Later on, Duke's Hall of Fame coach had another thought for his ninth-ranked Blue Devils. Krzyzewski called a 30-second time-out to yell, "You're playing like little kids!"

A crowd of 18,030 - with the Duke-to-Temple fan ratio about 2-1 - didn't see more than a few seconds of pretty basketball. A disastrous first-half string of turnovers put Temple in a deep hole. Duke survived a 71/2-minute second-half scoring drought for a 74-64 victory.

"Shots will fall, shots won't fall," Henderson said later in Duke's locker room, pronouncing himself pleased with his team's defensive effort.

Duke's offensive lapses included his season-low five points.

Krzyzewski said he was pleased enough with the victory because Duke (12-1) wasn't just shorthanded, but short. He especially liked the way his freshmen played, with his two tallest regulars out with injuries - including center Brian Zoubek, from Haddonfield, who would have started in this homecoming game if he hadn't reinjured his left foot.

Duke had built a 53-34 lead with 141/2 minutes remaining before that 71/2-minute break. After halftime, Dionte Christmas scored 15 consecutive Temple points and led all scorers with 23 points.

Temple used its most aggressive defensive stretch of the season to come back, but after his team fell to 6-7, Owls coach Fran Dunphy wasn't inclined to focus on the comeback.

"Trying to thread needles on passes - that's not our game," Dunphy said after the Owls committed 20 turnovers.

Despite that, Temple was within 18-16 with eight minutes remaining in the first half before it committed four straight turnovers. Duke was playing strong defense at the time, but its steals had more to do with Temple. Owls guard Chris Clark left a pass for . . . Blue Devils guard DeMarcus Nelson. A Clark pass to Sergio Olmos didn't connect. An attempted crosscourt pass from Christmas to Clark was picked off easily by Duke freshman guard Nolan Smith. By the time Temple tried another shot, Duke had a 28-16 lead.

In the eyes of Krzyzewski, even that shot could have been a turnover.

"Why wasn't that a charge?" the Duke coach asked veteran official Bryan Kersey.

"I can't see that far," Kersey quipped.

"I'll help you," Krzyzewski said. "That was a charge."

"It wasn't nerves. We just weren't poised," Christmas said later.

Temple did outrebound Duke by 45-39. Zoubek, the 7-foot-1 center, was wearing a boot on his left foot after breaking a bone in Monday's practice. He had suffered the same injury in July and required surgery.

"It's on a much smaller scale," Zoubek said. "The screws I have in there really prevented it from being much more serious. Right now, it's a pretty minor fracture.

"I look forward to getting back, hopefully in a couple of weeks. It's based on how I feel. It's just wear and tear. I don't know the exact point [when it was reinjured]. That's the weird thing."

Henderson, one of the few guards in America to routinely take the center tap, won it, and scored the first hoop by driving the baseline and earning oohs and aahs for a reverse layup.

But just as his old Episcopal teammate Wayne Ellington had struggled offensively when North Carolina came to the Palestra to play Penn earlier this season, Henderson had a similar experience. He did not score in the first half and added just one second-half dunk.

"Obviously, Gerald will have better games other than tonight," Krzyzewski said. "I thought he wasn't in sync. He's been a terrific player for us this year. However in the second half, I thought he made some great defensive plays for us."

Dunphy expressed frustration over Temple's failure to finish some early shots.

"We had different attempts at the rim [from close range] in the first half, and against a team like Duke, we just give up those opportunities," he said.

The subject of pride had come up at halftime in Temple's locker room.

"We wanted to come out and represent ourselves," Christmas said.

Listen to the postgame news conference at http://go.philly.com

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