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NEW YORK -- Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski still wants to attach the "developing" label to his team, despite bringing back most of the players from last year. It helps him stomach a first half where the Blue Devils turn the ball over at an astonishing clip, shoot 31 percent, and watch two of their stars go scoreless.

The final score at Madison Square Garden displayed a blowout win for No. 10 Duke, which improved to 4-0 with an 83-58 drubbing of Southern Illinois in the opening round of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer. Gerald Henderson and Kyle Singler combined to score 33 second-half points to turn a slim Duke advantage into a rout. Carlton Fay led the Salukis (2-1) with 17 points.

For the Blue Devils, the reason they advanced to the championship game to play Michigan, which beat UCLA, was simple.

"We just stopped turning the ball over," Krzyzewski said.

Sloppy ball handling led to 17 Duke turnovers in the first half, compared to just one in the second. Not surprisingly, Duke began to take advantage of its offensive possessions and eventually wore the Salukis down.

The backbreaker was a seven-point swing in the span of about 20 seconds when an intentional foul on Singler led to a flurry of points. It stretched Duke's lead to 66-49 with just over six minutes to play and had the pro-Blue Devils crowd at the Garden rocking.

Both teams opened the game cold as the Salukis took an early lead. Krzyzewski said his team struggled to adjust to Southern Illinois' defense, which collapsed on dribble-drive penetration and forced the Duke guards to kick the ball out to shooters. But those passes usually ended up in the hands of opposing players, or worse, the stands.

Because of the lopsided nature of the win, Krzyzewski was able to take it in stride.

"There were some very interesting turnovers," Krzyzewski said. "I saw a guy selling accident insurance along the side at our end."

The two teams then traded advantages until the Blue Devils took a six-point halftime lead after finding some success in the low post.

That was because Brian Zoubek -- who finished with 10 points, nine in the first half -- was able to take advantage of the smaller Salukis frontcourt. The size advantage for the Blue Devils carried over the entire game, as Duke dominated on the glass with a 42-28 advantage.

Salukis coach Chris Lowery didn't mind that so much, because his team attempted more shots (57) than Duke (42) did. The disparity in foul shots made (40 to 15) was also crippling.

"We got more shot attempts, and we didn't shoot it at a high percentage," Lowery said. We had 15 more shot attempts but they had 40 free throws."

Once the game shifted in the second half, Duke began to open up its offense. A halftime adjustment led to better ball movement, which resulted in about a dozen wide-open shots.

Guards worked the ball around the perimeter to find unguarded shooters. Henderson just happened to be the beneficiary and buried four of five 3-pointers he took in the second half.

"We were just a little bit smarter out there with our reads and how we were attacking their defense," Henderson said.

Coupled with the sharp outside shooting were several displays of athleticism in the transition game.

Guard Nolan Smith threw down a thunderous dunk in transition over two Saluki players, including 6-11 center Nick Evans with 17:20 remaining. Henderson had a similar jam minutes later with 4:22 left when he came off a ball screen and stuffed the ball over Fay.

Afterward, Krzyzewski talked about the valuable experience that comes from shaking off a sluggish first half.

He also savored winning his 807th career game in the presence of two fellow coaching deans -- North Carolina legend Dean Smith and ex-Indiana and Texas Tech coach Bobby Knight.

S. ILLINOIS (2-1)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Boyle 9 2-4 0-1 1-1 0 5 4

Fay 31 6-17 3-5 2-3 1 4 17

Dillard 28 3-8 3-4 0-3 7 4 10

Mullins 31 1-5 1-2 0-0 6 2 4

Clemmons 19 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 4 3

Cornelius 6 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 3 2

Booker 11 0-3 0-0 0-1 0 2 0

Bocot 15 1-4 0-0 0-3 0 1 3

Hare 29 1-5 4-4 2-8 1 2 6

Roundtree 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Evans 20 4-7 1-3 1-2 0 5 9

Totals 200 20-57 12-19 7-28 16 33 58

Percentages: FG .351, FT .632.

3-Point Goals: 6-15, .400 (Fay 2-5, Mullins 1-2, Clemmons 1-2, Dillard 1-2, Bocot 1-2, Booker 0-1, Hare 0-1).

Team Rebounds: 6.

Blocked Shots: 2 (Booker, Dillard).

Turnovers: 15 (Dillard 5, Hare 2, Mullins 2, Booker, Bocot, Fay, Cornelius, Clemmons, Evans).

Steals: 4 (Boyle, Bocot, Dillard, Cornelius).

Technical Fouls: None.

DUKE (4-0)

FG FT Reb

Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS

Singler 23 3-11 6-6 0-5 3 4 13

Zoubek 19 2-2 6-8 0-6 1 3 10

Smith 23 1-5 6-6 2-5 2 3 8

Henderson 26 5-10 6-7 1-3 0 1 20

Scheyer 34 4-8 3-4 1-6 1 2 13

Paulus 20 0-2 2-2 0-4 2 2 2

Pocius 3 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 2

Czyz 2 0-0 0-2 0-1 1 0 0

McClure 12 0-1 1-2 0-1 1 0 1

Williams 14 1-1 4-4 1-2 1 1 6

Plumlee 8 0-0 0-0 0-4 0 2 0

Thomas 17 1-1 6-6 2-3 1 3 8

Totals 201 18-42 40-47 8-42 13 21 83

Percentages: FG .429, FT .851.

3-Point Goals: 7-16, .438 (Henderson 4-5, Scheyer 2-3, Singler 1-3, Paulus 0-2, Smith 0-3).

Team Rebounds: 2.

Blocked Shots: 5 (McClure, Henderson, Plumlee, Singler, Zoubek).

Turnovers: 19 (Smith 5, Singler 3, Scheyer 3, Paulus 2, Zoubek 2, Plumlee 2, Thomas, Williams).

Steals: 7 (Scheyer 3, Pocius, Singler, Paulus, Henderson).

Technical Fouls: None.

S. Illinois 23 35 -- 58

Duke 29 54 -- 83

A--NA. Officials--Jamie Luckie, Dwayne Gladden, Roger Ayers.