HALFTIME: Duke 45, N.C. State 32

In an up-and-down track meet of a first half, Duke managed to build a sizable 13-point halftime cushion as North Carolina State continually turned the ball over and the Blue Devils shot well from the perimeter, canning six threes. Jabari Parker, who has struggled in ACC play, missed his first three shot attempts before forcing a steal and driving for an emphatic slam dunk. He later added a corner three and a savage baseline dunk, ending the half with 14 points and as the game’s leading scorer. T.J. Warren, the leading scorer in the ACC, paced the Wolfpack with 12 points, and center Jordan Vandenberg pulled down a game-high seven rebounds.

Observations from the first half:

• Parker was incredibly aggressive in the opening 20 minutes, getting to the free-throw line 10 times in the first stanza. The big man accounted for all of Duke's attempts from the charity stripe.

• The Blue Devils’ lead was as large as 15 points with 5:26 remaining in the half, but the Wolfpack went on a quick 6-0 run to close the gap and force a Duke timeout. With both teams supplying inconsistent defense thus far this season, it’s hard to say how large a lead will have to be to be considered “safe” in this game.

• Duke came into the game second in the ACC in turnover margin and second-to-last in rebounding margin, and that pattern continued in the first half Saturday. NCST has a 22-14 advantage on the boards, but it has committed 15 turnovers to Duke's six. At one point, the Blue Devils were being out-rebounded 13-0, but the Wolfpack had seven turnovers while Duke had none.

• Coach K continued to mix lineups as he did against Virginia. The first full line change happened just 3:11 into the game, but subsequently he experimented with mixtures of the first and second lines.