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Duke, first in the standings, did not use the brute force of outstanding dunks to easily qualify in the Maui Invitation on Monday.
The Blue Devils relied instead on a balanced half-court defense and a three-pointer shot from the dead eye to win another unbalanced victory.
Duke scored nine of his 10 points in the first half to open a 17-point lead and win a 90-64 win over the San Diego State at the Lahaina Civic Center.
The Blue Devils (4-0) qualify for Auburn (8-0), ranked 8th, in the semi-final of the Maui Invitational, at 8 pm. Tuesday. The Tigers defeated Xavier, 88-79, in overtime on Monday.
San Diego State (2-1) managed to score the first basket of the game and led for five seconds. That brought the total time that the Blue Devils have dragged this season to 35 seconds in four games.
R.J. Barrett wiped out that deficit with a 3-pointer, setting the tone for the first half, while Duke attempted a 49-32 lead at half-time.
The Blue Devils made 9 of their 17 attempts of 3 points in the first period. They did not record their first game of the match until fabulous freshman Zion Williamson did not take the advantage of pleasing his audience and took the breakaway with 13:28 to play in the match. At that time, the Blue Devils had built a 71-44 lead.
Barrett paced Duke with 20 points, hitting three of six three-point scorers, and had five assists despite five fouls despite his 23 minutes of play due to his four fouls.
First-year mate Cam Reddish scored 16 points while first-year guard Tre Jones was 14 and Williamson 13 for the Blue Devils.
Junior striker Jack White scored 12 points and eight rebounds on the bench.
Duke shot 51% and managed 40% (10 of 25) of his 3-point shots. The state of San Diego shot only 36%, of which 6 out of 21 (29%) and 13 turnovers.
The man-to-man defense change in the state of San Diego limited Duke's ability to find clear traffic lanes to the basket. The Blue Devils still dominated the first period.
Duke shot 50% overall, shooting 52.9% of his 3 shots.
Barrett scored 16 points in the first half but was the only double-digit player for the balanced Blue Devils. Eight of the 10 players who saw the action for Duke scored.
Duke made five of his first six 3-point shots, 6 of a total of 10 shots, to open a 19-6 lead with 12:41 left in the half. Barrett and Jack White each contributed three points to the Duke Dam, which included an 11-0 run.
The state of San Diego slowly dropped out of the game while Duke could not keep up the pace. The Blue Devils missed six consecutive shots in a row and the Aztecs reduced Duke's lead to 29-21.
But Duke found his pace on the offensive, generating points on nine of his last 11 possessions of the half. Jones, Barrett and Reddish all fell 3 points in the last end. Reddish's 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half gave Duke a 17-point lead, his biggest advance of the first half.
The state of San Diego made 9 of 22 shots (40.9%) in the first half, while performing seven turnovers.
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