NC State basketball quick hits and notes from 88-73 loss at Duke

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball in its 88-73 loss to Duke in front of 9,314 fans at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., on Saturday evening.

Play Of The Game

For about 10 minutes, the two teams traded blows in a back-and-forth affair. That changed when Duke freshman guard A.J. Griffin, who had quiet afternoon otherwise, made a three-pointer to put the Blue Devils up 23-21 with 9:26 left.

Starting with that three-pointer, Duke never trailed again while outscoring the Wolfpack 25-15 the rest of the half.

That was Griffin’s lone basket in the game.

Highlight Of The Game

There was quite a bit of action near the rim, of which the ACC Digital Network compiled nicely.

NC State Basketball Player Of The Game

If you had said before the game that NC State sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona would get 10 points, nine rebounds and a blocked shot, Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts probably would have been ecstatic.

Dowuona made 5 of 11 shots from the field, more than doubling his career high in shot attempts that was previously five. He matched his personal bests in field goals made and points scored that he previously set in the win over Louisiana Tech.

His nine rebounds matched his career best set against Bucknell in the season-opener.

Still Dominated In The Paint

Despite Dowuona’s nice game, NC State basketball was manhandled in the paint, which has been a common theme in its losses this season.

NC State was already playing without redshirt junior center Manny Bates and junior forward Greg Gantt. The Pack became further shorthanded when freshman forward Ernest Ross, coming off arguably his best game of the season when he had four points, five rebounds and two blocks at Louisville, was on crutches with his foot in a boot.

That left Keatts with just Dowuona and sophomore forward Jaylon Gibson as the only players taller than 6-foot-7 that were available.

Facing one of the tallest teams in the ACC, it is unsurprising that Duke had its way in the paint, outscoring the Pack 58-38. Duke frontcourt performers freshman Paolo Banchero (21 points on 8-of-11 shooting), sophomore Mark Williams (19 points on 9-of-12 shooting) and super senior Theo John (10 points on 4-of-4 shooting) all reached double digits in scoring.

In NC State’s nine losses, here are differentials in points in the paint:

• Oklahoma State: -18

• Louisville: +4

• Purdue: -16

• Richmond: -16

• Wright State: -14

• Miami: -2

• Florida State: -14

• Clemson: -24

• Duke: -20

Former Pack Targets Hurt NC State

Williams is a player that Keatts heavily coveted coming out of the 2020 class, but ultimately NC State did not make his final favorites list.

In addition to the scoring, Williams had a double-double with 11 rebounds. That is Williams’ third double-double of the year and fifth of his career. Perhaps most impressive though was Williams set a new career high with eight blocked shots.

Had it not been for a Duke offer, it’s quite possible that Duke junior wing Wendell Moore Jr. would have ended up at NC State instead. The Charlotte native made 6 of 8 shots Saturday and connected on all three of his free throws for 15 points.

Fayetteville native Joey Baker, a senior forward, also had a Wolfpack offer and added six points off the bench.

Williams and Moore helped lead the way on Duke’s hot shooting. The Blue Devils made 35 of 60 shots from the field, or a season-high 58.3 percent. That is also a season-high allowed by the Wolfpack.

Breon Pass Audition?

Freshman guard Breon Pass has played only two total minutes in the past three games, both of which came against Clemson. He did not get off the bench in road wins at Virginia Tech and Louisville.

Pass though received extended minutes Saturday, getting on the court for 10:47, and seemed to provide the Pack with a spark as it cut down what was a 19-point Duke lead down to nine points on three different occasions in the final five minutes.

Pass would finish with five points, two assists (with no turnovers) and a steal and had a plus/minus of plus-two, the only NC State basketball player that had a positive difference.

The one negative: four fouls.

NC State Basketball Plus/Minus

Here is the plus/minus for each player for NC State basketball:

Pass: +2 (10:47 minutes played)

Junior guard Casey Morsell:  -2 (10:42)

Sophomore guard Cam Hayes: -4 (10:34)

Gibson: -6 (12:55)

Dowuona: -9 (27:05)

Fifth-year senior guard Thomas Allen: -11 (18:53)

Freshman guard Terquavion Smith: -14 (36:14)

Redshirt sophomore wing Dereon Seabron: -15 (40)

Hellems: -16 (32:50)

NC State Basketball Game Scores

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Seabron: 11.1

Dowuona: 9.6

Smith: 7.3

Gibson: 5.1

Allen: 4.7

Hellems: 4.3

Pass: 3.8

Morsell: 2.9

Hayes: 0.9

What The NC State Basketball Loss Means

The Pack is 9-9 on the season and 2-5 in the ACC, while Duke improves to 14-2 and 4-1.

Duke leads the all-time series, 149-100 (the Pack’s win in 2017 at Duke is technically vacated, which was a 101st win for NC State). Keatts potentially finishes against retiring Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski with a 2-4 record against the legend. The two teams are not scheduled to play again unless they meet in the postseason.

The game was broadcast by ABC, which was the Wolfpack’s first game on the network since 2009 (Pack is 4-15 all-time on the network). Throughout the year, we’ll keep track of the Pack’s record on the different channels:

• ACC Network Extra: 3-1

• FloSports: 1-0

• RSN: 2-1

• ACC Network: 2-2

• ESPNU: 1-1

• ABC: 0-1

• ESPN2: 0-1

• CBS Sports Network: 0-1

• Big Ten Network: 0-1

We also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 5-1

• December: 2-5

• January: 2-3

Other stats of note

• NC State won the turnover margin 12-10 and outscored Duke off those turnovers 16-8.
• Duke had a slight edge in fast break points, 16-15.
• Both teams had 38 total rebounds, but the Pack had a 22-15 edge on the offensive glass. Despite that, the Blue Devils had a 21-16 win in second-chance points.
• Duke’s reserves outscored the Pack’s bench, 18-16.
• Defensively, NC State had three blocks, altered 10 shots and swiped 10 steals. Duke had 10 rejections, three alters and eight steals.
• NC State led for 5:55 and Duke for 30:21. The Pack’s largest lead was seven points while Duke’s was 19. There were four ties and three lead changes.

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