vs. Duke Live Blog

#4 Duke (16-1, 3-1) at State (11-6, 1-2)
7pm ESPN

For those of you that can’t — or more likely, choose not to — watch, you can check in here throughout the game for updates and random comments. I’ll try to get through the entire game, but no promises.

You can also check out the game thread, or a variety of other topics, on the SFN Forums.

We’ve won three of the last six in Raleigh, so this is a rivalry again. Mike Patrick says so.

Announcers: Mike Patrick and Jay Bilas

Starters
Duke: Smith, Dawkins, Kelly, Singler, Mason Plumless
State: Javi, Brown, Smith, Wood, Leslie

Patrick: “The RBC Center still filling up.” Although no one is making their way down any of the aisles. (Seriously, there aren’t 10,000 people there.)

1st Half
“We will win the ACC and be ranked in the Top 5 before it’s all over” (CJL)…better or worse than Gavin’s comment a few years ago?

15:01 – Duke 11-3. Business as usual. State 1-of-9 FG (11%). Hard to believe, huh.

Apparently Maryland laid the blueprint for beating Duke, and Lowe put the team through two tough days of practice. Now we can rest easy, it’s all under control.

11:32 – Duke 13-12. State on a 9-2 run over the previous 4:10, even after 4:17 scoring drought during which Duke missed four shots and two free throws. Baskets by Smith and Wood cut the lead to one into the TV timeout. State shooting 4-of-19 (21%) FG.

So far, Duke has four blocks and is dominating the boards 16-4, but Duke’s six turnovers have been the equalizer.

9:17 – Duke 27-16. Devils responded with a 14-4 run of their own, mainly by penetrating with ease and taking advantage of State’s sloppy play all around.

7:01 – Duke 32-22. Another field goal drought, 3:23 this time. That makes 7:40 of the 12:59 played during which State has not scored a field goal. 7-of-9 FTs keeping us in it.

I hear circus music.

We have an nearly an entire generation of students that have no idea how raucus this game would have been in Reynolds…win or lose. I never saw us beat Duke or Carolina in Reynolds; in fact, only saw us beat either of them — Carolina in ’98 — once during my entire time at State.

3:54 – Duke 37-26. This is one of those games where it looks like we’re hanging around, but only until Duke starts hitting its perimeter shots. We’re not losing for lack of effort tonight. We’d be winning if we were playing Cincinatti.

We have to be smart on offense or this will get away from us in a hurry. Great analysis, Jay Bilas. Being smart isn’t exactly out trademark.

Half – All Duke, 42-28. Nolan Smith leads all scorers with 10, while the only Dukie that didn’t score in the first half was Wojo. Tracy leads State with eight points, but as a team, State shot only 8-of-37 (22%) versus Duke’s 15-of-30 (50%), while hitting only 3-of-12 3PT, so it could’ve been worse. Duke also has seven blocks.

2nd Half
I wish I hadn’t comitted myself to this now, but that’s my fault, not yours, so I’ll press on. It’ll be over soon.

Maybe it’s because I’m old (31), but what’s with the straight-bill ball caps the kids wear nowadays? Is that the trend like the paying a premium for “worn” Abercrombie hats when I was a freshman?

Leslie 0-6, Brown 0-6, Harrow 0-5.

18:12 – Duke 44-35. State opens the half on a 7-2 run.

14:48 – Duke 52-46. So far this half, State has executed a similar gameplan to last year’s win over Duke, scoring in the paint and crashing the boards. State cut the lead to five around the 16:10 mark. Seth Curry is on the bench with four fouls. Wood has six points in the half and the Pack is showing a lot of intensity, which is refreshing.

10:58 – Duke 63-50. Well, hope y’all enjoyed that mini-run, because Duke countered with a 11-4 run of its own. State has cut the lead to five twice now, and is making it hard for Duke to score in the paint, contesting every basket, but Duke took advantage of a couple lazy and sloppy possessions to push the lead back to 13. Dawkins (3), Singler (3), and Curry (4) are all in foul trouble.

Does anyone actually watch the NBA?

7:27 – Duke 70-56. We’re shooting 31% but leading by eight at the free throw line. CJL and Wood have both come on strong in the half, with 13 and 12, respectively. We’re actually not playing too bad; with a little better shot selection, this is a close game.

Looks like a decent crowd, late arrivers — maybe 15,000?

5:06 – Duke 77-66. This has been a very physical game, and State has held its own, but just hasn’t managed that much-needed extended run after cutting the lead to five earlier.

3:56 – Duke 82-70. This one is over, but it’s the most fight I’ve seen all season, so I’m going to see it through. It’s weird how that works; Florida State only beat us by 13, but it was never that close; this one is 12, and feels much closer. Miles Plumlee has 13, just one off his career-high. Insert joke here.

Bilas says only dogs can hear Harrow’s voice, it’s so deep. Isn’t it the other way around?

Final – Duke 92-78 (ESPN.com Box Score). It took 30 mins, but State finally started trading baskets with Duke, but it was just too late. I really want to be pissed about this one, but after a rough beginning, it actually went about as well as we could realistically expect.

If you got this far, then you’ve probably got the stomach to peruse a variety of topics on the SFN Forums.

