It was a letdown spot for the Duke basketball team and it showed on Tuesday night inside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The Blue Devils, after comeback wins last week over then No. 2 Auburn and a road matchup against Louisville, hosted Incarnate Word as finals week approached in Durham and it would be easy to take their foot off the gas pedal.
Jon Scheyer watched his team put up 28 points in the first half, a season low, before finding its offensive rhythm in the second half and landed 44 points on the scoreboard to win, 72-46.
No. 4 Duke’s usual offensive contributors had quiet nights as Cooper Flagg and Tyrese Proctor combined to score 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting but it was another batch of freshmen that led the charge in the victory.
Center Khaman Maluach, who earned extra playing time as Maliq Brown was ruled out with a toe injury, had the best showing of his young career with 17 points and seven rebounds and the rookie flamethrower, Isaiah Evans, added 14 points on four made 3-pointers.
Kon Knueppel was the only other player in double figures with 10 points.
The defense remained stout, allowing Incarnate Word (5-5) to shoot just 32.1-percent from the field despite the halftime margin only being seven points. Duke (8-2, 1-0 ACC) began the second half on an 11-0 run that put the game away.
The game marked a stretch in the season in which the Blue Devils will not be on the floor very often. After the first month of the season had many road trips and games, Duke will now play just three games for the rest of December.
Its next matchup will be the final non-conference game of the season at home against George Mason on Tuesday, December 17 (7:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network). The Blue Devils will play a non-ACC game on February 22 against Illinois at Madison Square Garden.
Duke returns to league play on Saturday, December 21 (12:00 p.m. ET, ACC Network) on the road against Georgia Tech.