PORTLAND, Ore. — Though the posters around the Rose Garden Arena advertised the matchup between No. 1 Duke and Oregon as “Singler Minded,” a better word would have been “single-minded.” For Kyle Singler, at least.

Despite the Medford native coming home to play for the first time in his college career and facing his younger brother E.J. at the same time, Kyle Singler only had one goal in mind—to come away from the game with another victory for the Blue Devils (6-0).

“It was a little different today since my brother played with the other team, but when we started playing, basketball is basketball,” said the senior forward, who matched a career-high 30 points en route to Saturday’s 98-71 win over the Ducks (4-2). “Leading up to the game, I was kind of nervous, but when the game started, I instantly settled in and felt a lot better. It was a lot of fun, and I thought Oregon played really hard, but we just played a little better.”

The two brothers played together at South Medford High, leading the team to back-to-back state championship appearances, including a title win in 2007. The older sibling then decided to go farther from home to play his college ball while E.J., who scored 14 Saturday, chose to stay in Oregon.

But no love was lost for the homegrown elder Singler. When he was called to the bench with 5:30 left in the game, Duke fans all stood and clapped, with most Ducks’ fans clapping as well.

“Throughout my whole life, the state has supported my family and me a lot,” Kyle Singler said. “I’m very thankful for the fans and all the support, and everyone coming out today to watch.”

And for the entire Blue Devil team, picking up with its sixth consecutive victory of the season and first non-tournament road victory was a good way to end the month of November.

“I’m very pleased with how we played,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Oregon played their hearts out…. They spread you out and pressured you, and I thought we handled it well. We turned it over too much in the last ten minutes of the first half and the beginning of the second half, but our effort was good.”

Duke had 19 turnovers to Oregon’s 11 but made up for it by leading in assists and shooting percentage. The Blue Devils went 53.2 percent from the field and made 13-of-27 from behind the arc while the Ducks shot 33.8 percent overall and finished 5-of-14 from 3-point range.

Though Duke had a relatively large 40-25 lead at the end of the first half, the Blue Devils increased the aggressiveness and pace of play to almost double that margin by the end of the game.

Senior guard Nolan Smith played a big role in the team’s sudden surge of energy and momentum in the latter part of the game after shooting 1-of-8 in the first half.

“I just wasn’t being aggressive in the first half and being really laidback, but in the second half, I came out to attack and made plays for myself and started making plays for others,” said Smith, who made all eight shots he took from the field in the second half and ended the game as Duke’s second-highest scorer with 18. “Maybe I was a little homesick, but there was definitely a mentality where I wasn’t in the aggressive mindset, and the coaches were saying ‘attack, attack,’ and that’s what I was doing the second half.”

But Singler and Smith weren’t the only ones who made their mark on Saturday’s game. With the clock winding down and four-and-a-half minutes left in the contest, the underclassmen saw their opportunity to prove their worth on the No. 1 team in the country.

Sophomore Ryan Kelly—who was again featured in the starting line-up—started off a series of 3-pointers by making one with 4:28 left. Three more ensued, with sophomore Andre Dawkins making two and sophomore Seth Curry adding one. The barrage came when the game was no longer in question, but it still showed how deep this Duke team is.

“As a team, we picked it up in the second half, and we just had to attack more and take advantage, and opportunities opened up,” Kelly said. “The end of the game… that’s something that shows the guys are continuing to grow. We have our ups-and-downs, and in a sort of sense, we’re a young team with a lot of young guys, and we’re just getting better as the season goes on.”