DURHAM — Another slog turned into another blowout victory for Duke.

The Blue Devils, playing their first game in a week, overcame some tough stretches on offense with a stout defensive performance to trounce George Mason 68-47 Tuesday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Points were always going to come at a premium in this matchup. The teams entered as two of the top six defensive units in the country by effective field goal percentage, and it was easy to see why.

Duke (9-2) posted its lowest scoring output of the season and its worst first-half shooting performance (27.3%). Cooper Flagg led all scorers with 24 points, but was just 7 of 20 from the field.

Fortunately for the Blue Devils, their defense held to form.

Duke limited GMU to just two 3-pointers and a 12% clip from distance, both the lowest of any opponent this season. The Patriots shot 29.4% overall, and leading scorer Darius Maddox had just 12 points.

“We knew how tough they were on defense,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “And for us, having a week off, we've obviously worked on a lot. I thought we had good carryover. I think there's obviously a lot we can do better. …

“I thought we made winning plays, and our defense really drove us.”

The Blue Devils mostly avoided the slow starts that have plagued them recently, forcing early timeouts in both the first and second halves from GMU coach and former Patriots star Tony Skinn.

What unfolded after the first media timeout of the night, though, wasn’t ideal.

At one point, Duke missed seven shots on a single possession in the midst of a four-minute, 0-for-11 scoreless drought finally snapped by a Sion James 3-pointer.

Later in the half, the Blue Devils went nearly 7½ minutes without a field goal before Kon Knueppel’s driving layup right before the break.

Jalen Haynes led GMU with 18 points. His 6-foot-8, 260-pound frame, and GMU’s interior defense as a whole, caused trouble for Duke, which missed 15 shots in the paint. Khaman Maluach went scoreless and only attempted one shot.

“We missed a lot of easy ones tonight, especially myself,” Flagg said. “I missed a lot of easy bunnies, layups I usually make. That’s going to happen from time to time, so just have to keep fighting through it and keep getting better.”

Duke came out firing in the second half, though, making four of its first five shots on a 9-0 run that made it 36-18. The punctuation mark was Tyrese Proctor’s corner 3-pointer that forced Skinn to take his second timeout.

“We’ve lacked good starts to gamers and starts to second halves,” Proctor said, “so for them to call two timeouts, at the start of the game and start of the second half, was a really big thing and something (Scheyer) emphasized at halftime. Coming out, getting loose balls like that was big for us.”

The Blue Devils led by as many as 22 down the stretch and never let the lead get below 12 after that burst out of halftime. Isaiah Evans buried three 3s, and Duke bounced back to shoot 52.2% in the second half.

The slow starts were certainly of emphasis during the weeklong break, which came on the heels of a two-games-in-three-days turnaround. After this, it’s nearly all ACC action the rest of the way, starting with Saturday’s trip to Georgia Tech.

“We had a couple hard practices, summer-like practices,” Proctor said. “We were going at it every day like we have been for the last couple months. Good to get back in the gym, get our identity set and work on our defense.”

Added Scheyer: “Our defense was back to where we wanted it to be.”

TIP-INS: Maliq Brown returned to the lineup after missing Duke’s win against Incarnate Word with a toe injury. He played 16 minutes, grabbing five rebounds and chipping in 2 points. … Flagg added nine rebounds and four assists. “I think he’s due for a triple double,” Scheyer said. … Mike Krzyzewski was in attendance, sitting next to Shane Battier on the baseline. … Duke lost at Georgia Tech last December, 72-68. The Yellow Jackets are 4-6, 0-1 in the ACC.