As much as the sometimes derogatory taunts of the Cameron Crazies ailed a worn, weathered and unranked N.C. State club Saturday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the No. 8 men's basketball team launched an aerial assault against the Wolfpack that inflicted much more pain. Duke (19-5, 8-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) drained a school-record 15 three-pointers against N.C. State (9-11, 1-10 in the ACC), blowing out the Wolfpack, 80-51, and edging itself into second place in the ACC.
The loss marked N.C. State's worst conference setback since 1994, gave the Blue Devils their 13th victory in their last 15 games and brought Duke within one game of league leader Wake Forest.
"Our guys came ready to play tonight," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose team led from start to finish. "I was very proud of them coming after the huge win [over Wake] in Winston-Salem on Wednesday. With the road games coming up, I think it's indicative of how they've handled things in the past where when we were favored or people said we were supposed to win... but we don't let it negate what could be a good performance."
Stellar three-point shooting, relentless defense and an 11-man rotation earmarked Saturday's game as a good performance for Duke, which currently leads the ACC both in scoring offense, with 81.3 points per game, and in three-point shooting percentage.
"The way we shot tonight, 65 percent from three, you can't ask for much better than that," said sophomore guard Trajan Langdon, who scored a game-high 18 points. "You know, we're going to have those nights. But we've got to keep improving our defense and have our defense constant because the ball's not always going to go in like it did tonight."
After freshman Chris Carrawell, who logged 10 points on the night, opened the game by scoring the Blue Devils' first six points, senior Jeff Capel hit a three-pointer off of a Steve Wojciechowski assist with 16:10 remaining. Capel's was the first of many trifectas for the Blue Devils, who are, with the January return of Nate James and the recent return of Taymon Domzalski, the healthiest they have been all season.
Indeed, Krzyzewski played 11 athletes, with nine of them registering double-digit minutes and the six reserves tallying 80 collective minutes of play. Sendek, in contrast, could only award his bench 21 minutes of playing time.
"Depth is good if it plays well, and tonight our depth played extremely well. I thought Ricky [Price] coming off the bench was outstanding," Krzyzewski said about the junior forward who, in 23 minutes, chipped in 15 points for Duke.
Duke ended the first stanza with five consecutive three-pointers, each of which came from a different player. Wojciechowski, who was 3-of-5 from three-point land, started the barrage with 6:02 left in the half to give Duke its first double-digit lead at 27-17. Thirty seconds later, Price drained a three, then Roshown McLeod, then Langdon. Finally, Carmen Wallace rounded out the half by hitting another trey off of a Langdon assist to make the score 39-21.
The fact that three of N.C. State's top players were essentially nullified didn't help the Wolfpack's predicament. Leading scorer C.C. Harrison sat out due to a sprained right ankle, senior forward Danny Strong played sparingly after picking up his third personal foul at 11:45 in the first half and senior forward Jeremy Hyatt missed all 10 of his field-goal attempts.
"You just keep playing," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "There's not a whole lot you can do. There's no magic; there's no star dust that you can sprinkle out there and just make things better instantaneously. You've just got to keep competing and keep playing hard and doing the best you can."
The Blue Devils, who shot 65 percent from beyond the arc, knew going into Saturday's matchup that N.C. State would, because of its shallow bench, attempt to slow down the game offensively. Duke countered, however, by pushing the ball up the floor, driving the lane and, in many cases, kicking the ball back out to open perimeter players, who then took the three-and hit it.
"We had an inability to keep the drive in front of us," Sendek said. "We were always in a position where we had to help and then they'd kick it and they'd make the three. If you don't help, then they have an easy inside shot. So it all starts with your ability to keep the dribbler in front of you, and they're quick and adept off the dribble. We weren't able to do that tonight."
Duke began the second half with a 7-0 run that was triggered by a Wojciechowski three, and which put the Blue Devils up 46-21 with 17:34 remaining. The junior guard then drained another three at the 14:20 mark, and Duke embarked upon a stretch during which six of the team's seven shots were from three-point range.
"The three comes as a normal part of our offense," Krzyzewski said. "We do have kids who can hit it.... That kind of knocks me back. That's pretty good, 15 threes. That's one of the things we do. Their defense takes away a lot inside, and we showed good patience to move the ball around."
In addition, Duke's tenacious defense took its toll on the Wolfpack, just as it has on most teams this season. Duke has allowed an average of just 63.1 points per game-the lowest average for the Blue Devils since 1950. Because of its defense, Duke forced N.C. State to commit 17 turnovers while dishing out only eight assists. Duke, meanwhile, featured the backcourt duo of Langdon and Wojciechowski, each of whom had a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Langdon drew Hyatt's card the majority of the evening and held him to just two late free throws, despite 37 minutes of play.
"They're a great team; they're a fabulous shooting team," Sendek said. "Most teams in the country, they probably can't shoot that way in practice by themselves in the gym, let alone in the game. By the law of averages, one hits the rim. They were phenomenal tonight."
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