ACC's 2 top scorers square off as Duke basketball battles N.C. State

GREENSBORO, N.C.—The nation salivated with the possibility of a postseason rubber match between Duke and Syracuse, the teams that produced two of college basketball's most entertaining and controversial games of the regular season. But it was not to be.

Instead, third-seeded Duke will meet seventh-seeded N.C. State in the semifinals of the ACC tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Wolfpack earned a 67-58 win against Miami Thursday night before stunning the Orange 66-63 a day later.

The upset came as a shock to many, but don't count the Duke coaching staff among that crowd. Nor are the Blue Devils expecting a repeat performances of the teams' first meeting of the year, a 95-60 drubbing of the Wolfpack at Cameron Indoor Stadium Jan. 18.

"I'm not [surprised to see N.C. State in the semis]," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "First of all, we would love to see anyone in the semis. I've coached a lot of games in this tournament, and every one is a huge game. You're just happy to advance. I'm not surprised to see N.C. State. N.C. State is playing great basketball. Mark [Gottfried]'s got his team playing at a real high level of belief."

Saturday's matchup may well come down to a head-to-head battle between two of the conference's most prolific scorers. Wolfpack sophomore and ACC Player of the Year T.J. Warren has broken the 30-point threshold nine times this season, including back-to-back 40-point performances to close the regular season against Pittsburgh and Boston College. The swingman tallied 28 big points to spur the Wolfpack (21-12) to the upset of the Orange in the quarterfinals.

"Warren is playing lights-out basketball. He's had a great year, but the last few weeks, 'phenomenal' is not exaggerating. He's been unbelievable. And he never seems to get tired," Krzyzewski said. "Warren's at that elite level right now.... He gets points for his team and he's very efficient."

Warren was the lone bright spot for the Wolfpack in the first meeting between the teams, scoring 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting, just below his season average of 24.9 points per game. Duke forward Rodney Hood was tasked with slowing Clemson's K.J. McDaniels Friday night, and is a front-runner for the job of containing Warren Saturday.

On the other end of the court, Blue Devil freshman Jabari Parker continues to power the offense for Duke (25-7). Parker, who finished second to Warren in the conference player of the year voting, scored a team-high 18 points in Duke's quarterfinal victory against Clemson Friday night, but saw his streak of six consecutive double-doubles ended after pulling down just three rebounds.

For Parker, Saturday's contest will not come down to a one-on-one competition, but rather a five-on-five battle.

"We want to play N.C. State. We don't look at individual matchups because it's all about a team game," Parker said. "Me and Rodney are trying to do our job and whatever it takes."

In the January matchup, the Blue Devils scored 33 points off 21 Wolfpack turnovers to put the game quickly out of hand. Duke also won the rebounding battle 35-32 and poured in 42 points in the paint. Nearly two full months later, N.C. State is playing with the confidence of a completely different team, but the basics of the Duke gameplan should still carry over.

"I remember we just got to defend the paint, not allow them to to get comfortable on offense," Parker said. "We just got to focus on playing together as a team and defending."

Through two games in Greensboro, Ralston Turner has elevated his game in the supporting cast surrounding Warren. The LSU transfer has knocked down eight 3-pointers thus far, including a bank-shot triple late in the Syracuse game.

With a 3-8 record against the RPI Top 50, the Wolfpack figure to still have some work to do to sneak into the NCAA tournament field, even after the win against the Orange. Krzyzewski said the desperation of life on the bubble makes conference tournaments especially dangerous for the highly-ranked teams playing purely for tournament seeding.

"At this time of the year, so many teams that are going to be pretty good seeds in the tournament get knocked off by teams that just are playing with great hunger and great sense of urgency," Krzyzewski said. "To see kids on all these teams fighting like crazy for an opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament, it's magnificent. You have to beat teams like that, and that's difficult."