Redick Has Hot Hand for Duke

Duke freshman J.J. Redick can no longer say he hasn’t had a hot streak this season.

Redick made his last eight shots Sunday night and scored a career-high 26 points to lead the No. 3-ranked Blue Devils over Dayton, 85-74, at Durham, N.C.

The Blue Devils are off to their third consecutive 7-0 start. They improved to 162-8 against nonconference teams at Cameron Indoor Stadium under Coach Mike Krzyzewski. The Blue Devils are 127-23 in December under Krzyzewski.

Dahntay Jones had 15 points, Casey Sanders had 13 and Chris Duhon came up with two big defensive plays late for the Blue Devils, who jumped to a big lead and held off a rally by the Flyers (7-3).

Redick, who had been shooting 38% from three-point range, made five of seven three-point shots and five of six free throws.

The Blue Devils hadn’t played since defeating North Carolina A&T;, 91-57, at Greensboro on Dec. 17, but they showed few signs of rust early, taking a 10-1 lead that would not dip below six points the rest of the way.

Dayton, a veteran club that started a senior, three juniors and a sophomore, committed only three turnovers in the second half after having 11 in the first half, but the Flyers never were able to overtake the young Blue Devils.

“I felt they would be as veteran a team as we could play,” Krzyzewski said. “And then after a 12-day break, I knew it would be a difficult situation for our guys. And I thought they responded well.”

Duke won for the fifth time in six games against Dayton, but it was the first meeting between the schools since 1971. The Flyers won the first meeting, 71-63, in December 1959.

No. 18 Creighton 93, Southeast Missouri State 70 -- Kyle Korver scored 22 points to lift Creighton at Omaha, Neb.

The Bluejays improved to 10-0, the best record in Division I this season and the program’s best start since the 1942-43 team opened 16-0, a school record.

Creighton’s pressing defense forced 17 turnovers. The Bluejays outscored the Indians, 17-0, off turnovers in the first half and 30-4 total.

Tim Scheer led the Indians (5-6) with 20 points.

No. 23 Maryland 84, Georgia Tech 77 -- Drew Nicholas scored a career-high 29 points at College Park, Md., and the Terrapins opened defense of their Atlantic Coast Conference title.

Ryan Randle scored 16 of his 20 points in the second half for Maryland (6-3, 1-0), which earned its ninth consecutive home victory over the Yellow Jackets.

Maryland, which captured the ACC regular-season title last season on the way to its first national championship, has won a school-record 13 consecutive conference games.

B.J. Elder had 19 points and Chris Bosh had 16 for the Yellow Jackets (5-4, 0-1), who have lost 12 of 14 to Maryland since January 1996.