RALEIGH -- When Shelden Williams got his 6-foot-9, 245-pound body airborne to snatch a desperately thrown North Carolina State pass from the sky with just 11 seconds left in regulation, and then slung the ball to a streaking Sean Dockery, who was able to finesse his lay-up through the bottom of the net, it looked like Duke had scrambled itself to a position where it could finally overcome an early deficit and the proverbial hump in its game Sunday night.
But the ill-fated comeback turned out to be just that, as the Wolfpack's star, Julius Hodge, finished off a pair of free throws after being fouled on the next play, and Duke's last-second chance sailed wide.
Just moments later the Blue Devils were walking off a basketball court as the losing team for the first time since Nov. 29, and thousands of N.C. State students were rushing the court at the RBC Center in celebration of their team's upset win over the conference's last undefeated team and the country's No. 1-ranked squad.
It was a frustrating end to a frustrating night for Duke, who will lose that top ranking when the Associated Press poll is announced today.
"State just made us not play well, and it's to their credit," said Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. "I want to congratulate them. They've been playing outstanding basketball, and they did it again tonight. We weren't able to match that tonight because we've been playing pretty good basketball all year long also."
Instead of holding a three-game lead over N.C. State (16-5, 9-2 in the ACC) with five games remaining in conference play, the Blue Devils (21-2, 10-1) now are up by just one game, as the drive for the ACC regular season championship has been altered from the one-horse race it seemed to be as recently as yesterday afternoon.
But the Blue Devils didn't go down without a final stand.
Redick hit a long three-pointer and three free foul shots in a row in the last 30 seconds, but Duke's chances for a comeback never really materialized until Williams' steal because the Wolfpack didn't give up any ground from the free throw line. N.C. State entered the game as the best foul-shooting team in the country and made them when they mattered the most, hitting 13 in a row from the charity stripe in the waning minutes.
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