Just four days after the NC State men’s basketball team’s heartbreaking loss to No. 3 Virginia, the Wolfpack will be faced with its most difficult challenge of the regular season: the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils.
Like State’s archrival, UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke (14-0) has a culture of excellence in men’s basketball, starting with the sport’s all-time leader in wins, head coach Mike Krzyzewski. After Wednesday night’s win over Wake Forest, Krzyzewski is just three wins away from his 1,000th career victory, a feat no other Division I coach has been able to accomplish.
Krzyzewski has stuck with a more traditional approach to the game during his tenure at Duke, convincing his best players, such as J.J. Redick and Christian Laettner to remain Blue Devils for all four years.
However, in recent years, Coach K and the Duke program have bought into the one-and-done fad sweeping the college basketball scene. NBA players Kyrie Irving and Jabari Parker spent just one year in Durham as the face of the Duke roster before heading for the Draft.
This season, the Devils have reeled in their greatest recruiting class in recent years, headed by stud big man Jahlil Okafor. Okafor currently leads the ACC with 19.5 points and is the frontrunner in the Naismith Award conversation.
What may be most impressive about the freshman is the well-roundedness and efficiency of his game. Okafor has a polished arsenal of post moves and developed mid-range game, all while shooting an ACC-best 68.2 percent from the field.
The State big men will be hard pressed to guard Okafor, as the freshman has already shown his dominance over some of the college game’s best centers. In the Devils’ best win of the season, Okafor went toe-to-toe with Frank Kaminsky of Wisconsin, ESPN’s preseason Naismith Award winner.
While stopping Okafor is a nearly impossible task, sophomore forwards BeeJay Anya and Kyle Washington will be crucial in slowing down the Duke big man. The State frontline will need to improve on Wednesday’s performance against junior center Mike Tobey of Virginia, as the Cavalier post player tallied 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting.
As great a player as Okafor is, he is not the only diaper dandy on the Duke roster. Freshmen Justise Winslow and Tyus Jones have both earned starting jobs and are averaging double digits.
Jones has been a great facilitator for Duke this season, ranking second in the ACC with 5.3 assists per game. Jones and veteran guard Quinn Cook have been the motors behind the second-best scoring offense in the country. The freshman has also come up big in crunch time for the Devils, scoring late baskets to clinch a win over No. 4 Wisconsin.
While the State guards have been a consistent scoring threat for the Pack, Trevor Lacey and Anthony ‘Cat’ Barber have not been the best at sharing. State currently ranks 292nd in the nation in assists per game. While this has been more of a necessity than a result of selfishness, the low ranking is not a good look for the State offense.
Still, as always, it is the State defense that will need to show up to stop the historically great Duke backcourt. Barber and Lacey have shown flashes of greatness on the defensive end but are not shutdown defenders by any means. Freshmen forwards Caleb and Cody Martin have been excellent off the bench for the Pack, providing versatility and energy on both ends of the court. Look for the Martin twins to see plenty of action Sunday night.
While hopes of a win are bleak, an inspired performance against the undefeated Duke squad would keep the Pack’s momentum alive heading into its biggest game of the season, a showdown with the Tar Heels in PNC Arena.
