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

No. 7 Duke had a little more breathing room Saturday against N.C. State than it had against Clemson, but needed a big second half nonetheless to outlast the Wolpack 75-67. With the victory the Blue Devils earn a date with No. 6 Virginia, which ousted Pittsburgh, in the ACC tournament championship game Sunday afternoon.

Revisiting the three keys to the game:

• Make Warren work: Warren was in complete control in the first half, knocking in 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting, but the ACC Player of the Year was stymied in the second period, hitting on just four of 13 shots and missing both of his free throw attempts. Credit goes to Rodney Hood, who locked down Warren despite yet again saddling himself with two first-half fouls.
• Pressure the ball: Duke didn't really have any success pressuring the Wolfpack guards, as N.C. State coughed up the rock just seven times all game. Luckily for the Blue Devils, Duke surrendered just six turnovers. The Blue Devils had just four fast break points Saturday.
  
• Heat up from long range: Duke did find success from beyond the arc Saturday, shooting 7-for-17 as a team. The main contributor was junior Quinn Cook, who rattled home three of his four triples in what amounted to one of his best games since conference play began in early January. Notably, sharp-shooter Andre Dawkins did not see any action on Saturday after playing seven minutes—all in the first half—against Clemson Friday.
  

Three key plays:

• 15:09, second half: T.J. Warren attempts a lob pass inside to center Jordan Vandenberg, but Amile Jefferson gets a hand on it and deflects the ball out to Jabari Parker. Parker, with a full head of steam, flies down the court for an electrifying dunk. Parker's slam gave Duke a four-point lead and caused N.C. State to call a timeout to regroup.
• 13:50, second half: Warren again is victimized by the Duke defense and is stripped on his way to the bucket. Tyler Thornton dives head-first to tap the basketball not once, but twice to get it to Rasheed Sulaimon, who advanced the ball up to a releasing Jefferson, who threw down another thunderous dunk to extend the Blue Devil lead to nine points.
• 2:21, second half: After a missed Rodney Hood free throw on the front-end of a 1-and-1, the sixth Duke miss from the stripe in its last eight attempts, Jabari Parker corrals the offensive rebound, shakes a defender and throws down the dunk. The slam stretched the lead back to 10 and gave the Blue Devils the push it needed to close out the game.

Three key stats:

• N.C. State shoots 66.7 percent in the first half: Another sluggish start for the Blue Devils, but they were able to turn the corner in the second half and tighten up the defensive effort. Holding the Wolfpack to 35.5 percent shooting in the second period helped to overcome the mediocre start, but against Virginia and in the NCAA tournament Duke can't be allowing teams to score the ball that easily in the first half.
• Quinn Cook and Rasheed Sulaimon combine to shoot 11-for-17 from the floor: Duke's two scoring guards put together good shooting games on the same day for the first time in what feels like forever. Sulaimon finished inside as well as he has all season, hitting six of his nine attempts from inside the arc. Cook was locked in from deep, hitting three times from distance. If the duo can continue to provide an efficient scoring punch as it did very early this season, Duke becomes that much more difficult to defend.
  
• Duke shoots 12-of-23 from the free throw line: Teams don't win very many games when shooting that poorly from the charity stripe, but Duke pulled it out Saturday nonetheless. The biggest culprit was Rasheed Sulaimon, who hit just one of his six attempts. 'Sheed is excellent at getting into the lane, but he must be willing to absorb contact and hit his free throws after being fouled to be truly effective.
  

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

It's not a cop-out if he is truly the best player on the floor. Sulaimon was eliminated because of his putrid foul shooting, Hood wasn't the factor he had been against Clemson, and Cook just didn't do enough else besides for his 14 points to warrant serious consideration. Therefore, Parker is the guy. The freshman knocked home 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting to go along with a team-high eight rebounds. This was a statement game for Parker, facing off against the ACC Player of the Year.

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

Again, not a cop-out if he's the best player on the floor for his team. Warren had a few costly turnovers and generally wasn't as effective in the second half, but no member of the Wolfpack was. Warren finished the game with 21 points and added eight rebounds—six offensive. The sophomore from Durham showed NBA scouts why he could be a valuable commodity in the upcoming NBA draft.