Beyond the Arc: Duke basketball vs. N.C. State

A resurgent performance by Jabari Parker and a balanced Blue Devil offensive attack propelled No. 23 Duke to a comfortable 95-60 victory against N.C. State Saturday afternoon at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Parker finished with 23 points and seven rebounds, and was joined in double-figures by teammates Rasheed Sulaimon, Andre Dawkins, Rodney Hood and Quinn Cook. Sulaimon poured in 13 points off the bench, Dawkins and Hood notched 11 apiece, and Cook finished with 10.

Revisiting the keys to the game:

• Shut Down State's Role Players: Wolfpack star T.J. Warren continued to pad his stats for the ACC scoring title with 23 points, but no other N.C. State player scored more than eight points. Freshman point guard Anthony "Cat" Barber and junior college transfer Desmond Lee looked rattled in their first visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium, combining for just 12 points and eight turnovers, while LSU transfer Ralston Turner was a non-factor as well, scoring just four points.
• Tempo, Tempo, Tempo: The Blue Devils were able to leak out on the break Saturday afternoon, thanks in large part to N.C. State's turnover woes. Once out in transition, the Blue Devils did a good job attacking and creating good looks both at the rim and spotting up for transition 3's. Duke scored 11 fast break points to N.C. State's four, and 23 points off turnovers to the Wolfpack's two. Duke subbed early and often, keeping players fresh to be able to run and gun—the strategy has worked in its first two games, so keep expecting to see a deep Blue Devil rotation next week.
• Finish: The Blue Devils went to the locker room leading 45-32, and allowed the Wolfpack to stay around that margin for the first seven minutes of the second half. But over the game's final 13:06, Duke blitzed N.C. State with a 39-19 extended run. Beyond making open 3-pointers and clamping down on defense, Duke again did the little things, out-rebounding N.C. State 35-32, including 14 offensive rebounds.

Three Key Plays:

• 12:51 remaining, second half: Amile Jefferson takes a strong drive, draws contact and finishes the play, kickstarting Duke's run that busted the game wide open.
• 8:55 remaining, second half: Parker scores another basket to up the lead to 71-48. This was the first of seven straight possessions for Duke that culminated in points.
• 5:39 remaining, second half: Josh Hairston corrals an errant Sulaimon lay-up and throws it down for a tip-dunk to effectively put the exclamation point on the Duke win.

Three Key Stats:

• N.C. State commits 21 turnovers: Duke's defensive pressure was dynamic for the entire 40 minutes, and threw the Wolfpack out of sync early on. Many of the errors were unforced, but the Blue Devil intensity was evident throughout the game, a positive sign for Duke fans who have seen their team let up on the defensive ends at times this season.
• Duke Shoots 50/45/85: The Blue Devils made 33 of their 66 field goals Saturday afternoon to finish the game right at 50 percent. Eleven of those field goals were from behind the 3-point line, bringing Duke to an average of 9.2 made 3-pointers per game. Led by Parker, the Blue Devils were also aggressive, getting to the charity stripe 21 times. Once there, Duke converted on 18-of-21 free throws, including an impressive 3-for-3 performance from Amile Jefferson, who's now hit five consecutive free throws despite his year-long struggles from the line.
• An Even Distribution of Minutes: Partly because of the deep Duke rotation and partly because of the game's lopsided nature, no Blue Devil played more than 30 minutes Saturday, and five bench players—the second unit of Sulaimon, Dawkins, Tyler Thornton, Josh Hairston and Marshall Plumlee—earned double-digit minutes for Duke. Walk-ons Todd Zafirovski and Nick Pagliuca each got on the floor in the closing minute as well. Duke should be a well-rested team when it faces Miami on the road Wednesday night.

And the Duke game ball goes to...Jabari Parker

Parker returned to his non-conference form Saturday, scoring 23 points on an efficient 7-of-14 shooting performance. He attacked the basket and got to the line, where he was 7-of-10, and drilled both of his 3-point attempts on the afternoon. The 23-point performance marked his first game with 20+ points since Dec. 28 against Eastern Michigan.

And the N.C. State game ball goes to.... T.J. Warren

The Durham native played 37 minutes and poured in 23 points, shooting 9-of-19 from the floor. He was inefficient from distance, shooting just 1-of-5 on 3-pointers, but he was the only consistent scoring threat for the Wolfpack all afternoon, even when Duke was keying on slowing him down. Warren also committed just two of his team's 21 turnovers.