No. 2 Duke escapes the Wolfpack

NC State falls to the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils in the final 8 minutes, 73-56.  The game could not have been a closer replica to last years match up between NC State and Duke at Cameron Indoor.  Just as last year NC State came out swinging, with great defensive play and good shooting decisions, while the Blue Devils struggled offensively.  Second half blues hit the Wolfpack again, as Duke shot 77% from the field and put up 51 points.  The loss marked NC States 12 straight at Cameron Indoor.

What went wrong?
Point Guard play, once again we struggled with who was going to lead the team to the basket;  Javi,  Degand, and Mays combined for 9 turnovers.
3-pointers, the Wolfpack went 3-14 from behind the arc, Herb would not have been very happy.
Ferg, fell back into a rut.  Only put up two 3’s and missed them both, yet played 23 minutes.

What went right?
Costner and McCauley both played great in the Duke game, each scored 15  points and played well defensively.
Defensively in the first half we played great and held Duke to less than 30% shooting and 22 points;  Not much we could have done when Duke shot lights out in the second half.
Tracy Smith and Johnny Thomas, both came off the bench to play good games, Smith had 8 points and Thomas had a great defensive game.

What’s next?
NC State will take on the Boston College Eagles in Chestnut Hill on Saturday at 2pm.  The Eagles are currently 2-3 in the ACC, and had a huge win of UNC about two weeks ago.  Boston College’s Tyrese Rice is the man to look out for, scoring 24 points in the second half against Georgia Tech last Saturday and averaging 18 points a game.  NC State will need solid defensive play to not let him get into rhythm and solid play out of both Costner and McCauley to be able to pull this one out.  Likely starters are Costner, McCauley, Degand, Fells and CJ.

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