TAMPA Fla. – When junior Gavin Grant hit a layup with 3:04 left in the game to put N.C. State up by four over Duke, a sea of ACC fans supporting different teams, minus the Blue Devils, erupted and cheered for the Wolfpack.
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Three minutes and an overtime session later, State handed Duke its first round-one ACC Tournament loss in 10 years, defeating the Blue Devils 85-80 in the St. Pete Times Forum on Thursday night.
“At one point you couldn’t even hear the Duke fans. I loved it. It was great,” Grant said. “Our fans just believe in us. I mean, we didn’t have a bad season, but we could have done better. I’m just glad they stuck around for us today.”
Duke freshman guard Jon Scheyer said after the game his team was ready for an anti-Duke crowd.
“I mean, we expected it. People aren’t the biggest fans of Duke – especially given the success that Duke’s had during the past ACC Tournaments,” he said. “I don’t think it affects the team…I didn’t even notice it, to be honest with you.”
Redshirt freshman forward Brandon Costner muscled the team’s win with a career-high 30 points during 43 minutes. He shot 10-of-17 from the floor and hit 10-of-11 free throws.
“It was just a lot of pick and rolls, and it just happened that the man they were switching off to was smaller than me,” Costner said. “And it just happened that I got most of the shots today.”
After senior Engin Atsur failed to score in the first half, the guard scored 21 in the second half.
“It was their first half, and then they made some adjustments, and we made some adjustments,” he said. “I was able to get some shots up in the second half.”
With the win, coach Sidney Lowe has now defeated both Duke and North Carolina in a single season – something State hasn’t done since 1995 when Les Robinson was coach.
“Like I told our guys before, it’s [the rivalry with Duke and Carolina] not something that I made up. It was something that was here when I got here as a player,” Lowe said.
And as State has flirted with being a third wheel to Duke and Carolina over the last decade, Lowe didn’t shy away from putting State right next to his two rivals.
“It’s no secret that it’s great basketball tradition down there,” he said. “You have three schools that have great tradition. Three schools that have won national championships. Three schools that have tons of NBA players to come through.”
