DURHAM – The NC State men’s basketball team was on the heels of No. 2 Duke for most of Saturday evening’s game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, but could never quite catch up to a talented Blue Devils’ team that never trailed and pulled away in the final minutes.
The Blue Devils’ (23-2, 11-1 ACC) freshman duo of Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett proved way too much to handle for the Wolfpack (18-8, 6-7 ACC), as Williamson finished with 32 points and Barrett recorded just the fourth triple-double in Duke history, tallying 23 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
“I thought we had some chances and answered some runs,” NC State head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Zion is as good as advertised and we didn’t have an answer for him. I thought he was the best player on the floor.”
For the Wolfpack, junior guard Markell Johnson recorded his first double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and dishing out 10 assists. Redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn had 17 points and five rebounds, both team highs.
“I thought [Johnson] was the leader on the floor,” Keatts said. “I thought he made plays when we needed to have them. His conditioning is still not all there, but when you look at his numbers I thought he was effective.”
Where Duke really killed NC State was on the boards, as the Devils out-rebounded the Pack 44-26. The Wolfpack couldn’t keep Duke off the glass on either end of the court, as Duke tallied 14 offensive rebounds leading to 17 second-chance points.
“Very good Duke team. We got out-rebounded very badly,” redshirt junior guard C.J. Bryce said. “I think that was the part that messed us up the most. We would get a stop and play really good defense, but wouldn’t rebound the ball. They got a lot of second-chance points off of that. They killed us on that.”
Duke handled NC State for nearly the entirety of the first half, using an early 11-2 run to go up 21-10. The Wolfpack hung around, but Williamson took over the game. He sat the latter part of the first half after picking up two fouls, but still went into halftime with 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting and five rebounds.
“Give him credit, he’s a good player,” Dorn said. “Anytime you play against players like that it’s fun to compete. He’s a good player, he deserves respect.”
Barrett added 14 points of his own as Duke entered the break with a 48-40 lead.
Duke stormed out of the gates in the second half, using three consecutive dunks to take a commanding 14-point lead and forcing Keatts to call a much-needed timeout just one minute into the half.
The timeout worked wonders for the Pack, which proceeded to cut the lead to seven, but Duke continued to answer every NC State with a run of its own. The seven-point margin was the closest the Wolfpack would get, and despite its best efforts to keep the game close, the Blue Devils outmatched NC State in the second half with Williamson and Barrett being two key reasons why.
Despite sitting for over six minutes after picking up his fourth foul, Williamson finished the game with a game-high 32 points to go with six rebounds. During Williamson’s absence, the Wolfpack managed to cut the lead to a manageable eight points with 6:43 left after a drive and layup by redshirt sophomore Devon Daniels, but it was all Duke from there.
Williamson scored 11 of the Blue Devils’ final 21 points down the stretch as Duke dispatched the Wolfpack, 94-78.
“I’m proud of the way our guys competed, but we’ve got to get a little tougher because we’re not the biggest team,” Keatts said. “When you’re playing on the road in a hostile environment, you’ve got to cut down on your mistakes.”
NC State turned the ball over 12 times, and Duke scored 22 points off those turnovers while the Wolfpack scored just five off of 12 Duke turnovers.
The Wolfpack will be back at PNC Arena Wednesday night when it takes on Boston College in search of a much-needed win and resume-builder.
Redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn slams a dunk. Dorn led the team with 17 points. The Wolfpack were unable to overcome the sheer talent of the Blue Devils on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Cameron Indoor Stadium to fall 94-78 that looked closer than the score indicated.
