NC State’s defense a focus ahead of Elite 8 matchup with Duke

DALLAS — Walk into NC State graduate guard DJ Horne’s parents’ home in Cary and you will spot some Duke memorabilia in certain spots. It is not because he plays for the Blue Devils, rather that was Horne’s favorite team growing up in the Triangle. 

The Wolfpack’s leading scorer grew up admiring the various stars that went through Cameron Indoor Stadium and he watched the Blue Devils make several national championship runs on TV. 

But now, in his final year of collegiate eligibility, Horne has a chance to create a new NCAA Tournament memory with Duke: he can stop them from reaching the Final Four. NC State and Duke will face off in the Elite Eight on Sunday afternoon at the American Airlines Center, which would have been a mind-boggling contest for a younger Horne. 

“I can only really think of childhood memories and watching these type of games as a kid with aspirations to be on this stage,” Horne said in the Pack’s locker room Saturday afternoon. “Now that it’s me actually here, all I can say is I’m grateful for the opportunity and just looking forward to making the most of it.”

While Horne is looking forward to a chance to make his own mark within the NC State and Duke rivalry, the Wolfpack has an opportunity to beat the Blue Devils in consecutive games in the same season for the first time since 1995. It has not happened in any of the players’ lifetimes, but the way the Wolfpack has played over the last three weeks sets up the interesting matchup in the biggest stage between the two teams. 

The Blue Devils and Pack have not met in the NCAA Tournament in program history, but that will change Sunday. 

For Duke coach John Scheyer, watching NC State’s run through the postseason has been a feat to see. The Blue Devils’ second-year coach believed that the Pack has improved on both sides of the ball, but specifically on the defensive end since the first meeting between the two teams, a 79-64 Duke win in Raleigh on March 4. 

“They continue to get better and better,” Scheyer said. “I think you can see their confidence and their togetherness has continued to grow. They’re a really good defensive team. They’ve become very disruptive. They’ve always been disruptive, but I think even more so in the half court creating turnovers. They’ve been a better rebounding team.”

That defensive improvement was not a coincidence. It is what hurt the Wolfpack in the lone regular season date. NC State was down just 3 at halftime, but its defense collapsed in the second half to allow Duke to pull away. 

In the second meeting, that changed. NC State was able to sent Duke home from the ACC Tournament with a 74-69 win in the quarterfinals in Washington, D.C.

An improved defense carried the Wolfpack to the ACC Championship and three straight wins in the Big Dance. Now, it will likely lean on that against the Blue Devils in round three. 

“We’ve become a stingy team on the basketball court,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “I think it’s just that our defense has improved. And our guys are connected more on the defensive end than we’ve been during the regular season.”

The Pack held 2-seed Maruqette to just 58 points in its Sweet 16 win, nearly 20 points below the Golden Eagles’ scoring average. NC State, again, is focused on stopping the Blue Devils’ offense from getting comfortable in the half court, a key step forward in the team’s defensive intensity since the regular season. 

That first meeting with the Blue Devils served as a big learning lesson for the Wolfpack, and now NC State will look to recreate the ACC Tournament matchup on college basketball’s biggest stage. 

“For us, just learning from our mistakes from the first game and not letting that be what would get us beat in the second game,” Horne said. “I think we really keyed in on the things that got us beat — guarding the three-point line, rebounding and transition. We really locked in on that.”

NC State seemed laser-focused in the locker room just over 24 hours before the Elite Eight tipoff with Duke, which is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. on Easter Sunday. That will be key if the Wolfpack wants to punch its ticket to the Final Four for the first time since 1983 — the team’s most recent NCAA title.