No. 16 Duke got punched in the mouth in the opening minutes of Wednesday evening’s matchup at N.C. State, yielding the game’s first 15 points. With one half to play at PNC Arena, the visiting Blue Devils trail the Wolfpack 44-22.
Blakes’ starting streak
For the second-straight game, sophomore guard Jaylen Blakes is in head coach Jon Scheyer’s starting five. Following two-straight 17-point outings against Wake Forest and Florida State, Blakes has backed up his reputation as a talented defender with an equally productive showing on the other side of the floor. He struggled against a tenacious Wolfpack unit that was all over Duke in the first half, but Scheyer’s continued trust in the sophomore bodes well for increased floor time in the coming weeks.
Slow start
It took more than three minutes for either team to put points on the board in Raleigh, with a series of shots falling short of the rim for the Blue Devils. It was Wolfpack redshirt junior Greg Gantt who struck first on his home court, making the most of a mistake on Duke’s end to run it back for the opening layup. It took Scheyer’s team nearly eight minutes to get going, with usual scoring standouts Kyle Filipowski, Jeremy Roach and Mark Mitchell all struggling to set an early tempo.
Turnovers and tough looks
Duke struggled to control the ball throughout the first half, turning it over 13 times and shooting a measly 7-for-24 from the floor. These turnovers were directly responsible for 13 of N.C. State’s 44 total points and contributed to a hectic opening period for the Blue Devils in which they were outrun and outperformed by a relentless N.C. State team. Duke struggled to execute even the simple things, like dropping easy passes and fumbling the ball out of bounds, allowing the Wolfpack to surge forward relatively uncontested.
A tale of two teams
Where the Blue Devils struggled to turn possessions into points and rebounds into shots, the Wolfpack did not. Head coach Kevin Keatts’ team out-shot and out-rebounded Duke and consistently made more of both opportunities. The duo of DJ Burns Jr. and Terquavion Smith tormented the Blue Devils throughout the half with 18 points between them—rendering Duke’s towering defensive setup of Dereck Lively II, Filipowski and Ryan Young helpless.
Player of the half: DJ Burns Jr.
While neither team was particularly efficient from the floor, the substitute forward caused the Blue Devils plenty of problems. By the end of the half, Burns had contributed six points and four blocks, using his larger frame to bully Duke in the paint and capitalize on its shaky defense. The graduate transfer from Winthrop has started just six games this season but has averaged 9.1 points. If the Blue Devils are to mount any sort of comeback, stopping Burns will be of paramount importance. Together with Smith, who put up an immense half of basketball of his own including back-to-back threes late in the period, Burns helped N.C. State roar to life against a sleepy Duke unit.
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Andrew Long is a Trinity junior and recruitment/social chair of The Chronicle's 120th volume. He was previously sports editor for Volume 119.