No. 4 Duke 63, No. 7 Louisville 52: Amile Jefferson tallied a career-high 19 points and seven rebounds as the visiting Blue Devils used a dominant defensive performance to end a rare two-game losing streak.

Jahlil Okafor scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and grabbed seven boards for Duke (15-2, 3-2 ACC), which had dropped consecutive conference games by a dozen points or more for the first time since 1982-83. Fellow freshman Tyus Jones added 10 points and eight assists as the Blue Devils held Louisville to 29.5 percent from the floor after allowing their previous two opponents to average 88.5 points on 53.4 percent shooting.

Terry Rozier finished with 17 points on 5-of-16 from the field for the Cardinals (15-3, 3-2), who could not overcome a 4-of-25 effort beyond the arc. Montrezl Harrell contributed 10 points – leaving him two shy of becoming the 66th Louisville player to amass 1,000 for his career – and grabbed 14 rebounds.

Duke abandoned its usual man-to-man defense and spent most of Saturday in a 2-3 zone coming off its worst two defensive performances of the season, forcing the Cardinals into a 7-of-31 effort from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Despite its shooting woes, Louisville led 12-9 with 8:45 left in the first half before the Blue Devils used a 3-pointer from Matt Jones and a three-point play by Jefferson on the next possession to take the lead for good.

The Cardinals’ Quentin Snider answered with a pair of free throws, but Duke rattled off the next 11 points to finish off its 17-2 surge and the Blue Devils made six of their first eight shots after the break to open up a 46-25 advantage on Okafor’s spinning hook in the lane with 13:14 to go. Duke did not make a field goal over the final eight minutes as Louisville closed to within 10 points late, but went 9-of-10 from the stripe during its late field-goal drought to maintain its double-digit margin.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski notched his 998th career victory and has won three of his four meetings against Louisville coach Rick Pitino. … Despite holding an 18-5 advantage on the offensive glass, the Cardinals managed only a 10-7 advantage in second-chance points. … Louisville has shot a combined 34.2 percent from the field - including 24.1 percent beyond the arc - in its three losses.