In what will be the 235th meeting between the two teams, N.C. State (18-7, 7-3 ACC) will travel to Durham to take on No. 4 Duke (21-4, 8-2 ACC).
After a shocking loss to Miami in overtime and beating then No. 5 UNC in a close game, the Blue Devils trounced Maryland by 18 points and will be looking to keep the momentum going against the Pack.
On the other hand, State, who is on a three-game winning streak and 4-1 in conference road games this season, will be looking to seal their spot in the NCAA tournament with a resume boosting win against its traditional Tobacco Road rivals.
Junior forward Richard Howell felt the team would try and impose its own style of play in the game instead of playing catch-up.
“I think whatever game we play, we will try and make them play, we don’t want to go in and try to predict what type of game that’s going to happen,” Howell said. “We just want to go out there and go as hard as possible.”
Howell, who is the fourth leading rebounder in the ACC, felt the Blue Devils would pose a different challenge altogether in that category.
“It definitely makes it a lot tougher but we don’t want to make any excuses,” Howell said. “We know there are going to be a lot of rebounds and we are dependent on our guards to get to grab those long rebounds. It’s kind of upon us to get those short rebounds.”
Junior guard Scott Wood felt the offensive players on the team would look to capitalize on the opponent’s weaknesses.
“I mean it’s definitely going to be real difficult,” Wood said. “I think if we can set screens and cut hard, there’s definitely a chance to be successful.
“As an offensive player, I believe no matter how they play their defense, there’s always something that’s going to be kind of flawed or something that can be executed a little bit better. So we just got to find where that is.”
Head coach Mark Gottfried, who has a 0-1 record against Duke, felt they would need to stop ACC freshman of the week guard Austin Rivers to be successful. Gottfried lost to Duke, 68-71, in the 1997 NCAA tournament while at Murray State.
“Defending [Rivers] will be a collective effort between all of our perimeter guys,” Gottfried said. “There will be times throughout the game that each one of our perimeter guys will defend him. That’s not going to fall on one guy.
“At times, C.J. Williams has done a great job. There have been times when Lorenzo Brown has stepped up defensively and guarded some really good players. It’s going to be a collective effort for us.”
Gottfried believed the biggest threat the Blue Devils posed was their ability to make threes.
“Their ability to shoot the three compliments their effectiveness inside,” Gottfried said. “They make a lot of them and it puts a lot of pressure on your ability to help around the basket because they stretch your team out defensively on the perimeter.”
Gottfried felt it would be a difficult stretch for the team, playing the top three teams in the ACC within six days, but the team would take it one game at a time.
“We could win them all, we could lose them all,” Gottfried said. “There are so many variables out there that you can’t control them all. We can try to be the best we can be one game at a time.”
The tip-off is set for 9 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham.
