Duke had little trouble thoroughly beating a Top 10 team its last time out, and its players know it must bring that kind of intensity every time it takes the court.
After a lengthy layoff, the fifth-ranked Blue Devils look for another dominating effort on Wednesday when they host Loyola of Maryland in their final game before the start of the ACC play.
Duke (10-1) was supposed to be faced with a major test when it squared off against then-No. 7 Xavier in East Rutherford, N.J. on Dec. 20, but the Blue Devils were hardly challenged.
Duke jumped out to a 55-24 halftime lead en route to an easy 82-64 victory. It shot 61.8 percent in the first half, and led 22-3 before the Musketeers managed their first field goal 5:54 into the game.
"Obviously we know we're a very good team when we play a certain way, like we did (against Xavier)," said guard Gerald Henderson, who scored 19 points. "If we're going to achieve the things we want to achieve we have to play consistent Duke basketball every game. We really just wanted to uphold our standards."
Jon Scheyer had another solid performance in Duke's last game, as he matched his season high with 23 points on 9-of-11 shooting. The junior guard is averaging 18.0 points on 59.0 percent shooting, including 12-of-23 from 3-point range, in four games this month after averaging 9.3 points on 38.1 percent shooting and 3-of-11 from beyond the arc in his previous three.
"We always need to be hungry when we step on the floor," Scheyer said. "Every night when we step on the floor we have to play like we did (against Xavier)."
Duke will look to continue its strong play and win its 66th straight home game against a non-conference opponent on New Year's Eve. The Blue Devils, who are one of the top-scoring teams in the nation (83.3 points per game), have not lost to a non-conference opponent at Cameron Indoor Stadium since an 83-82 loss to St. John's on Feb. 26, 2000.
Duke and Loyola (4-8) have met only one other time, as the Blue Devils won 92-68 on Jan. 4, 1984 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Greyhounds haven't faced a ranked team since a 78-48 loss to then-No. 24 Davidson on Nov. 25. In that game, Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos decided he would rather try to hold the nation's leading scorer Stephen Curry scoreless - which he did by double-teaming him at all times - than actually try to win.
Unlike Davidson, the Blue Devils' offense doesn't revolve around one person, so Loyola will likely have its hands full trying to stop every Duke player with the ball.
The Greyhounds are coming off a tough 62-60 loss to North Carolina State on Monday, their fifth defeat in seven games.
Loyola cut a 16-point deficit to 61-60 on a layup from Jamal Barney with 51.3 seconds left, but he missed a potentially go-ahead basket in the final seconds. Barney finished with 20 points, while Marquis Sullivan led the Greyhounds with 21.
"It was good for us to be down twice by double digits and to come back and get in back in the game," Patsos said. "We've got a lot of tough guys on our team, and they never gave up."
Since moving to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 1989-90, Loyola has dropped nine straight games against Top 25 opponents, with no loss closer than 20 points.
