DURHAM, N.C. -- With points at a premium Monday night, Duke still had Luke Kennard.

"It was a game where two teams really knew how to play defense," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after his fifth-ranked Blue Devils defeated Tennessee State 65-55.

Kennard scored 24 points as Duke, which trailed in the second half, prevailed at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"They're known for being a great defensive team," Kennard said of the opponent. "We try to find some open spaces here and there."

The Tigers led 36-34 with less than 14 1/2 minutes to play. Grayson Allen's 3-pointer in transition put the Blue Devils on top at 39-36.

A pair of Kennard 3s made it 45-36, resulting in a Tennessee State timeout at the 11:22 mark.

"There was a stretch there in the second half where we kind of got mixed up in transition," Tennessee State coach Dana Ford said. "The margin of error against a team this good (is so small). That one little stretch really, really cost us."

While the buzz early in the game was about the collegiate debut of freshman Harry Giles of Duke, it turned out to be another memorable outing for Kennard. The sophomore guard led the Blue Devils in scoring for the fifth time this season, shooting 7 of 10 from the field.

Jayson Tatum's 14 points and Allen's 12 points also gave Duke (11-1) a boost on the way to its ninth win in a row. Amile Jefferson was credited with 18 rebounds.

Darreon Reddick and Tahjere McCall had 14 points apiece for Tennessee State (8-3).

"They came out with a good game plan," Allen said. "They were a very tough, old team. We're happy with a win, but we have to learn from this."

The Blue Devils, who hadn't played since Dec. 10, continued the surge to a 59-39 lead.

"In the second half for about 10 or 12 minutes, we played beautiful basketball," Krzyzewski said.

Much of it was because of Tatum, who scored 10 of his points after halftime. He distributed three assists in a span of just more than two minutes.

Giles, a 6-foot-10 forward wearing a brace on his left knee, checked in with 11:27 remaining in the first half and Duke leading 10-8. He played four minutes (all the in the first half), missed his only attempt and did not score.

Tennessee State gave Duke fits at times just nine days after falling in overtime at North Carolina State.

"Proud of our guys for the most part," Ford said. "Hopefully, we realize if we play as a team we feel like we can play with anybody in the country."

The Tigers shot 43.1 percent from the field, but pulled in only four offensive rebounds.

Despite a drought of about seven minutes without a field goal, Duke held a 27-23 lead at halftime. That marked the lowest-scoring half of the season for the Blue Devils, who shot 28 percent (7 for 25) from the field in the opening half.

"At halftime, Coach told us we weren't playing like ourselves," Kennard said. "Our energy wasn't there."

At that stage, Duke benefited from an 11-2 advantage in points on free throws. Tennessee State was charged with 14 fouls in the first half, twice as many as Duke.

Reddick scored seven of Tennessee State's points in the opening 12 minutes with the Tigers heading for a 19-14 edge.

Reddick scored 10 first-half points, but he picked up his third foul 1:55 before the break.

NOTES: This was the first meeting between these teams. ... With this being Duke's final non-conference home game, the Blue Devils hold an NCAA-best 132-game winning streak in non-league home games. ... Tennessee State began the season 6-0 for its best start since joining Division I almost 40 years ago. ... The Tigers dropped to 0-10 all-time against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. ... Duke wraps up its non-league slate with Wednesday night's game against Elon at the Greensboro Coliseum. ... Tennessee State plays one of only two home games this month on Dec. 27 against Covenant.