After a frustrating three-game losing streak, two of them coming at home in front of the Cameron Crazies, the 20th-ranked Duke Blue Devils (15-5, 4-3 ACC) went into enemy territory and defeated the NC State Wolfpack (11-9, 1-6 ACC), 88-78.

Tale of Two Halves

Duke would trail by as many as 10 points late in the first half and trailed 43-36 at the intermission, but they stormed back in the second half that was highlighted by a 14-0 run. The Blue Devils were unconscious on the offensive end in the second half, shooting 71 percent from the field and knocking down 7-of-11 from behind the arc. That was a complete 180 from the first half as they were inconsistent and shot a woeful 3-of-14 from three.

“The start of the second half we played some lights-out offensive basketball and really good defense,” said coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Dynamic Duo Leads Duke

Throughout this tough losing streak by the Blue Devils, two of the constants that kept them in games has been the play of Grayson Allen and Brandon Ingram. The same held true in their victory against the Wolfpack on Saturday.

Grayson Allen led all scorers with 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field. Allen also added seven assists and seven rebounds to his stat line. Brandon Ingram continued his impressive freshman campaign with 25 points on 10-of-16 shooting and seven rebounds. Ingram was also lights out from behind the arc with four made three-pointers.

Luke Kennard added 12 points and Marshall Plumlee had a near double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Balanced Attack Not Enough for NC State

NC State is in the same boat as Duke when it comes to roster depth. They go seven deep on a game-to-game basis, and tonight five of them reached double figure scoring. On most nights that would probably be enough, but NC State’s defense couldn’t get the defensive stops in the second half to highlight the balanced offensive performance.

Anthony “Cat” Barber led the Wolfpack with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting. Barber leads the ACC in scoring (22.3) and is fourth in assists (4.8), and fell short in both categories. The scoring was there but Barber ended the game with only one assist.

Twin brothers Cody Martin and Caleb Martin combined to score 27 points and grab eight rebounds. Abdul-Malik Abu took advantage of the Duke zone and finished with 14 points and five rebounds, while Maverick Rowan didn’t take advantage of the open looks and finished with 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting (1-of-8 from deep).

Sign of Improvement

With senior forward Amile Jefferson still out with a foot injury, the Blue Devils have noticeably suffered on defense and especially on the boards. But tonight this young Duke team showed signs of improvement as they outrebounded the number one rebounding team in the ACC 31-to-28. For an undersized team that has one legit rebounder in Plumlee, it was an impressive group effort by this team.

Duke also showed improvement on defense, as they showed some different looks with their 2-3 zone. NC State did shoot 51.7 percent from the field for the game; but after the Wolfpack shot 6-of-9 from three in the first half, they struggled and shot 2-of-12 in the second.

Up Next

Duke will go on the road and face #15 Miami Hurricanes on Monday night. NC State will stay home and host the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Wednesday night.

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About the author
Parker White
Sports journalist from Midlothian, Virginia. Co-editor and writer for the NBA and MLB sections at VAVEL USA. Follow me on Twitter @spudwhite1022