Duke owns PNC Arena for a change
Blue Devils handle NC State, setting up Saturday showdown with Heels
Duke’s 79-64 win over NC State Monday night at PNC Arena wasn’t as drama free as last week’s wins over Louisville and Virginia. In fact Duke fell behind 9-2, with five of those Wolfpack points coming from mammoth State center D.J. Burns.
But Duke caught up with a 9-0 run and used a second-half perimeter barrage to pull away for their 24th win, against only six losses. Perhaps more importantly Duke moved to 15-4 in conference play and is assured of no worse than a share of the regular-season title with a win over North Carolina Saturday night.
The loss was the third straight for the reeling Wolfpack, leaving them at 9-10 ACC, 17-13 overall, also known as NIT land.
Burns simply swallowed up Duke’s bigs early, putting Kyle Filipowski and Ryan Young on the bench with two fouls apiece and treating Sean Stewart like a punching bag.
Burns had 15 at the half. But Duke led 33-30 at intermission, with offensive rebounding a key; Duke had 14 offensive rebounds at the half.
State had their last lead at 46-45, with about 12 minutes left. About the time we settled in for a barn-burner Duke got 3-pointers from Jared McCain and Filipowski, McCain again and the Wolfpack went on a scoring drought, five points in almost four minutes and suddenly Duke had double-digit leads at 60-50, then 64-52.
State never got any closer than seven points, a four-point play by McCain making it 73-59.
Burns ended with 27 points after looking pretty much lost in State’s recent games. But he didn’t get much help, especially from D.J. Horne, who was held to eight points.
Roach talked about Duke’s defense against State’s leading scorer.
“Just staying locked in. We knew that he was going to hit some tough shots, some tough mid-range shots and tough 3’s. He's a good player. Just wanted to make it as tough as possible for him. I think with Burns getting going, they were feeding him a little bit more than trying to go to Horne. So that was kind of the recipe right there.”
On the other end Roach was magnificent, full attack mode, 21 points, four rebounds, two assists. Proctor had 11 points and four assists, McCain 14 of his 16 points after intermission and Filipowski ended with nine points after four scoreless minutes in the first half.
Caleb Foster didn’t play again--we knew he wouldn’t. T.J. Power hit a 3 and grabbed a rebound and Ryan Young left floor burns all over West Raleigh.
But Stewart was a story, a big story. He played 26 minutes and gave Duke 12 points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals, three blocks. Stewart has been up and down in his freshman season but he’s way up high now, and yes, I mean that in several meanings of the word.
If he can avoid taking another freshman step back, well, Duke will be even deeper when Foster returns.
Scheyer credited Stewart’s work behind the scenes.
,”The thing that nobody else gets to see is practice. His work has been consistent the whole time.”
Scheyer added that he expects Stewart’s upward trajectory to continue.
,”Sean provides something that we don’t have. He's our best athlete. His versatility on defense. His touch around the basket. He’s a lob threat. And his skill is going to continue to get better and better. You’re trying to find ways to get him out there but today, it was quite simple. We’re better when he’s out there. He just did a terrific job. He competed at the highest level. That’s something, sometimes as a freshman, you’re adjusting to. He’s helped us in a lot more games that just this one, but tonight, obviously, with the amount of minutes he played, hit his free throws, he was great.”
Stewart’s take?
“Just working hard every day in practice with the coaches. Before practice, after practice, in the mornings. When my name is called, I show all that work that I’ve put in. My dad [long-time NBA player Michael Stewart] always taught me when I was younger just to play with as much energy as possible. When you make a good play, you’ve got to show it. Whenever I get a dunk or a block I just scream and let all of my energy out.”
Oh, did I mention Duke turned it over only five times, against 12 assists?
“The story of the game for me was – against them you have five turnovers against their pressure all game,” Scheyer said. “Tyrese, Jeremy, Jared, they did a terrific job handling the pressure. They only score four fast-break points, which is important.”
Some well-earned time off before you-know-who-comes to town. But it’s March and Duke is playing its best basketball of the season and there’s no better time to be playing your best basketball.
Unless it’s April. Playing well in April works too.
It was a terrific win in a road game that has been a tough assignment over the past several seasons. SO many highlights: Jeremy was injured in the 1st Half, but somehow played thru it and excelled the rest of the way; Tyrese came up with a "4 pointer" that was a dagger; Jared fought off poor shooting early, but then had a great 2nd Half -- and a "4 pointer" of his own; Ryan gave us solid minutes; and how 'bout Mr. Sean Stewart ? This crew is showing signs of peaking at the best time of the year ....
Sean Stewart was sensational.