Duke basketball: 4 studs, 2 duds from signature win over No. 1 Gonzaga

The stars for the Duke basketball program played like superstars against No. 1 Gonzaga. 

When the lights are the brightest, the superstars shine the brightest, and that is what happened for the Duke basketball program this weekend against No. 1 Gonzaga.

The No. 5 Blue Devils (7-0) topped No. 1 Gonzaga (6-1), 84-81, in Las Vegas as Duke jumped to No. 1 in the latest Associated Press Top-25 Poll after the victory while the Bulldogs dropped to No. 3.

Duke was able to win the blockbuster game despite Gonzaga shooting a better percentage than the Blue Devils from the floor (53.1 to 46.3) and the Zags winning the rebounding battle by 11, 42-31.

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The Bulldogs also racked up ten more assists than Duke, but the Blue Devils were able to turn 17 Gonzaga turnovers into 23 points while the eight turnovers from Mike Krzyzewski‘s team only resulted in two points for Mark Few’s team.

Gonzaga was riding a 36-game winning streak in the regular season and had previously dominated No. 5 Texas and No. 2 UCLA this season while the Blue Devils had only beaten No. 10 Kentucky prior to Friday night.

Both teams still have daunting challenges ahead as Duke will hit the road to play Ohio State in the ACC vs. Big Ten Challenge on Tuesday night with Gonzaga still having to play No. 16 Alabama and Texas Tech before conference play begins.

Duke basketball looking to go into layoff strong

There is a clear message for Duke entering the final week of November: finish the month strong.

The Blue Devils already took care of Gonzaga. Now, after their meeting with the Ohio State Buckeyes, the five-time National Champions will have two weeks off before taking the floor once again on December 14 against South Carolina State.

Duke will have three games after its hiatus before ACC play begins on December 22.

But first, we look at the studs and duds against Gonzaga.