JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Duke relied on an old, trusted ally to reach the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.

Again.

Defense has always been the foundation of Mike Krzyzewski's team, and the top-seeded Blue Devils sent their coach of three decades into a regional semifinal for the 19th time with a stellar performance in a 68-53 victory over California on Sunday.

After winning both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, they are playing the type of suffocating defense that could put Krzyzewski back in the Final Four for an 11th time.

The Blue Devils last reached the national semifinals in 2004, not that their coach feels as though they've let him down lately.

"You know, I hate when somebody compares those teams of the last couple years with our national championship teams, and they say they underachieved," Krzyzewski said. "Are you kidding me? They won 30, 29 games. But they were limited teams, and they couldn't play the defense that this team can play because we have big guys."

Exploiting a huge advantage in size and depth in the frontcourt, the Blue Devils opened a double-digit lead in the first half and Cal never seriously threatened to get back into the game.

Brian Zoubek, Duke's light-scoring, 7-foot-1 center, had 14 points and 13 rebounds while teaming with Lance Thomas and reserves Miles and Mason Plumlee to dominate a short-handed Cal frontline featuring 6-foot-8 Duke transfer Jamal Boykin -- and little else.

Nolan Smith led the Blue Devils (31-5) with 20 points and spearheaded Duke's trademark man-to-man defense that made it difficult for Cal's high-scoring trio of Jerome Randle, Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson to get uncontested shots.