Duke's defense AWOL

RALEIGH -- Duke came to the RBC Center Wednesday night with one of the most formidable defenses in the nation.

You would have never known it with the way N.C. State's forwards and guards slashed through the seventh-ranked Blue Devils in an 88-74 drubbing.

"Our defense was the worst it's been all year," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "It was never, ever good tonight."

The Blue Devils held Clemson to 12 points in the first half, didn't allow Connecticut a 3-point basket for an entire game and limited Gonzaga to 41 points. All of those teams were ranked when Duke played them.

N.C. State hasn't been ranked since November of 2007 and was held to 66 points by Austin Peay earlier this season. But the Wolfpack displayed the same precision on offense that helped it win three games to reach the ACC Tournament final in 2007 under coach Sidney Lowe.

Led by forward Tracy Smith, who was 10-for-12 from the field, N.C. State shot 58.2 percent from the floor. No previous Duke opponent has shot better than 51 percent this season.

"We moved it well to the open man," Lowe said. "We set screens. Our cuts were sharp, which they have to be against Duke because they get out and deny you."

Smith scored 23 points by parking his wide body on the block and overwhelming Duke's physical big men. N.C. State's often-maligned guards took advantage of their quickness to penetrate and create for themselves and the Wolfpack forwards. At any time, two guys who have played point guard for N.C. State - some combination of Javi Gonzalez, Farnold Degand and Julius Mays - were on the court.

"Since we've put Farnold in the starting lineup it's just a different dimension for us," Lowe said. "His ability to get to the basket, his ability to get the ball up the floor and relieve Javi and Julius of the pressure, we're a different ballclub."

The Wolfpack took advantage of mismatches, too. When Duke freshman forward Ryan Kelly came off the bench in the second half for a short appearance, Wolfpack senior Dennis Horner immediately posted him up. A Duke player came over to help Kelly, and Horner passed to Smith for an easy lay-in.

Duke even strayed from its traditional man-to-man to try some matchup zone defense in the second half in hopes of slowing down the Wolfpack. Finally, when Duke did something right, N.C. State still made shots.

With the shot clock winding down and a 17-point lead cut to eight, Gonzalez hoisted an off-balance 3-pointer over Miles Plumlee, who is 10 inches taller. The shot swished through the net with 3:50 remaining, and the joyful - and stunned - roar from the crowd signaled that the win was about clinched.

"There are so many things that went wrong," Duke center Brian Zoubek said. "We weren't talking. We just made simple mistakes, like forgetting about guys, letting guys get easy layups. We just couldn't lock down. It was a lot of different things.

"It really is surprising. We base everything off defense, and when it's not there, you see what happens."