While Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski would prefer it have not to have been about “revenge”, it was clear on Thursday night that Duke played with a competitive verve that stemmed from the Blue Devils’ loss in Raleigh on Jan. 12.
N.C. State (16-7, 5-5) dropped its third-straight game against No. 4 Duke, 98-85, Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. It was the Pack’s 15th consecutive loss in Durham.
Senior forward Richard Howell led State with 23 points and nine rebounds before fouling out 3:41 remaining.
“I thought he was really good,” N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried said. “(Mason) Plumlee played off of him a little bit and respected his ability to bounce it once or twice and he made a lot of jump shots. I thought he really played well.”
Junior forward C.J. Leslie added 16 points and six rebounds. Senior forward Scott Wood tallied 14 points, connecting on four of seven three-point attempts.
Freshman guard Tyler Lewis also shined in his first collegiate start. The freshman from Statesville had 13 points and six assists with no turnovers in 39 minutes of action while filling in for junior guard Lorenzo Brown.
“He (Lewis) is not afraid,” Gottfried said. “Tyler’s a young guy. It is kind of always in his mind that he has to beat the odds. And he has kind of that mentality right now.”
Duke jumped on N.C. State early, leading the Wolfpack, 28-11, with 11:27 in the first half. The Blue Devils relied on a solid mixture of interior play from Plumlee and perimeter shooting led by Seth Curry and Quinn Cook. Duke connected on 10 of 17 three-pointers in the opening period and led 58-37 at the break.
After starting off sluggish in the first half, State shot 65.5 percent in the final 20 minutes. Overall, the Pack finished 53 percent from the floor for the game, while only committing seven turnovers.
“That was ACC basketball tonight,” Krzyzewski said. “I thought both teams played their hearts out.”
“I don’t know how you couldn’t be proud of both teams.”
Plumlee led the Blue Devils (20-2, 7-2) with 30 points and nine rebounds. The senior from Warsaw, Ind. connected on nine of 11 shots from the field and 12 of 16 of his free throw attempts.
“Mason (Plumlee) was such a man tonight,” Krzyzewski said.
Curry scored 26 points and had four assists. Cook finished with 21 points, four assists and four rebounds. Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon, after failing to make a shot in the first meeting in Raleigh, also chipped in 11 points for the Blue Devils.
For the second straight year, N.C. State will travel to Clemson with a three-game losing streak. Last season the Pack fell to the Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum in overtime. The contest will tip-off at 1 p.m. and will telecast on the ACC Network.
As for the status of Brown for Sunday, Gottfried was pessimistic in his assessment.
“He’s doubtful,” Gottfried said. “I have no idea if he’ll be able to play Sunday. We’ll just go day by day, but he’s not ready to play right now.”
