CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Miami guard Isaiah Wong pointed to the crowd, waving his arms, asking for noise, asking for the celebration to start.
The lead, at that point, was 3-0.
Didn’t matter. From start to finish, the Hurricanes were in total control —- and got a rare rout over Duke.
Norchad Omier had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Jordan Miller added 16 points and No. 19 Miami never trailed on the way to a 81-59 win over Duke on Monday night.
Wooga Poplar scored 14 and Wong scored 11 for Miami (19-5, 10-4 Atlantic Coast Conference). The Hurricanes led by as many as 26 and improved to 13-0 at home.
“That was a great performance, from start to finish,” Miami coach Jim Larrañaga said. “There was a lot of energy. And all I can tell you is, everybody who came tonight’s game is invited back — because that’s the kind of environment that we’d love to have every night.”
Ryan Young and Dereck Lively II each scored 11 points for Duke (17-7, 8-5), which saw its three-game winning streak snapped. Jeremy Roach added 10 points for the Blue Devils, who were outrebounded 38-31 and committed 21 turnovers.
It was the second game this season where Duke never led, and the 22-point loss was its second-worst this season. The Blue Devils lost to NC State by 24 on Jan. 4.
“Congratulations to Miami. There’s a reason they haven’t lost here at home,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “They’re really good. They obviously had it clicking on all cylinders right away.”
It was the second-biggest Miami victory margin in the series between the schools, topped only by the Hurricanes’ 90-63 win over then-No. 1 Duke on Jan. 23, 2013. Miami also enjoyed huge edges in points off turnovers (23-9), second-chance points (24-9) and fast-break points (17-7).
And Miami got payback for a 68-66 loss at Duke earlier this season.
“We had something to prove,” Miller said. “They beat us last time. We were revved up for this game and we got it done.”
Duke fans started leaving with 4:24 left and Miami up by 26, the Hurricanes’ student section serenading them as they departed.
Miami ran out to a 13-1 lead and stretched it to 34-17 later in the first half, putting Duke in unfamiliar territory quickly. The Blue Devils had trailed by more than 15 in just two other games — by 29 to N.C. State, and by 19 to Purdue.
“When you have 21 turnovers, you can’t expect yourself to have a good game,” Lively said.
It was 40-26 at the half. When Miami opened the second half on a 9-0 run to build a 23-point lead, the outcome quickly became academic.
“The crowd fueled us to keep it going,” Larrañaga said.
Duke visits No. 8 Virginia on Saturday.
