Duke clamps down to stymie Wolfpack’s last-gasp play to end shootout

WASHINGTON—The Blue Devils had seen the play before. They knew how it ended—an outcome different from the one they sought—so they decided to flip the script.

In the highest-scoring 40-minute ACC tournament game since 1990, Duke survived 92-89 against N.C. State on the back of a gritty defensive stand on the Wolfpack’s last fluid offensive possession, stymying one of N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried’s most trusted plays.

Wolfpack freshman Maverick Rowan had hurt Duke earlier in the game by coming off screens on the baseline to rise and fire from beyond the arc. With the Blue Devils leading 92-89 and less than 30 seconds remaining, N.C. State returned to that set trying to free the rookie for a game-tying triple—but this time, Duke was ready.

Point guard Anthony “Cat” Barber drove the lane as Rowan tried to shake free, but the Blue Devils did not let him get any breathing room. The tight coverage forced Barber to improvise, and the junior did all he could, wrapping a pass around Marshall Plumlee toward center BeeJay Anya. But Anya could not corral the ball, and it fell into the lap of Grayson Allen, who whittled precious seconds off the clock as Duke closed out the win.

“We switched off and got off to Rowan the shooter. But Cat, he’s tough to keep in front,” Allen said. “He made a play to the basket. Someone came over and tipped the ball. I was just coming down and saw the loose ball and went to grab it. That was really what we needed to do the whole game—get loose balls, be energetic on defense.”

The irony of the game’s final play was that—for the most part—both team’s offenses got exactly what they wanted all afternoon.

Duke shot 61.3 percent in the first half, but found itself trailing heading into the locker room because the Wolfpack were even better. N.C. State hit 6-of-10 from downtown before intermission, but also racked up 18 points in the paint, with Barber able to penetrate and dish off to Anya and Abdul-Malik Abu at will.

On the other end, four Blue Devils recorded at least 17 points, and Duke enjoyed a 52.4 percent clip from the field, its best shooting day since Jan. 23—an 88-78 win at N.C. State.

Brandon Ingram seemingly could not miss early on, as the freshman drilled his first four 3-pointers and drove to the basket with aggression, with results markedly different from his first half Saturday against North Carolina—when he went scoreless and attempted just one shot.

After Pittsburgh and Syracuse played a down-to-the-wire game just prior to the Blue Devils’ tip-off, Ingram and his teammates had limited time to warm up, but it did not seem to matter Wednesday.

“I was kind of concerned going into the game that we were going to only have 20 minutes to warm up,” Ingram said. “Just seeing the ball go in, it was definitely good for us.”

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski took it a step further, suggesting the Blue Devils might condense their warm-ups to 20 minutes for all games going forward.

Duke’s defense, though, left much to be desired, as N.C. State’s 89 points came on 55.4 percent shooting, including a torrid 62.9 percent clip in the first 20 minutes that allowed the Wolfpack to hang a season-high 53 points on the Blue Devils. Some of the shots were difficult, contested 3-pointers, but others were easy—wrap-around passes for finishes at the rim, and blow-bys off the dribble for lay-ups.

“What we said at halftime is, ‘Look, you can’t play this game like it’s Saturday afternoon in the gym’.... It’s fun for them because they didn’t play any defense for most of the game,” Krzyzewski joked. “You’re amazed as a coach that these kids from both teams are hitting so many shots. People were hitting tough shots, too. It’s not like the other team wasn’t trying.”

Duke finally strung together some stops in the second half, forcing enough low-percentage shots to build up a nine-point edge. Then Barber caught fire again, bringing his team back to within one with 10 straight points.

Ultimately, the Blue Devils made their last stand at the game’s most critical juncture, soaring past N.C. State for the third time this season—and the second straight year in the ACC tournament—to set up Thursday’s date with fourth-seeded Notre Dame.

It was not Duke’s first time this season trying to defend against a last-gasp situation. Georgetown’s 3-point attempt for the win clanked off iron in late November at Madison Square Garden. Virginia’s Malcolm Brogdon snuck inside for a tough lay-up Feb. 13 before Allen delivered a buzzer-beater at the other end. And perhaps most iconically, the Blue Devils stifled North Carolina’s final shot as time wound down in Chapel Hill Feb. 17, eking out a one-point win.

“We’ve been in that position before. Guys weren’t scared of the moment,” Jones said. “Guys just had to trust in our game plan and trust in the people around us, and we did that.”