After lopsided losses to Clemson and Notre Dame, the NC State men’s basketball team pulled off the impossible and defeated No. 2 Duke, 96-85, in an electric PNC Arena for head coach Kevin Keatts’ first ACC win.
The Wolfpack (11-5, 1-2 ACC) was tasked with handling the No. 1 rebounding team in the country Saturday night, led by the Blue Devils’ (13-2, 1-2 ACC) star freshman forward Marvin Bagley III. But the Pack’s physicality brought home the win, out-rebounding Duke 34-32 on the glass, and ended in a deserving rushing of the court.
“I don’t think this team ever lost confidence,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “We all have to play together. If you look at it, we had six guys in double figures. We shared the basketball; we had 17 assists and only 10 turnovers. I challenged those guys the last couple days that if we had a chance to win the game we had to win the rebound battle. I thought we did that.”
NC State showed that it came to play early, jumping out to a 6-2 lead, thanks to a steal and a quick four points from redshirt junior guard Torin Dorn.
Duke would wake up though, gaining momentum from Bagley at the 13:57 mark in the first half. Bagley fought for an offensive board and dunked the ball for two of his team-high 31 points over redshirt senior forward Lennard Freeman to give the Blue Devils an 18-11 lead. The slam forced Keatts to take a timeout to regroup.
Freshman guard Lavar Batts Jr. provided the spark off the bench to keep the contest competitive. In consecutive possessions he converted an and-one basket, then drove and dished the ball down low to Freeman for an assist. Batts had arguably his best outing of the season, notching seven points, five assists and four rebounds.
“I thought he was great,” Keatts said. “I thought Lavar grew up today. He came in at a moment where we were really struggling to score the basketball. Just the energy that he brought to the team. He got to the rim, found some guys, made some great passes.”
The Pack began to slip when graduate guard Allerik Freeman turned the ball over and Duke guard Trevon Duval was fouled by Batts for an and-one bucket, resulting in a 26-16 Duke lead.
However, the Wolfpack adjusted and snatched the lead away thanks to some lucky bounces and quick transitions for a 15-0 run.
The No. 2 team in the country didn’t just roll over though. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski called a timeout once the Pack was up 28-27, and the Blue Devils would soon retake the lead 35-33.
Down 39-35 with 3:20 remaining in the half, NC State climbed back on an 8-2 run highlighted by a Yurtseven tip-in and dunk which gave the Pack a 43-41 lead at halftime.
“[The Blue Devils] are really talented,” Yurtseven said. “All I focused on was that I’m going to play my game. Fighting out there against a more talented team. Just using our experience, our strength, to basically crush this game was an amazing feeling.”
Early in the second it was a back-and-forth affair until senior forward Abdul-Malik Abu cocked back for a dunk over Bagley and Yurtseven grabbed an offensive board, slamming it home. Down 51-45, Duke called its first timeout of the half to regroup.
The dramatic atmosphere of PNC Arena extended throughout the second half. Each team seemed to dunk on every possession at each end of the floor, furthering the intensity of the moment.
“It means so much to me and so much to the fans,” Dorn said. “Wolfpack nation is some of the best fans in America. It’s always exciting to get them a big win at home so they can storm the court and be happy.”
After the Blue Devil timeout, Bagley stole the ball at midcourt and soared for a two-handed dunk, nearly hitting his head on the rim. Yurtseven then answered with a dunk of his own — the Turkish center scored six of the Pack’s first 12 points in the second half, and ended just short of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds.
Allerik Freeman has been in a slump as of late, but he came to play Saturday night. The Charlotte native sunk a baseline jumper, and was followed by a sky-high reverse layup from freshman guard Braxton Beverly to extend the Pack’s lead to 75-66.
Though the crowd clearly backed the Wolfpack, PNC Arena held a considerable amount of Blue Devil fans. After guard Grayson Allen stole the ball and sent a pass deep to guard Gary Trent Jr. for an easy bucket, fans of the dark blue jumped out of their seats as Duke’s deficit decreased to just three.
After Beverly sunk his second 3-pointer of the night and Yurtseven committed his fifth foul, a feeling of anxiety blanketed the crowd — but that was quickly remedied on the other end of the hardwood.
Enter Torin Dorn, who drilled a corner 3-pointer over Bagley to yield an 85-78 lead. Then, Beverly came up with a clutch steal with 1:47 remaining, and sunk both attempts from the charity stripe.
Dorn blew the roof off of PNC Arena once more with a 3-pointer and was fouled to notch the four-point play, four of his 16 points on the night.
“[The 3-pointers] felt good,” Dorn said. “The first one definitely felt good leaving my hand. The four-point play where I got hit, it felt good too.”
After Dorn’s mind-boggling dart from deep, the game was all but over. Behind 90-80, Duke launched multiple long range shots and fouled the Pack, but it was too little too late as Beverly, Dorn and Batts sunk five of the remaining six free-throw attempts.
The Wolfpack beat the Blue Devils for the third time in its last four meetings and exactly 348 days since its historic victory in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan. 23, 2017.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Keatts said. “I thought they did a tremendous job and they worked hard for the last couple days. After starting ACC play on the road at two tough venues, for us to bounce back and get a great win, you’ve got to be proud of these guys.”
Fans rush the court after time expires as the Wolfpack defeats No. 2 Duke 96-85 in PNC Arena on Saturday, Jan. 6. The Pack had six players in double figures and out-assisted the Blue Devils 17 to 10 in order to pull out the upset.
