ORLANDO, FLA. – No. 5 seed Duke jumped out to a 15-0 lead, and No. 12 seed Oral Roberts struggled to score in the opening minutes of their first-round matchup at the NCAA Basketball Tournament in Orlando, on Thursday. Duke won the game 74-51.

ORU (30-5) entered the tournament on a nation-leading 17-game winning streak but was unable to replicate the success they enjoyed two years ago, when the Golden Eagles upset No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida during a surprising run to the Sweet 16.

ORU didn’t score its first basket in this game until eight minutes into the first half, and could never overcome the deficit against a tough Blue Devils squad.

“Wrong night to have a bad night,” said ORU head coach Paul Mills. “A lot of credit goes to Duke. They’re obviously really good. Walking over here, they offered us Duke Blue Devil colored Powerade, so it’s kind of an indication of how much it wasn’t our night.”

When Duke went ahead 11-0 on a three-point jumper by Jeremy Roach with 15:26 left in the first half, Mills called a timeout to slow down Duke and settle down his own team.

The Golden Eagles finally got on the scoreboard with 12:00 left in the first half, when DeShang Weaver made a layup.

ORU shot 26.5-percent from the field in the fist half, and made only 3-of-15 three-pointers. While Duke was 50-percent from the field and made 4-of-10 three-pointers.

At halftime, Duke led the Golden Eagles 40-23.

The second half was not much different although ORU did cut the lead to 54-40 on an Isaac McBride three-pointer with 8:50 left to play.

Jeremy Roach led the Blue Devils in scoring, matching a career high 23 points. Dariq Whitehead added 13.

“Jeremy has been on a tear,” Duke first year head coach Jon Scheyer said. “For me, it’s more just his mindset. I think the scoring, the play making comes with it. He’s never rattled. He’s playing both sides of the ball. He played 36 minutes, and defensively he did a great job.”

Duke outrebounded ORU 46-32, including a whopping 33 defensive rebounds.

For the game, ORU shot 30.2-percent from the field and 25-percent from three-point range (8-32).

It was an off night for ORU leading scorer Max Abmas, who averaged 22 points per game this season, but led ORU with only 12 points in the game against Duke. Nobody else for the Golden Eagles was in double digits scoring.

After the game, Abmas was asked if he would return for a fifth year at ORU.

“I’m just in the moment right now and enjoying every part of the season we just had,” he said. “We’ll look at the future later.”

Along with Abmas, three other starters are seniors, which means the Golden Eagles could have a new look if any of them decide to not return next season.

“The good news for me right now is I can get them all back,” said Mills. “They all have eligibility to return. I’m not telling you that they will, but what I am telling you is that we have a group that is very invested in getting better as players. I do feel that we’re building something here that hopefully can get to a Final Four.”

I know there are thousands of ORU fans that would love to see that happen.