DURHAM — The NC State men’s basketball team fell to the No. 8 Duke Blue Devils 88-73 inside Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, Jan. 15.
The Wolfpack (9-9, 2-5 ACC) looked dead in the water when it went down by as many as 19 points in the second half, but the young roster did what it has done all season long and battled to the final buzzer. After seeing its biggest deficit midway through the second period, the Wolfpack cut the Blue Devils’ (14-2, 4-1 ACC) lead to nine with just over five minutes to go in regulation before faltering at the very end of the game in its final matchup with legendary Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
“He’s one of the best to ever do it,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “He’s forgotten a lot more basketball than all of us could ever remember. … But more than coaching, I think he’s more of a father figure to a lot of guys that, at the time, didn’t realize they were getting that. … I still keep waiting on him to say ‘April fools. I don’t want to give it up.’ When you’ve got such great players and he’s done such a great job, you can say ‘Man, I don’t know if I’m ready to give this up right now.’”
Unfortunately, the Pack was unable to get any sort of run going, with Duke answering nearly every time NC State scored. Duke center Mark Williams was phenomenal for the Blue Devils, coming two blocks shy of a triple-double and ending the game with 19 points and 11 boards.
“I’m so used to having a guy like Mark Williams in [redshirt junior forward] Manny Bates,” Keatts said. “Before we go any further, let’s talk about the night he had. He was tremendous: 19 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocks. I thought that was the difference in the game. When you look at the game, I thought our guys played and competed. When you look at it, we got 15 more shots than them. I thought Mark was a big difference.”
Even though this is NC State’s worst loss of the season, the final score doesn’t fully represent the sloppiness with which the Pack’s young squad played. The Blue Devils outscored the Wolfpack 58-38 in the paint, had 23 assists compared to NC State’s 11 and shot 58.3% from the field.
The Pack also had a foul problem, with senior forward Jericole Hellems, sophomore forward Ebenezer Dowuona and freshman guard Breon Pass all finishing with four fouls. This matchup would have had a much worse scoreline had Duke been able to convert its free throws, missing 10.
That foul problem shined brightest with the Pack’s big men, who continue to be back-breakers for the Wolfpack. Duke’s bigs, Williams, future top-three NBA draft pick Paolo Banchero and Theo John had 50 points, 21 rebounds and 10 blocks combined. By comparison, Hellems, Dowuona and sophomore forward Jaylon Gibson combined for 21 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks.
Despite this, there were some silver linings for the Pack, which played its heart out once again for Keatts.
“I’m a huge fan of Kevin [Keatts] and [he’s] a good friend,” Krzyzewski said. “I think he’s one of the best coaches and classiest guys in college basketball. And so his team plays that way. They’ve been in more close games than I think anybody. What are they, 2-5 now [versus the ACC]? They could be 5-2, real easy. So we knew we were going to play a really good team.”
Dowuona had a career game offensively, matching his career high in points with 10 and his second-highest rebounding total with nine, but continued to have some defensive struggles on the interior, as noted by the paint scoring margin. There was one key sign of improvement for Dowuona early, however, as the big man made his first three shot attempts and had six of the Pack’s 13 points, almost immediately surpassing his seasonal field-goal attempt average of 2.4.
“Dowuona had, I think, his best game,” Krzyzewski said. “We came over and helped and usually a young kid might stay up and watch, and he was like a jet. I mean [his dunks] were three big-time plays.”
The Wolfpack also saw strong performances from two members of its big three with redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron putting up 16 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals and freshman guard Terquavion Smith fearlessly scoring 19 points. Fearless was the name of the game for Smith, who hit mid-range shot after mid-range shot and splashed a deep 3-pointer early in his first career game in one of basketball’s national landmarks.
“Seabron’s a pro,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s a very unusually good player. He impacts every phase of the game — scoring, rebounding, assisting and playing defense — and very difficult to guard. I thought we did a decent job on him. And Smith, I call him ‘the microwave.’ I haven’t seen everybody in the league but from the teams I have seen, there’s not another guy like him where he can just ‘boom, boom, boom, points,’ and every time he gets it, he scares you because he’s good. And Hellems is an old ACC pro. He’s just solid.”
However, Duke had five players finish in double figures: Banchero, Williams, John, Trevor Keels and Wendell Moore Jr. The Blue Devils are a borderline NBA squad, with each member of its starting lineup having real aspirations for the upcoming draft.
As mentioned before, Banchero is a lock to go in the top three and he showed why again in today’s performance, registering 21 points, eight rebounds and four assists. The forward bullied the Pack in the paint, getting pretty much anything he wanted to go with his seemingly lab-built frame. Keels is another player getting lottery looks and he picked apart the Pack defense with 12 points and nine assists. But where Keels really kills is on the defensive end, where he picked up five steals and seriously astounded with his on-ball pressure.
Even though AJ Griffin, the third potential Duke lottery selection, didn’t continue his recent scoring stretch, the Blue Devils got contributions from all over, something the Pack couldn’t match. Hellems didn’t stand out, putting up seven points and seven boards and being a team-low minus-16. Junior guard Casey Morsell, redshirt senior guard Thomas Allen and Pass had their moments but none of them were able to make much of a scoring dent. NC State shot just 41.3% from the field and 26.3% from deep in the loss. Duke only needed four 3s to win.
The game started off positively for the Pack, which started the game with an offensive frenzy and going up 15-8 early. Dowuona was active early and Smith had five quick points and the offense flowed. NC State led until the 13:16 mark in the first half and, at that point, it was easy to tell the Blue Devils weren’t going to be denied on their home floor.
Despite showing signs of life at the end of the first, the Pack was quickly at the mercy of the Blue Devils in the second, getting outscored 11-4 in the first five minutes. After an Allen 3, Duke got another run, this time a 9-3 stint to give it a 64-45 lead. At that point the Pack looked devoid of energy and could have found itself in an even bigger hole. However, the lights flicked on and Seabron, Smith and Pass helped the Wolfpack claw its way back in the game.
In spite of that trio’s best efforts, the Wolfpack ultimately fell to the Blue Devils, who outpaced it nearly every step of the way.
“I thought they were just really good today,” Keatts said. “Some of it is probably because we do have some youth, but a lot of it was because they were good. You’re playing a team on their home floor, and the last time they played here was against Miami and they weren’t happy. I thought they did a good job.”
Next up, the Wolfpack returns to PNC Arena for a matchup against Virginia Tech Wednesday, Jan. 19. That game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
“We have to play smarter,” Keatts said. “Our young guys, we now know that they’re not afraid of any moment. We know they’re going to play hard against every team. The next step is getting into position, knowing where you should be. As a coach, if you get your team to play hard, you’re moving in the right direction. … For us, with the new pieces that we have, chemistry goes both ways. On the offensive end, I think we’re getting it. Defensively, we’ve got to trust in each other and get better in that area.”
