DURHAM, N.C. -- Taylor King's body was on Hawaiian time, but there was nothing wrong with the Duke freshman's shooting touch.
King set personal bests with 27 points and six 3-pointers in the 13th-ranked Blue Devils' 78-43 rout of Eastern Kentucky on Sunday.
DeMarcus Nelson had 12 points and Gerald Henderson added 10 for Duke (6-0), which played its first game on the mainland since winning the Maui Invitational and showed no ill effects of jet lag -- though King later admitted he hasn't fully adjusted to the time switch.
"When we came back, the time change was really messed up -- guys were going to bed at 4 or 5 in the morning, me included," King said. The trip "really took a toll on myself. ... I don't think I've adjusted to it yet."
It didn't show. Duke never looked back after a dominant first half in which the Colonels made just four of 17 shots and had 18 turnovers. The balanced Blue Devils never trailed, led 34-12 at the break and cruised to their NCAA-best 54th straight nonconference victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Adam Leonard had 12 points and leading scorer Mike Rose added 11 for Eastern Kentucky (2-3), an NCAA tournament team last season that lost its 11th straight game against a ranked opponent.
The Colonels entered averaging 60 points but were hounded by a relentless Duke defense that finished with 31 takeaways. Eastern Kentucky's offense is predicated on 3-pointers and patient backdoor cuts -- coach Jeff Neubauer helped develop that system while on John Beilein's staff at West Virginia -- but the Blue Devils allowed just 14 attempts from beyond the arc and clogged up the backdoor passing lanes.
"We certainly are a 3-point shooting team ... and we just couldn't find them today," Neubauer said.
Freshman Kyle Singler, the MVP of the Maui tournament and the Blue Devils' leading scorer, played just 20 minutes and was held to a career-low seven points.
"We do have different guys. We'd like to see them all play well at one time," coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It's a long season, and we still have a young team. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores, and to think that they just going to be outstanding every game, it's just not going to happen. The thing that you hope is that when they're struggling a little bit on that day, that they don't struggle on defense."
With King asserting himself on offense, it didn't matter. King didn't score and played a combined three minutes in victories over Illinois and Marquette.
"It was just the way the game was going on -- guys were playing well," King said. "Gerald and Kyle were playing unbelievable out there, and the whole team did, and (Krzyzewski) went with the rotation that he did. I was happy and just excited we won (the tournament). That's all that matters."
This time, he broke out with 13 points in the first half -- outscoring the entire Eastern Kentucky team by himself.
Duke held the Colonels to two field goals in the opening 14 minutes and used a remarkable stretch by King to push its lead into double figures for good.
In the span of four possessions midway through the half, King hit three 3-pointers from different spots on the floor. His 3 from the right corner made it 15-5, and after the defense forced Eastern Kentucky into a bad shot with the shot clock winding down, King knocked down another from the left wing.
"When we'd dribble, drive and kick, and I was open, I was going to shoot it," King said. "When the first one went in, I felt like maybe if I keep shooting, I'll get a groove and maybe get in a zone."
His fourth 3-pointer of the half made it 31-12 and prompted those notoriously noisy Cameron Crazies to chant, "Taylor's winning."
"The way we played in the first half, even though the scoreboard only had 12 points for us, literally was maybe as well as we could play at this point in the season," Neubauer said.
