'Desperate' Pack Can't Keep Pace With Duke

NC State's chance for a quality win over a top ten team was unsuccessful, as Duke seemingly scored at will en route to a 92-78 victory over the Wolfpack Wednesday night at the RBC Center.

The Wolfpack (11-6, 1-3) lost their third straight ACC game, and once again it was defense that doomed them. After being down 14 at the half, the Pack played well to cut the Blue Devil lead down to five, but could not get a stop as Raleigh native Ryan Kelly buried a three from right in front of Duke's bench to stretch the lead back to eight. The Pack would not get closer than six the rest of the way, and every time they got some momentum Duke answered like you would expect a top five team to do.

It has been a tough 16 years for the Pack against the Blue Devils, as they are just 5-29 against Duke since 1995. Surprisingly though, Sidney Lowe has beaten Coach Krzyzewski twice since he took over at NC State (2-5) five years ago, a feat that looks pretty good compared to his predecessor Herb Sendek's 3-21 in ten seasons.

When expectations were sky high coming into the season- then starting out 1-3 in the conference, finding morale victories is a stretch. If anything one could say State played one of their better halves of the season in the second half against Duke, and yet, the Pack only managed to tie the Blue Devils at 50 points a piece.

In my opinion there is really only one way to upset Duke; you must get out the gates quickly and build up a lead on the Blue Devils. When Duke makes their inevitable run that they get every second half, you just have to hope that lead was enough. It is seemingly impossible to beat Duke while playing from behind, they just shoot too well for that. When Florida State knocked off Duke over a week ago, they led by 11 points in the second half before Duke made their run, ultimately coming up short. A year ago today when the Pack beat Duke at the RBC Center, State led the whole way, as Duke could not sustain a long enough run to overcome the Pack's double-digit lead.

The offense was there for the Pack, as five State players scored in double figures (Tracy Smith, 19, Ryan Harrow, 15, Scott Wood, 15, C.J. Leslie, 13, Richard Howell, 10). Coach Lowe is often criticized for his substitution pattern, and deservedly so, but I believe he may have found a line-up combination that woks well. He started playing with a big line-up, using three big men, senior Tracy Smith, sophomore Richard Howell, and freshman C.J. Leslie to find points in the paint against Duke.

Those three would combine for 42 of NC State's 78 points, while pulling down 24 of the Pack's 32 rebounds. Nearly all of the other 36 points for the Pack came from sophomore sharp-shooter Scott Wood, who finished 4-7 from three-point land, and freshman point guard Ryan Harrow, who played 36 minutes off the bench for the Pack. Wood and Harrow scored 15 points each, and really fueled some of NC State's second half runs. The other six points came from starting point guard Javier Gonzalez, who scored four points in only four minutes of play, and sophomore C.J. Williams who added two points on a first half jumper.

If State can play offense like this (granted they only shot 36 percent from the floor, but had 17 offensive rebounds) against Miami on Sunday in front of a crowd that will undoubtedly be thousands fewer than last night's game, they should win easily. State's offense was good enough to beat anyone else in the conference, but the defense must sharpen up if they are going to beat a top team like Duke. The Pack need to tighten up their defense, Duke will still beat you shooting just 35 percent from the floor, at 50 percent you really don't have a chance, especially if Duke wins the battle on the boards easily at 42-32, like they did Wednesday night.

The Wolfpack were said to be "desperate" going into their match-up with Duke, so I'm not even sure of a word they would use to describe how badly they need to beat Miami Sunday at noon. For all intents and purposes, Sunday is the season. A loss and you can pretty much chalk this year up as a failure and another NIT appearance, even as a Lowe supporter I feel a loss on Sunday should just about do it for his time in Raleigh. After Sunday's bout, the Pack will travel to take on Clemson just two days later, in what is probably another must-win for the Pack to keep their Bid Dance hopes alive.