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

The Blue Devils protected their home court for the first time in their last three attempts with an 88-80 win against N.C. State Saturday afternoon. Duke led for much of the way, held Anthony "Cat" Barber somewhat in check and relied on Grayson Allen and Luke Kennard to get the win:

Revisiting Three Keys to the Game

• Win the rebounding battle: The Blue Devils struggled against the bigger Wolfpack team on the boards, but it certainly could have been worse. On one hand, N.C. State outrebounded Duke 38-29 overall and 13-6 on the offensive end. Forward Abdul-Malik Abu was especially destructive, gathering a game-high 17 rebounds and eight offensive boards. Still, the Wolfpack recycled those second-chance opportunities into just 10 points and failed to capitalize on their extra possessions. Duke managed 23 defensive rebounds to N.C. State's 25 and collected five offensive boards in the second half.
• Strong defense: Credit must go to Derryck Thornton, who stabilized Cat Barber in the first half with aggressive defense. The ACC's leading scorer needed more than 14 minutes to get on the scoreboard, though when he did, he refused to be contained. The Duke defense overall was not great, as the Wolfpack canned seven of their 14 triples and scored 38 points in paint. But it was enough to put the hot-shooting Blue Devil offense in a position to win, which is exactly what happened.
• Limit turnovers: The immediate reaction from this game would be that turnovers cost Duke dearly. With the Blue Devils leading by nine a minute into the second half, N.C. State scored four straight points, and then Thornton coughed up the ball twice facing a press defense. Both times, Cody Martin finished, with the latter basket pulling the road team within one. That being said, the Blue Devils turned the ball over just nine times overall, which was two less than N.C. State and one less than Duke's season average.

Three Key Plays

• 10:12 remaining, first half: Allen drives to the hoop and comes down hard in pain, grabbing his right ankle. He stayed down for a few moments and went to the locker room, reflecting the delicacy of his reckless-abandon style of play. But Allen would return and finished with 20 points during the rest of the game to pace the Blue Devils. 
• 6:07 remaining, first half: With Duke up five, Luke Kennard first hit a three to rile up the crowd. Barber responded for his first points with a triple of his own, but on the following possession, Kennard hit another 3-pointer, foreshadowing the four he would sink later in the game. Following a miss by Barber, the Blue Devils pushed in transition for a punishing, one-handed dunk for Allen that brought the house down and gave Duke a 10-point advantage. 
• 16:10 remaining, second half: Just when N.C. State had its first lead in over 20 minutes, Kennard sinks a 3-pointer to take the advantage right back. Kennard then hit two triples over the next three possessions and scored off his own miss to key a decisive 15-4 run. 

Three Key Stats

• Duke makes 14 3-pointers, the Wolfpack take 14 3-pointers: Not much separated the teams in terms of shooting efficiency from the floor. N.C. State shot 45 percent from the field, the Blue Devils shot 49 percent and both teams made exactly half of their 3-point shots. The only difference was that Duke took twice as many 3-pointers as the Wolfpack, allowing the Blue Devils to get more buck for each of the shots they did make.
• Allen and Kennard combine for 54 points: The backcourt duo led the offense and did so efficiently, going a combined 10-of-18 from deep and 14-of-14 from the charity stripe. With swingman Brandon Ingram and guard Matt Jones struggling through a combined 4-of-15 performance from the field, the guard's contribution was much-needed to come away with the win. 
• Duke takes 13 more free-throws than the Wolfpack: N.C. State shot slightly better from the charity stripe than the Blue Devils. But Duke's hot shooting from deep to start opened up the paint for the guards—who got better looks near the hoop—allowing them to take more foul shots. Allen was particularly key from the free-throw line as he connected on all 12 of his attempts. 

And the Duke game ball goes to… Luke Kennard