RALEIGH--Play it again, Sam. And again. And again. And again.
It was a new day, it was a different gym and it was a another Atlantic Coast Conference opponent. But the results were all the same. As has happened on many occasions this season, the men's basketball team faltered down the stretch. This time N.C. State supplied the frustration, handing the Blue Devils an 84-79 defeat in Reynolds Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Entering the game, a win was crucial for both teams if they hoped to avoid the play-in game at next month's Atlantic Coast Conference tournament. N.C. State still has hopes of escaping the basement battle as it improved to 12-10 (4-8 in the ACC). But at 11-14 (1-12), Duke has set a school record with 12 conference losses and seems trapped in an ever-repeating rut that has guaranteed the Blue Devils a spot in the ACC tournament opener.
"It seems like we could fuse a lot of our games together, and they'd look really similar," freshman guard Trajan Langdon said. "We're ahead in the second half, and towards the five or six-minute mark we start breaking down and giving teams open shots.
"They start hitting them, they take the lead and once they get the lead, it's tough for us to get it back. And that's our problem--right now we're just not tough."
As has been the case in every one of the Blue Devils' six down-to-the-wire ACC losses, Duke had a chance to get back on top or tie the game. After N.C. State freshman Ishua Benjamin sank both free throws in a 1-and-1 to put the Wolfpack up 80-77, the Blue Devils burned a timeout with 31 seconds remaining.
They set up a play frightfully similar to their last-ditch effort in a three-point loss at Florida State earlier this season. Duke stacked both blocks and ran Langdon off a pair of screens for a three-point attempt from the right corner. But N.C. State defended Langdon perfectly, so Duke swung the ball to the left corner where an open Cherokee Parks jacked up a trey.
"Cherokee, of all big men in not the conference, but the country, when he shoots the three, I feel it's going in," N.C. State head coach Les Robinson said. "I didn't want him shooting, and when I saw him squeeze to get open . . . [I thought], `Bam! He's going to hit...' He can shoot. He really can."
Although Duke's execution was flawless, the jumper was not. Parks, who finished with 17 points and six rebounds, watched as his attempt bounced off the rim. And with just 17 seconds left, the Blue Devils were forced to foul.
"It was the same play, same shot and same player that we had at Florida State," Duke acting head coach Pete Gaudet said. "Everything was the same about it. Something he's done a lot is hit that shot."
But not this time. And to make matters worse for the Blue Devils, N.C. State was unconscious from the free-throw line all game. The Wolfpack converted 86 percent of its freebies, including 15 of their 16 shots from the charity stripe in the second half. N.C. State did not even score a field goal in the final 2:13, but it thwarted Duke's comeback with six perfect free throws.
"I thought we were going to win throughout the whole game," Duke freshman Ricky Price said. "Even in the second half when they made it to the line, I thought we'd get our timeout, we'd get it together, and we'd come back and score and be on top. But that wasn't the case."
A lot of that had to do with the Wolfpack's persistence. Late in the second half, N.C. State stared a seven-point deficit in the face but refused to fold.
"We played with the poise of a solid basketball team," Robinson said.
The Blue Devils also maintained a great deal of poise throughout most of the contest. Duke was in control of the lead for virtually the entire game, including a brief moment towards the end of the first half when the Blue Devils clung to the game's largest lead--a 10-point advantage.
N.C. State, however, was looking to prove that its double-digit win in Cameron Indoor Stadium last month was no fluke. Down 66-59 with just under seven minutes left in the game, Benjamin, who scorched Duke for 23 points in the team's first meeting, drained a wide-open three-pointer after missing his first seven tries.
"We made a substitution, and I don't know if we communicated real well in who we had [defensively]," Gaudet said. "Any open three is a confidence builder for a team. So they hit another one."
Indeed, on the Wolfpack's next possession, Lakista McCuller pulled up for a trey on the break. In less than a minute, Duke's seven-point lead slipped to one, 66-65.
"Defensively, we had some breakdowns in the second half," Parks said. "They hit some wide open threes. . . and are right back in it. Our defensive intensity just wasn't there."
The Blue Devils also had some defensive problems concerning N.C. State's 6-11 center Todd Fuller. Two years ago as a freshman, Fuller was ridiculed for his poor performance in Durham by the Cameron Crazies.
"He doesn't lose his composure," Robinson said. "He can have the whole place booing, and Todd doesn't know it. He doesn't care. He's at peace with himself and handles pressure very well."
On Saturday, Fuller's freshman-year schooling was just a distant memory. The much-improved big man struggled at times from the field, but still finished with 19 points on 8-for-18 shooting and pulled down 15 rebounds for the Pack.
"Fuller is one of the best players in the league," Gaudet said. "He's got a huge wing span, and offensively he sells a target about as well as anybody."
Offensively, the bright spots for Duke came from Jeff Capel and Price, who each tallied 17 points. Capel provided his usual mix of drives to the bucket with some long jumpers. But Price, who was averaging just under eight points per game, caused fits for the Wolfpack. He was a perfect 3-for-3 from three-point land, and many of his shots kept N.C. State at bay throughout the first half.
"Individually, I'd like to keep my play up to where its been the last couple of games, and try to contribute to get a win," Price said.
This time with the game on the line, Duke had problems defending against the three and trouble containing Fuller inside. In other contests, the Blue Devils have been plagued by a stagnant offense or opposing defensive presses. But is there a focal point to which Duke's game-ending troubles can be traced?
"I don't know," senior Erik Meek said. "It's tough to go through right now. I wish I had answers, but I don't. You just have to do what you can do to keep doing."
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