bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671
DURHAM -- The Duke Blue Devils played arguably their best basketball of the season heading into the Christmas break.
No one can predict how their nine-day break will impact their play when Long Beach State visits Cameron Indoor Stadium tonight (7 p.m., Fox Sports), but Duke teams of the past typically have played winning basketball coming out of the holiday break.
The Blue Devils (9-1) have won their first game after Christmas in 26 of 29 seasons under Coach Mike Krzyzew-ski, including 14 in a row.
Their most recent loss in those games was in 1994, a defeat at the hands of Iowa in the first round of the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. That demanding trip contributed significantly to Krzyzewski's decision soon after to sit out the rest of the season in order to heal from preseason back surgery and to deal with some symptoms of burnout.
Since then, the Blue Devils have tended to look fresh coming off the break, usually taking care of inferior opponents in their return to action. Long Beach State (6-6) would appear to fit the mold, but the 49ers certainly are battle-tested entering tonight's game.
LBSU's schedule so far could be mistaken for the AP top 10. After facing the No. 7 Duke tonight, the 49ers will have played four of the top seven teams in the current AP poll heading into their Big West Conference schedule.
The 49ers have yet to knock off a giant, but they pushed Kentucky in their most recent game, standing even with 13 minutes remaining before falling 86-73 to the No. 3 Wildcats.
In addition to losses to Kentucky, No. 2 Texas and No. 6 West Virginia, LBSU also fell by eight points to No. 24 Clemson -- which will visit Duke for both teams' ACC opener Sunday -- and beat traditional but struggling power UCLA.
The 49ers are coached by Dan Monson, the coach who put Gonzaga -- which Duke beat 76-41 in the Blue Devils' most recent game -- on the college basketball map. Monson was Gonzaga's head coach in 1999 when the Bulldogs came out of seemingly nowhere to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, then he coached seven-plus seasons at Minnesota before resigning early in the 2006-07 season and then landing at LBSU.
Long Beach State went 5-25 his first season but improved to 15-15 a year ago, finishing second in the Big West. The 49ers start four sophomores, three of whom were on the Big West All-Freshman team. One of those, guard Larry Anderson, became the second player in conference history to make the All-Big West first team.
Sophomore forward T.J. Robinson leads the 49ers with 16.7 points per game. The team has continuity and balance: The same five players have started all 12 games and four average double digits, with the fifth averaging 9.1 points.
Duke, however, is making it difficult for opponents to score, holding five to fewer than 60 points and allowing just two to top 70 points.
The Blue Devils have three players -- Jon Scheyer, Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler -- who are averaging more than 15 points per game.
In addition to Duke's run of success in post-Christmas contests, the Blue Devils also hold the nation's longest current winning streak in non-conference home games at 74. Duke also has won 47 consecutive December home games.
