DURHAM, N.C. - He didn't break the backboard this time, just Duke's pride.
This dunk was even better, even more monumental. And while it didn't destroy the basket, it was certainly earth-shattering.
Robert Traylor took a pass from Travis Conlan, put the ball on the floor for one dribble and delivered a slam dunk with 6.2 seconds left that the Blue Devils won't likely forget, giving No. 7 Michigan a 62-61 victory over 10th-ranked Duke yesterday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"(The lane) parted like the Red Sea," Traylor said.
Despite struggling with Duke's stifling defense all afternoon, Traylor managed to win the game for the Wolverines and, in the process destroy Duke's previous stellar 103-1 home record against non-conference opponents.
"We're still searching for something to identify this team with," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "I'm hoping that this will be it."
The Blue Devils' defense and patented transition game kept Michigan off-balance all afternoon. But despite the 12-point lead, the Devils allowed the Wolverines (5-0) back in the game with poor shooting.
The game was marked by poor offensive execution by both teams early on. Duke's defense forced 10 turnovers in the first half leading to eight points in transition. But the Devils (5-2) were missing a lot of their open shots, keeping the Wolverines in the game despite the loss of their top gun, Maurice Taylor, for most of the contest due to foul trouble.
After Taylor was benched with his third foul with 9:09 left in the first, Michigan led 20-15 in what would be one of its last leads until the waning seconds of the game.
After Taylor took the bench, the Devils reeled off nine unanswered points. Duke's Carmen Wallace hit two foul shots to cut the Michigan lead to 20-17. Then St. Johns' transfer Roshown McLeod hit a jumper after receiving a nifty pass from Steve Wojciechowski. Jeff Capel buried a 3-pointer in transition off a Michigan turnover.
After that, the Devils held the lead going into halftime, 33-29. The lead would have been larger, but the Devils were having trouble in their half-court offense, hitting just 36.7 percent from the field and an uncharacteristically-poor 15.4 percent from 3-point range.
"Our defense throughout the game was close to being outstanding," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "We gave up a lot of points from our offense."
Duke ran out to its largest lead of the contest early in the second half. The Devils led, 56-44, after forcing a turnover and Wojciechowski dished to Wallace who buried a 3-pointer.
Taylor fouled out with 10:11 remaining in the game. Nevertheless, the Wolverines were able to keep Duke from putting the game safely away.
With 2:05 left in regulation, Travis Conlan tried a soft jumper but was denied. Traylor tried a putback, but he too was stifled before recovering his own shot and dropping in a short hook to cut the Duke lead to 61-58.
Duke lost the ball on its next possession on a shot clock violation. Conlan hit Baston who spun into an open lane for a two-handed slam with 47.6 seconds remaining.
With the Devils up 61-60, sophomore guard Trajan Langdon tried to hit McLeod in the post. But McLeod turned to set a pick for Ricky Price and Langdon's pass fell right into Baston's hands.
"I was trying to look off the defender, and Roshown just though I wasn't going to pass it," Langdon said. "It was my fault. It was a terrible pass."
After a 20-second timeout and with just 19 seconds on the clock, Conlan drove around a Duke defender and passed to Traylor in the paint.
Traylor bounced the ball once before leaping through the air for the one-handed slam with 6.2 seconds left. The Devils could not get a shot off at the other end as time expired.
"The effort of our team was good, but the execution of the offensive end was, really, at the end, horrible," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "The person who should accept most of the responsibility or all of it is me."
The Blue Devils finished the game shooting 36.4 percent from the floor and a horrid 23.1 percent from 3-point range. The Wolverines finished shooting 40.3 percent from the floor, becoming only the third team this season to shoot over 40 percent against Duke.
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
After Duke guard Trajan Langdon was called for charging after bowling over Michigan center Robert Traylor with 3:21 left, the Blue Devils didn't get a shot off the rest of the game.