NC State Basketball
VIDEO FLASHBACK: NC State upends #21 Duke in 1st round of ACC Tournament (2007)
I know I said we were going to look at some video from Keatts’ biggest wins over Duke, but since we’ve done that and since it was kinda fun to watch those games again, we’ve decided to take it back even further.
Let’s go back to 2007. It was Sidney Lowe’s first year as head coach of the Wolfpack. While the team finished near the bottom of the ACC that year, there were some magical moments. Like the win over UNC when Lowe first donned the red jacket, or when he leaned on Brandon Costner’s unreal play in the ACC Tournament to make a run to the Championship by beating #21 Duke, Virginia and then Virginia Tech before losing to UNC in the finals.
As I just mentioned, this crazy run was thanks in part to then-sophomore Brandon Costner. Costner averaged 16.8 points that season but really turned it on in the ACC Tournament. In this one he scored 30 points to lead the Pack over the Duke. He went on to score 22 vs. Virginia, and then 28 in the finals.
In the win over Duke, Costner was dominant in the post. He was 10-17 from the field, hit 10 of his 11 free throws and brought down 7 rebounds. Ben McCauley added a double-double with 15 points and 10 boards, while then-senior Engin Atsur was 4-7 from 3 point range and finished with 21 points.