N.C. State is never portrayed as Duke’s fiercest in-state rival, but nobody has bothered to inform Tracy Smith of that.
He took down the Blue Devils last year with a dominating 23-point performance and hopes to inflict similar pain on his crosstown rivals when they meet at the RBC Center tonight at 7 p.m.
After defeating Jordan Williams of Maryland and more recently losing to Seminoles’ forward Chris Singleton, Duke will be playing another conference game against a powerful big man. These games have exposed the Blue Devils’ need to defend the post, and they have analyzed their performances to formulate a game plan against Smith.
“I would say [N.C. State is] closer to the style of Maryland with Tracy Smith,” associate head coach Chris Collins said. “They have some good young athletes, and they have a dominant big man who is the focal point of what they do.”
Although the Wolfpack (11-6, 1-2 in the ACC) have struggled as of late, losing two consecutive road games to ACC opponents Boston College and Florida State, the team is starting to find its rhythm. Smith missed 10 games earlier in the season and is only recently approaching the minutes that he averaged last year in his junior season.
In the paint, Smith is joined by freshman forward C.J. Leslie, who stepped up in Smith’s absence and is averaging 11.1 points, eight rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game on the season. Despite the freshman’s recent success, Collins singled out Smith as the player the Blue Devils need to stop.
“He’s an elite player in our conference. He’s very hard to guard one-on-one,” Collins said. “Whenever he gets the ball down low he commands double teams, and he’s a good passer from the post, so those guys on the outside become difficult to defend.”
The perimeter player to watch for is sophomore forward Scott Wood, who benefits the most from the attention inside. Wood is an elite 3-point shooter, having made 46 treys on the season—more than any Duke player. Also on the perimeter is freshman point guard Ryan Harrow, who has experienced growing pains in his inaugural year and is not a threat from downtown like Wood.
How Duke (16-1, 3-1) will defend Smith to prevent N.C. State from capitalizing from outside is the major question. Ryan Kelly, the Plumlees and Kyle Singler, who saw minutes against Maryland essentially playing the five, are all going to have to contribute to contain the powerful forward.
“It’s going to be more of a committee. Obviously to start the game Mason will have that responsibility,” Collins said. “But obviously Ryan, Miles [will] too. We never want to have one guy stop one player, it’s a team effort.”
Ultimately, the type of lineup that Duke plays will not only decide the pace of the game, but also how they defend Smith.
“We don’t want to play Kyle at center, but if the game situation calls for a smaller lineup, we’ll do that,” Collins said.
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