DURHAM – It started with a Sion James dunk on a feed from Cooper Flagg and the dominance didn’t stop until Duke had a 32-point lead against North Carolina.

This was an evisceration made respectable only after the outcome was decided.

“It’s really important to just come out and set the tone from the jump,” Flagg said after Duke’s 87-70 win over UNC at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday night.

“I thought our defense did that really well tonight and we were able to just create some easy buckets.”

Everything about this looked easy for Duke (19-2, 11-0 ACC), which now has a 15-game winning streak.

After lackluster offensive games against Wake Forest and N.C. State last weekend and Monday night, respectively, the Blue Devils were firing on all cylinders against UNC (13-10, 6-5). Duke made 10 of 20 3-point shots, scored 1.52 points per possession in the first half, and had 20 assists on 28 field goals.

Kon Knueppel led Duke with 22 points on 7-for-11 shooting and added five rebounds and five assists; Flagg scored 21 and had eight rebounds and seven assists, along with three steals and two blocks.

“Our guys executed really well,” coach Jon Scheyer said of Duke’s offense. “The passes that we made, 20 assists, of course — but I thought we just had some great connecting, sharing plays.”

Flagg scored or assisted on Duke’s first 18 points. His 3-pointer a little more than five minutes into the game made it a 15-6 lead and was the final straw for UNC coach Hubert Davis, who called a timeout to beat the first media timeout.

“When you make the other team take a timeout because of a run, I mean, that’s the best feeling I think in basketball,” said Knueppel, who scored the last five points of that run.

Coming out of the timeout, Duke put Maliq Brown in for his first action since Jan. 11. He got a steal within 10 seconds of checking in and dished to Flagg on a fast break for a three-point play.

Those were parts of a 16-0 run that set the tone for most of what the first half looked like.

That 16-0 spurt started with a 3-pointer and fast-break dunk by Tyrese Proctor. Duke’s junior guard — the only Blue Devil who entered this game having played in multiple Duke-UNC games — had 17 points on 5-for-10 shooting.

He entered this game having scored 10 points on 3-for-18 shooting in Duke’s last two games.

“I was due for one, for sure. I don’t know what I shot (against N.C. State and Wake Forest), after the games it was straight out of my mind,” Proctor said. “The biggest thing, I talked to Coach (Scheyer) this weekend, it was all good shots. Every shot I’ve been taking was a good shot.

“I’m confident, I’m just going to stick to my routine and just keep having confidence.”

The 16-0 run made it a 23-6 game less than seven minutes into the game. Later in the first half, the Blue Devils put together an 11-0 run that made it a 40-13 game.

There wasn’t much more competitiveness to this game after that. Duke’s lead was 22 at halftime, thanks to Flagg dropping in a mid-range jumper to beat the buzzer. Duke scored on its first eight possessions of the second half to effectively put this game on ice — if it wasn’t already.

“The nature of this game, it’s exciting, right? There’s anticipation, you know there’s going to be a great crowd,” Scheyer said. “So, you can feel happy.

“But really, the team that has an edge has won this game. That’s something we just kept talking about, our edge, our focus. And these guys had it.”

A 3 from the top of the key by Flagg made it a 30-point game with 9:49 left.

Everything about the pace favored what Duke wanted. UNC had only played five games this season under 70 possessions; Duke entered this game having played 17 straight under 70 possessions.

In the first half, there were only 31 possessions for Duke and 30 for UNC. The game ended with 65 possessions.

“The State game, Wake Forest, they try to speed you up a lot,” Proctor said. “And I thought we were just really poised tonight, played our game, and just let the ball do the moving.

“I think everyone was ready to go from the jump.”

TIP-INS: Duke’s first turnover came on its 20th possession; to that point, UNC had already turned it over seven times. … Duke had 24 assists and 26 turnovers in the last two games; the Blue Devils had 20 assists and eight turnovers against UNC. … Sion James scored 13 points for the second straight game, which matches a season high. … RJ Davis and Drake Powell led UNC with 12 points apiece. Seth Trimble added 10 points. … Duke’s 15-game winning streak matches the longest in program history since the 2012-13 season, when the Blue Devils won the first 15 games of that season. ... Former coach Mike Krzyzewski was in attendance, bringing his record to 8-3 when he attends a game since his retirement.