Sunday’s game in College Park underscored why Duke is so much better this season.

They are smaller and deeper, for sure, but the biggest change is that Duke is tougher.

Tougher players. And tougher to guard.

Maryland coach Gary Williams made just that point Monday. Duke, with center Brian Zoubek out with an injury and a lineup full of guards and wings, was overwhelmed inside in the first half.

Nonetheless, Duke sprinted away in a second half that became a dominant display of the Devils’ ability. At season’s end, that 93-84 win for Duke may be remembered as one of the games that showcased how potent this Devils team really is.

In an era in which centers are scarce and big men bolt early for the NBA, Duke has found a style that might land it in the Final Four.

“Duke is playing small a lot of the game, but their players don’t play like they are small,” Williams said. “They rebound and do the things that are necessary. Plus, you have to guard them.”

That’s the point. Maryland received ferocious play from 6-foot-9 James Gist and 6-8 Bambale Osby. The burly Osby is one of the league’s most-improved players and looks like he could knock out Julius Peppers.

Duke had a hard time with Maryland’s muscle. But Maryland struggled to stay with Duke’s sleek players like DeMarcus Nelson and Gerald Henderson.

“People always talk about matchups, but matchups are on both ends of the floor,” Williams said. “We scored well inside last night, but you still have to stop them. We couldn’t stop them in the second half. A lot of times we had a bad matchup with our inside players. I thought it affected our team defense.”

Duke’s team defense, meanwhile, didn’t falter.

The Blue Devils don’t have the strength inside to match up with teams like Maryland, so they put intense pressure on ball-handlers to make entry passes difficult. Once the ball does go inside, it seems like the Devils have a hundred hands swatting at the ball.

Williams praised “the pressure they put on the ball and their immediate receivers.”

“You don’t get many easy passes against Duke,” he said. “They force you out of your offense in terms of timing and where you run your offense from.”

Duke is 5-0 in the ACC and 17-1 overall. North Carolina looked like the best team in the league coming into the season; now, the Devils appear more than capable of handling a team like UNC, even with Tyler Hansbrough.

Up next for Duke is N.C. State on Thursday night in Durham. State is one of the league’s biggest, strongest teams, but Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe knows what’s coming in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

“There is such a big difference between playing hard and playing tough,” Lowe said Monday. “And Duke does that. They do that as well as anyone. They play hard, obviously, but they play tough. They play tough especially with some of the lineups they put in the game.

“At times, it’s hard for a bigger team to take advantage of it because they won’t let you go where you want to go.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s one of their wing people guarding a big guy,” Lowe said. “They will fight them until the end.”

Exactly.