The NC State men’s basketball team will return to PNC Arena for the first time since Feb. 1, when it takes on the No. 7 Duke Blue Devils on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 9 p.m.
The Blue Devils (22-3, 12-2 ACC) are riding a seven-game win streak, and boast a 7-1 away record, the best road record in the conference. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack (16-9, 7-7 ACC) is coming off a stinging loss against Boston College, and its chances at a bid for the NCAA Tournament are looking bleaker with each passing day.
NC State has won two of the last three matchups against Duke, but the Pack has only won eight times against the Blue Devils in the last 20 years, which encompasses a span of 37 games, starting Jan. 19, 2000. A good chunk of this Wolfpack roster has played against Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, but only senior guard Markell Johnson and junior guard Braxton Beverly were on rosters that defeated Duke. The Blue Devils return Javin DeLaurier, Justin Robinson, Jack White, Jordan Goldwire and Alex O’Connell from those teams, however, all come off the bench.
The Blue Devils are largely led by its strong freshman class that includes guard Cassius Stanley, forwards Matthew Hurt and Wendell Moore Jr., and center Vernon Carey Jr. Carey leads the team in scoring, with 17.6 points per game and dominates the middle of the paint, leading the team with 8.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game. Duke also returns guard Tre Jones, who is averaging 15.8 points, four rebounds, 1.9 steals and 6.6 assists, which leads the team.
In a recent win over UNC-Chapel Hill, Jones and Stanley combined for 50 points, a higher point total than the backcourt of Johnson and redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce has ever accounted for in a single game, with their career-high standing at 44, a mark they hit in the NIT last year against Hofstra.
When it comes to team stats, Duke has the advantage in nearly every category. The Blue Devils rank third in the country in points per game, sixth in blocks, 15th in steals and 16th in assists. The scoring numbers become even more impressive when considering the fact that Duke ranks 254th in the country in 3-point attempts. Only two players on Duke take more than three 3-pointers per game, while the Wolfpack has four players that take over three per game, though Duke edges out the Pack by 3% from downtown.
Even if the Pack is able to shut down Carey and Jones, the Blue Devils have plenty of options for attacking the Pack. One candidate for a breakout game is Stanley, who averages 12.3 points per game for Duke. In the last three games, the Pack has allowed guards that average less than 13 points, and are not the leading scorer on their team, to break out.
Harlond Beverly of Miami, Joseph Girard III of Syracuse and Derryck Thornton of Boston College combined for 72 total points against the Pack in the team’s last three games, even though two of those games were wins. All of those players are young guards that erupted while the Pack was preoccupied with the leading scorer on the opposing team. Stanley fits the bill here, and his athleticism and ability to hit shots at every level could rip through NC State.
Another player to watch for is Hurt, who shoots 41% from 3-point range, and nearly half of all of his field goals come off 3-pointers. The Pack has no players that are capable of hitting shots at a clip that efficiently, so it will need to prevent Hurt from getting hot because facing a hot-shooting Duke team will spell the end of any chance of a victory.
When handling a team like Duke, that has five players that are near locks for the NBA at some point in their career and had at least four rostered players make the NBA each year in the 2010s, it seems like a tall task to win. However, the Pack has indeed beaten Duke in recent years and has much more experienced players than the Blue Devils. The average years of experience for the Pack is nearly double that of the Blue Devils, due to the factory-like nature of Duke and high level of turnover.
If the Pack can prevent Hurt from getting out to a hot start from 3, pressure on defense by trapping Jones and prevent Duke offensive rebounds, the Pack has a chance to outlast the Blue Devils.
The matchup between the Wolfpack and Blue Devils will tip off at 9 p.m. in PNC Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 19. According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, the Wolfpack currently has an 18% chance of victory. Follow @TechSports on Twitter for live game updates.
