Wolfpack Rip #2 Duke 87-75 : The Aftermath

NC State upset unbeaten #2 Duke today 87-75 at the PNC on national TV. State used 21 points from Trevor Lacey, 14 points and 4 blocks from Beejay Anya and 16 from Ralston Turner to take down the cross-town rivals.

We talked about 3 keys for the Pack to upset Duke…here is how they checked those boxes and walked away with the huge victory.

1 | Stop Okafor
Sure, he scored 23 points on the night, but overall the Pack kept the freshman phenom off balance. State sent their opposite side big down to double and was quick on rotating down and forcing Okafor to pass out of the post. When he did State was able to rotate efficiently and force tough shots all night long. When Duke did get interior looks Anya and Washington were able to erase those with blocks (the Pack had 10 total).

2 | Protect the basketball
Duke is known for their pestering defense out top, but State was able to withstand that pressure and get into their offense. NC State’s bigger guards were a big mismatch for the Duke perimeter players, allowing them to hold off pressure and pass over the top when needed. State only turned the ball over 10 times, which was very good against a defense that rarely quits.

3 | Bigs and Bench
This Wolfpack team hadn’t put these two things together all season, but today they did. The bigs were outstanding. One reason they were able to do so much damage was thanks to their willingness to share. Duke brought doubles but State was too quick with their high-lows and interior passing, getting them wide open layups and good clean one on one opportunities in the paint. One huge factor was Kyle Washington’s first half passing. KWash is known for his ability to score in the post, but today his passing and awareness was what stood out. He was quick in his decision making and beat Duke’s rotation over and over. He had 3 assists, but countless good looks in the post.

Sure, good passing was nice to see but they were also able to finish in the paint against Okafor. Washington had 9 points, Abu had 8 and Anya (one of State’s players of the game) added 14.

The other side of this key was the bench. NC State has had trouble getting their bench going as of late, but today they had it clicking. Anya came off the bench and provided the Pack with a huge boost on both ends. He finally showed the ability to finish with his back to the basket and also did what he does best, clean up the offensive glass (3 ORebs). Anya also added 6 boards and 4 huge blocks. The other guy that played great off the bench was a Martin twin, but not the one you are used to. This time is was Cody Martin who got the majority of the minutes. He filled up the stat sheet with 6 points, 5 assists and 3 boards (in only 16 minutes of action), but it was his defense that kept him on the floor. Martin was everywhere, using his length and quickness to force tough shots, grab loose balls and really give State a lot of energy whenever they started to slow down.

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Overall, this was a huge win for the Wolfpack. It gave them their first premium win and gives them a ton of momentum heading into their Wednesday matchup with arch-rival UNC.

We’ll have more breakdown of this game with deep stats, quotes and much more…stay tuned and party on, Raleigh!