So much for green.

Red, too, for that matter.

The only colors that matter in Duke basketball -- the colors that reflect the mindset that has elevated Mike Krzyzewski’s program to perennial national prominence --- are black and blue.

Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the third-ranked Blue Devils returned to that basic scheme after trailing at halftime for the second straight game. As a result, they turned a 9-point halftime deficit into a breathtaking 92-72 rout of visiting N.C. State, which unraveled once Duke went on the attack.

“I thought they were tougher, both mentally and physically,” N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said of Duke, which improved to 18-1, 6-0 in the ACC. “They stayed with it. We relaxed a little, especially on the defensive end.”

Students swarmed into Cameron wearing green T-shirts over their regular clothing, demonstrating a laudable commitment to environmental sustainability. ”Bleed Blue. Live Green,” was emblazoned on the shirts. In solidarity, Duke coaches wore green ribbons on their lapels and cheerleaders likewise adorned their hair.

Mingled with the red uniforms of the visiting Wolfpack, the pre-game ambience had a bit of a Christmas flavor.

For a half, it appeared the Devils were in a giving mood as they fell behind, 46-37. “Our thing is to play hard, play smart, and play together, and we were 0-3,” Krzyzewski said of a period in which the Pack made 57.7 percent of their shots and outrebounded Duke 19-9. “We were knocked back by them, we couldn’t turn them over, and then we started fouling.”

Senior Gavin Grant had 16 of his career-high 26 points in the opening half, hitting all 6 shots he took from the floor. Brandon Costner, held scoreless in the Pack’s previous game at Florida State, had 12 points in the period, fueled by 9-for-11 foul shooting.

Only Maryland scored more points than the Wolfpack against Duke in an opening half this season.

“It’s just discouraging to us to play like that against anybody,” Duke sophomore Lance Thomas said of the droopy start against N.C. State. “The first half, we just didn’t come out to play. Just like from the mood we displayed, basically they were just going to give us the game. We realized it was going to be a fight.”

Many Duke students, along with the Blue Devil mascot, removed their green shirts for the second half, as if afraid they had disrupted some vital status quo with their departure from custom. Krzyzewski tended to agree. “I believe in this,” Krzyzewski said afterward of going green. “(But) I’m all for getting back to Duke blue. Let’s get back to Cameron being in the right color.”

That meant returning to a black-and-blue frame of mind. Duke emerged from halftime to attack at both ends of the court, displaying the "sense of urgency" the coach saw in N.C. State during the opening period.  “We can’t play too much better than we played in the second half,” Krzyzewski said.

One Blue Devil after another attacked the basket off the dribble. They passed the ball more crisply, probing the defense for open looks. They continued to double-down on J.J. Hickson, but did so with greater alacrity, and swarmed ballhandlers without taking frequent gambles. They crashed the boards, forging a 19-7 edge in the half.

Shots began falling too, to the tune of 65.6 percent accuracy in the final 20 minutes. One of Krzyzewski’s most prolific 3-point shooting squads recovered from an inaccurate first half to make a sizzling 7-of-11 after intermission.

Key to a 15-5 run to open the second half, giving the Devils the lead at 52-51 at the 16:15 mark, were consecutive 3-pointers by guard Greg Paulus. The junior contributed more than a team-high 22 points, along with 6 assists, 3 steals, and no turnovers. He continued his emergence, along with senior DeMarcus Nelson, as a tough, savvy, persistent floor leader.

Paulus is not averse to getting under an opponent’s skin if it is to Duke’s advantage. His hard foul on Costner when caught underneath on a defensive switch nearly caused the Wolfpack big man to lose his cool. Later, Paulus' hesitation dribble did cause N.C. State freshman Javi Gonzalez, who turned in a solid performance, to run up the ball-handler's back, drawing a foul.

Meanwhile, as the walls and Dukies began closing in, the Pack had no similarly tough floor leader around whom to rally. They stopped looking for Hickson inside, where they had their biggest offensive advantage. They missed defensive assignments. By game’s end some players appeared dispirited.

“I thought we came out ready, but I thought they came out a little more focused, (with) a little more intensity, a little more aggressive,” Lowe said of the second half. “A couple of bumps and bangs going on out there. They knew what they had to do to get this game back into their favor.”

Lowe called several prophylactic timeouts to disrupt Duke’s momentum, and to calm and instruct his players, but to little avail. After rebuilding a tenuous 55-52 lead on a dunk by Grant with 15:26 to go, N.C. State committed three consecutive turnovers, yielding the advantage for keeps as they fell to 13-7.

The teams meet again in Raleigh on March 1, the first time since 2004 they have played home-and-home.

No basketball series has borne the brunt of ACC expansion more than the rivalry between Duke and N.C. State. Other schools in the conference had no interest in maintaining the traditions of Big Four competition, a grouping that includes North Carolina and Wake Forest.

Since the death of inclusive round-robin play during the regular season, the Wolfpack and Blue Devils have met once annually. Two of the last three meetings occurred at the RBC Center. No matter -- Duke has now won 20 of the  last 22 regular season matchups.

When asked, Krzyzewski agreed it was more desirable to have twice-yearly meetings between the Triangle neighbors. “Yeah, we shouldn’t have expanded,” he said. “Obviously it’s better. Yes. But it’s the way of the world.”

A world in which, for Duke, the only colors that matter are black and blue.