Dazed and confused: No. 16 Duke has no answer for NC State in ugly ACC road loss
Duke spotted N.C. State 15 points by needing more than seven minutes of play to make its first basket Wednesday night.
Somehow, it got worse from there for the No. 16 Blue Devils in what became a humbling 84-60 ACC loss to the Wolfpack at PNC Arena.
Coach Jon Scheyer spent two first-half timeouts trying to stabilize his shaken team. They didn’t work as N.C. State took a 44-22 halftime lead.
“They did what they were supposed to do and imposed their will at home,” Duke junior guard Jeremy Roach said. “We came out soft, timid. Weren’t attacking the rim. Weren’t getting open.”
It was so bad for Duke that, having committed only three fouls in the first 19:30 of the half, the Blue Devils committed three quick fouls trying to stop N.C. State from scoring on the final possession before halftime. But Jarkel Joiner found just enough space in the left corner to drill a 3-pointer at the buzzer putting the Wolfpack up by 22.
The Blue Devils (11-5, 2-2 ACC) could only slump their shoulders and carry their dazed looks to the locker room.
“That was not good enough performance or effort on our part,” Scheyer said. “That’s on me.”
Scheyer shuffled the second-half starting lineup, removing game starters Jaylen Blakes and Dereck Lively and having Ryan Young and Dariq Whitehead take the court.
When Duke showed life with two baskets in the first minute after halftime, N.C. State’s Terquavion Smith answered with a personal 8-0 run, including two 3-pointers to put the Wolfpack (12-4, 2-3) up 52-26.
Scheyer called another timeout but little could be done to change things.
Smith (24 points) and Joiner (21 points) torched the Blue Devils from the perimeter while 6-9 center DJ Burns powered his way to 18 points in just 16 minutes of play.
“They just came out punched us first and we just never really punched them back,” Duke freshman center Kyle Filipowski said.
When the Wolfpack pushed its lead to 28 points at 61-33, it threatened to meet or beat its largest margin of victory over Duke. Back in 1948, N.C. State pounded Duke by 33 points (70-37) in their pre-ACC days as Southern Conference schools.
Alas, that was one embarrassment the Blue Devils didn’t suffer on Wednesday night. Not that that was any consolation.
“When you have a night like this,” Scheyer said, “it’s not okay. It’s not okay to have a night like this and for us to learn from it, we have to grow and change. I’d take responsibility for that as a coach.”
The big worry for Duke is the Blue Devils have played two true road games and turned in their two worst performances of the season.
The 81-70 loss to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem on Dec. 20 was a slap to the face. Wednesday night’s game was more like a left hook to the jaw.
The Blue Devils have little time to gather themselves. The loss at State was the first of five ACC road games Duke has this month. Another one, at Boston College, comes Saturday at 1 p.m.
It’s time to look deep inside and find some pride, Filipowski said.
“It’s not really more preparation, like on the court being wiser or anything,” Filipowski said. “It was more mental preparation and, you know, having some dignity with ourselves and as a program, not letting anyone do that to us. Like I said we’re gonna make sure that does not happen again.”
At Wake Forest, the Blue Devils played without Whitehead and Lively, who were home with non-COVID illness.
Duke had its full roster at N.C. State but, once again, its most experienced player contributed little on the stat sheet.
Roach, the team’s lone captain and the lone returning starter from last season’s Final Four team, missed all eight of his shots from the field against the Wolfpack to finish with four points. The 6-2 Roach is now 5 for 25 from the field over his last three games, including a nine-point effort at Wake Forest.
Filipowski, Duke’s leading scorer at 13.8 points per game for the season, reached double-figures with 14 points against the Wolfpack. That’s after he failed to score more than nine points over Duke’s last two games.
But Filipowski scored only two of those points against N.C. State in the first half, when the Blue Devils shot 29% and were all but run off the court.
After scoring 16 in Duke’s 86-67 win over Florida State on Saturday, Whitehead tallied 12 against N.C. State. But he committed four of Duke’s season-high 21 turnovers.
Young scored 11 points but fouled out after playing just 20 minutes.
The Blue Devils, it seems, can only do so much right without making serious miscues when playing on another team’s home court.
After Boston College, Duke plays at Clemson on Jan. 14 and have road games at Virginia Tech on Jan. 23 and Georgia Tech on Jan. 28 later this month.
The blistering Duke took at N.C. State could cause the Blue Devils to tumble or it could toughen them up. It’s up to them.
“I told our guys we have to all look ourselves in the mirror -- me included,” Scheyer said. “What did we do to prepare? What did we do in this game, whether it’s an hour before or a day before, that we an learn from this? I was not expecting that.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 9:17 PM.