewski put top-ranked
Duke's winning streak in Jason Williams' hands.
|  | | Jason Williams' career-high 38 points were also a Jimmy V Classic record. |
"I rode him as hard as a jockey can ride a horse," the Blue
Devils coach said. "I just kept calling his number."
On his uniform that would be 22, and on the stat sheet that
would be a career-high 38 points that carried Duke to a 95-92
overtime victory over Kentucky (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today, No. 7 Kentucky) on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.
"He was phenomenal," Krzyzewski said. "He put on one of the
really sensational performances under pressure that you're going to
see."
The junior guard scored 23 of his team's final 31 points in
regulation.
"I don't know what I was in. I was just playing basketball and
I was just trying to win the game," Williams said. "I don't know
if you want to call it the zone, the flow or whatever, I was just
in the game and wanting to win."
Duke, the defending national champion, was down 59-47 with 12:30
remaining when Williams took over. He scored every way imaginable
and his 3-pointer with 5:10 left gave Duke (10-0) a 68-67 lead, its
first since being up 31-30 in the first half.
Williams, whose previous career-high was 35 points two games ago
against Michigan, proved he wasn't perfect when he missed the
second of two free throws with 8.8 seconds left in regulation to
leave the game tied at 78. Kentucky's Cliff Hawkins missed a 3 at
the buzzer and the game went to overtime.
Williams gave Duke the lead for good in the overtime with a
three-point play that made it 91-89 with 1:39 left. He found Carlos
Boozer for a layup with 58 seconds to go to make it a five-point
lead.
The Wildcats (6-2), who had a six-game winning streak of their
own, closed to 93-91 on two free throws by Keith Bogans with 43
seconds left, but Dahntay Jones iced it for Duke when he converted
an offensive rebound with 9.6 seconds left.
"Overall it was a great game," Kentucky's Tayshaun Prince
said. "The only thing was we didn't put the game away."
Mike Dunleavy added 21 points for Duke, which improved to 16-1
in the Meadowlands Arena, while Boozer had 15.
"He's been doing that for two years," Dunleavy said of
Williams, an All-American last season and a preseason choice this
year. "You don't want to always expect it out of him but it's
something he does. He is the best player in the country and he
proved it again tonight. What he does, he led us to victory."
Freshman Rashaad Carruth, who had played in only three games
because of a sprained ankle and had a total of 12 points this
season, had 19 for Kentucky, while Prince added 17 and Hawkins had
15.
"We had our chances, but couldn't capitalize," Kentucky coach
Tubby Smith said. "We had no answer for Jason Williams."
The last time these teams went to overtime was with a lot more
at stake and with college basketball history to be made.
Duke beat Kentucky 104-103 in overtime in Philadelphia in 1992
to advance to the Final Four on Christian Laettner's turnaround at
the buzzer. That game is considered one of the sport's classics.
"It was another great Duke-Kentucky game," Krzyzewski said.
"I don't know why that happens, maybe because they're two pretty
good teams."
Williams set a Jimmy V Classic record with the 38 points,
bettering the previous mark of 31 set by Marc Jackson of Temple in
1995 and matched by A.J. Guyton of Indiana in 1999.
Williams, who slightly injured his groin in Duke's win over
North Carolina A&T on Sunday, was 7-for-10 from 3-point range,
tying the game record for 3s set by Guyton.
Jules Camara had 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Wildcats, who
dominated the boards 51-34, including 22-13 on the offensive end.
"They took it right to us, their board work was phenomenal,"
Krzyzewski said. "They were absolutely relentless on the boards.
It showed how well we had to play in the 14 minutes of regulation
and in the overtime to win."
Duke trailed 43-40 at halftime and Kentucky scored the first
seven points of the second half. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski pulled
his starters with 17:02 to play and the Blue Devils down by 10.
They didn't return until there was 14:08 left and Duke's team of
subs that included freshman Daniel Ewing, regular reserve Casey
Sanders and three others, none of whom had played more than a total
of 44 minutes even with all the blowouts wins.
When the starters returned it was 54-47 and Kentucky still
extended the lead to as much as 12 before Williams started the Blue
Devils on their comeback that extended the nation's longest winning
streak.
"We had the substitutions where our bench came in and outscored
them 5-4 and somehow our team got to a point where we were ready to
make a fight of it," Krzyzewski said.
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Kentucky vs. Duke
Duke Delight