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204 Responses to vs. Duke Live Blog

  1. Texpack 01/19/2011 at 8:43 PM #

    For those complaining about the refs, we were in the bonus with 9:08 to go in the half. It doesn’t help if you can’t shoot FTs.

    I agree about the hype on CJL. I would have thought he had some offensive skills if he was that highly rated. He works hard on the boards but he absolutely sucks trying to score on his own.

    I don’t see any way we make this thing close unless we end up close to 50% shooting for the game.

    Looks like another coaching search.

  2. BassPacker 01/19/2011 at 8:43 PM #

    Holy Crap !! ESPN to pay Texas 300 million to air their games on their own ESPN Channel. Forget Barnes leaving that cash cow deal.

  3. Wulfpack 01/19/2011 at 8:45 PM #

    If BC beats UVa tonight (currently leading at the half), it will be their 4th conference win. I just throw that out there. I mean, it is impossible to think a coaching change can yield positive results in the first year, right?

  4. NOT A FAN OF BLUE 01/19/2011 at 8:46 PM #

    My boys just changed their allegience to Dook. Mid-freakin-game. Can I blame them? I mean really? Grandaddy went to Dook. Why dont we pull for Dook? How many answers can I come up with to the question “Dad, why do we always pull for the team that loses?” I can only hope they refuse to grow up to be loser-lovers. There is still hope for them … I – on the other hand – have been turned to stone by the evil White Warlock, Dean Smith. I am waiting for an (Aslan of a coach) to come to Raleigh and un-stone my ass.

  5. NCSU@UNCG 01/19/2011 at 8:47 PM #

    I applaud CJL for getting after the boards but for once I just want to see him make a move and dish the ball to whoever is open… it’s not that hard.

  6. McPete 01/19/2011 at 8:47 PM #

    That ESPN deal gets them 1 football game and like 5 basketball games. The rest is non-revenue stuff that no one wants. Like the Big Ten network, they’ll bully local cable to put the channel in the basic package even though no one will watch it.

    I don’t understand why ESPN is paying 15 mil a year for that, AND I assume texas gets big 12 tv money as well. That’s some serious cheddar.

  7. UnclePen 01/19/2011 at 8:47 PM #

    Crash and Burn

  8. Wulfpack 01/19/2011 at 8:47 PM #

    Wood is in a tough spot. Duke is, of course, all up in his grille because he is the only Wolfpack player that can shoot. Yet, he’s struggling with his defensive match-ups. You have to play him, but Duke is exploiting him on the other end.

    Smith should score 30 tonight, not that it would be enough.

  9. Statefan1998 01/19/2011 at 8:48 PM #

    We will go the Herb route because no one will want the job. In fifteen years we will be talking about how we still suck,

  10. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:51 PM #

    Uhh… did the short bus drop off right behind the color crew?

  11. BJD95 01/19/2011 at 8:51 PM #

    Boston College is playing out the “somebody has to win each game, and it won’t take much to foat towards the top.” What an opportunity in the worst ACC ever. See also UNC, who clearly sucks at basketball, but currently sits at 3-1. Even Georgia Tech, who got blown out by a Kennessaw State team that had ZERO OTHER D-1 WINS (at least as of two weeks ago) is poised to get to .500 in league play.

    Then you have NC State under Sidney Lowe. A poor man’s Paul Hewitt.

  12. BassPacker 01/19/2011 at 8:51 PM #

    22 percent shooting 1st half. That sums it up. We suck.

  13. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:53 PM #

    HARROW HIT A LAYUP!

  14. BJD95 01/19/2011 at 8:53 PM #

    Coming at 9:00 – future NC State head coach Mark Turgeon takes his “Shadow Pack” Aggies into Austin to battle Rick Barnes!

    There’s tonight’s must-see TV for Pack fans.

  15. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:54 PM #

    Harrow looks really comfortable out there with the ball. A true freshman doesn’t often handle Duke pressure like he has. That’s a plus tonight even if we get blown out down the stretch.

    Nice run there. Good work guys.

  16. BassPacker 01/19/2011 at 8:55 PM #

    Here we go……….the Pack is pulling us back in with alittle run of hope.

  17. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:56 PM #

    Anyone else watch V? It’s pretty okay… lots of hot chicks.

  18. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:57 PM #

    That’s TWICE Duke has gotten hurt for swatting balls out they didn’t need to swat. I bet K will have at them for that racket.

  19. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:58 PM #

    BRian Kearsy, Ray and Tim?

  20. beeeejay 01/19/2011 at 8:58 PM #

    idk wtf howell was thinking on that play but it worked out ok

  21. beeeejay 01/19/2011 at 8:59 PM #

    regardless of whatever run state puts in tonight and even if they happen to pull out a win i hope we will all understand that sid still needs to go

  22. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 9:00 PM #

    Kersey’s stats for posterity’s sake:

    http://statsheet.com/mcb/referees/bryan-kersey

  23. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 9:01 PM #

    O….M…G. Wuuuttttt?

    WaffleIron slinging some scratch today too.

  24. runwiththepack 01/19/2011 at 9:01 PM #

    Singler lowers the shoulder, knocks off his ncsu defender – NO CALL! if our guys could just get enough confidence to hit their short jumpers, this game and several previous games would have been different.

  25. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 9:01 PM #

    Howell… son. Damnit.

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