RALEIGH - With just less than 16 minutes remaining in the second half Saturday, N.C. State's Courtney Fells went up for what seemed like an effortless dunk.
Instead, the ball bounced off the rim, and what should have been an easy two points for the Wolfpack-a play that would have cut Duke's advantage to 12-quickly set off a series of events that allowed the Blue Devils' lead to grow to 22 points. Duke coasted from then on, defeating N.C. State 79-56 for its third straight ACC win after starting the conference slate 0-2.
Fells was called for a technical foul on the play for hanging on the rim, and Jon Scheyer subsequently hit the two free throws to give the Blue Devils a 50-34 lead. Fifty seconds later, after DeMarcus Nelson hit a three-pointer and the Wolfpack's Brandon Costner turned the ball over, Scheyer-who finished with a team-high 20 points-drilled a three from the left side, and the rout was on.
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"We hurt ourselves in so many ways," N.C. State head coach Sidney Lowe said. "A big problem was our inability to keep the ball in front of us. We couldn't control it. Duke kept their big guys in front, found the open men, and that's how they kept getting all those shots on us."
After allowing Wake Forest only 40 points in Thursday's win, Duke put forth another solid defensive effort Saturday against the Wolfpack. The Blue Devils held N.C. State to 34.1 percent shooting for the game, and for the 14th time this season Duke held its opponent to fewer than 60 points.
"When people talk about how bad your offense is sometimes, you get away from your defense," Scheyer said. "But I think we did a good job staying with our defense today."
N.C. State struggled without point guard Engin Atsur-who has sat out 11 of the past 12 games with a hamstring injury-and looked sloppy on offense. The Blue Devils forced 20 turnovers-16 of which came in the first half.
Duke took control of the game quickly and jumped out to an 18-5 lead on Paulus' fast break layup with 12:47 left. The Wolfpack, however, was able to keep the game relatively close, and it even cut the deficit to eight points with 4:06 left in the half.
Nonetheless, over the next four minutes, Duke forced five turnovers and went on an 11-0 run to open up a 19-point lead. Gavin Grant's three at the buzzer cut the lead to 41-25 at the break.
"We got some stops," Paulus said, "Without them scoring, it gave us some opportunities to score.... It gave us a little bit of a cushion, and we just tried to keep that defense up."
Since Duke lost to Georgia Tech Jan. 10, the Blue Devils have reeled off three straight wins by more than 20 points. While the offense sputtered a little against Wake Forest, it returned Saturday in what was perhaps the team's most balanced performance of the year.
"These last 11 days have been tough, good days," head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Hopefully we've grown up a little bit more as a basketball team."
Behind Scheyer, Nelson chipped in 15 points and Paulus and Josh McRoberts put up 13 each. McClure and Gerald Henderson added 18 points off the bench, and the duo provided comfort when Paulus and Scheyer picked up two fouls each in the first half.
"We distributed the ball well," Krzyzewski said. "We had five guys in double figures, so that was key. We forced a lot of turnovers in the first half, and pushed it up the court and got some high percentage shots."
Duke was able to sustain a sizeable lead throughout the game because it did not allow the Wolfpack's 20 turnovers to go to waste. The Blue Devils converted N.C. State's mishaps into 25 points and a number of easy baskets.
Most of Duke's 17 fast break points were off one of the team's 13 steals-11 of which came in the first half.
"We are becoming better as a team," Krzyzewski said. "We prepared with passion and played with passion. We may not win them all, but we have to keep growing, and we will keep getting better."
NOTES:
Duke has won 20 of its last 22 games over N.C. State.... Krzyzewski is now 41-18 against the Wolfpack.... Behind McClure and Henderson, the Blue Devil bench outscored N.C. State's 18-2.... Scheyer was 5-for-5 from the foul line against the Wolfpack and has now hit 19 straight free throws.
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