Pack shreds Devils

RALEIGH -- Duke, picked to win the ACC, and N.C. State, picked to finish last, met Wednesday night at the RBC Center.

Sure enough, one team looked as good as it gets in the ACC, and the other looked lost. It just wasn't the way anyone expected.

N.C. State shredded the No. 7 Blue Devils for a convincing 88-74 win and, in the process, flipped the ACC on its ear.

After State's first home ACC win in three tries, and a month into the season, the Triangle neighbors are separated by a game in the completely unpredictable ACC standings.

"They're just predictions," State senior Dennis Horner said. "You don't know until you play."

No, you don't. The Wolfpack entered the game as the ACC's lowest-scoring offense, while Duke was the ACC's highest-scoring. State had scored 66 points against Austin Peay, 68 against Winthrop and 69 against Georgia State, yet poured it on Duke for 88, with a game-high 23 from Tracy Smith and 20 from Horner. Torrid team shooting, 32-of-55 from the floor (58.2 percent), didn't hurt either.

"It was a special night," Horner said. "Everything was clicking for us."

Smith, who celebrated his 22nd birthday, led the Wolfpack (13-6, 2-3 ACC) to its first regular-season win over Duke since the 2003-04 season and only the third at the RBC Center in 10 tries.

Duke (15-3), in an un-Duke-like performance, lost its third true road game of the season in as many tries and fell back to 3-2 in the ACC, one of 10 teams with at least two conference losses.

"I've said this before, I think the conference is wide open," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

The Blue Devils tried their patented man pressure, pressed full court, ran just about every available big body at Smith -- and even mixed in a zone -- but couldn't slow State down. Smith ended up 10-of-12 from the floor and added five rebounds and three assists.

He called the win, and the subsequent storming of the court, the "best present ever."

"I felt like I had the hot hand, and they couldn't stop me," Smith said.

Bounce-back performances from Horner and guard Javier Gonzalez (15 points, eight assists) proved to be the difference.

The big three of Jon Scheyer (21 points), Nolan Smith (18) and Kyle Singler (22) got theirs but the supporting cast did not. The Plumlees combined for two points after scoring 30 in Sunday's 90-70 win over Wake Forest. Shooting 38.6 percent didn't help the cause, either.

"We need all of our guys," Lowe said. "You can see the difference in our ballclub, obviously when Dennis and Javi are playing well."

Gonzalez hoisted a 3-pointer at 3:53 to beat the shot clock. It also marked the moment everyone in the building knew it was State's night. Gonzalez's 3 made it 77-66 and negated any basketball miracle that Duke might have performed.

Horner, who has been dealing with a sore right knee, had scored a total of 10 points in the previous two ACC games. He responded with 20 to support Tracy Smith.

Horner had a six-point spurt in the second half, punctuated by a dunk, a fist pump and a head nod to the amped-up RBC Center crowd at 8:55 for a 69-52 lead.

The Devils got within eight points, 70-62 at 5:42, on Brian Zoubek's basket, but he missed the accompanying free throw that would have sent State into second-guessing mode.

It looked like Duke was set up for a strong second half, despite trailing by 10 in the first, when Nolan Smith's 3-pointer beat at the halftime buzzer to cut the lead to 41-38. Tracy Smith had blocked a layup attempt by Scheyer, and the loose ball kicked out to Nolan Smith at the top of the key. In one motion, Smith caught the ball and drained the 3.

The Pack took away the momentum of the big shot by making a 10-3 run to start the half and then withstood any semblance of a second-half final push to move to 2-3 in the ACC with two wins over ranked teams.

"That was a big win for our program and for our players ... and for our fans," Lowe said. "I didn't know they were going to storm the court. When I saw the crowd out there, I thought, 'This is great. This is what it's all about.' "