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. highstick 01/19/2011 at 7:39 PM #

    Let the ass kicking begin….

  2. eas 01/19/2011 at 7:50 PM #

    RBC Looks empty.

  3. Rochester 01/19/2011 at 7:53 PM #

    Maybe CJL meant “top 5 most disappointing teams in the country.”

  4. eas 01/19/2011 at 7:58 PM #

    Harrow looks so much better handling the ball than Javi

  5. eas 01/19/2011 at 8:03 PM #

    How can Howell only jump 4″ off the ground?
    I just watched my 3 yr. old jump higher.

  6. beeeejay 01/19/2011 at 8:06 PM #

    i swear it seems as soon as javi hits the floor everything goes straight to hell

  7. CLTWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:08 PM #

    ^Well said

  8. eas 01/19/2011 at 8:08 PM #

    ^
    yep

  9. Statefan1998 01/19/2011 at 8:08 PM #

    How does Yow let Lowe coach this team into tomorrow? This is a joke.

  10. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:09 PM #

    Javi’s man hit a 3. Then Javi misses a chaotic drive and funning field goal attempt. Missed shot by Duke, kick to Javi who turns it over. Javi’s man comes back and hits a 2.

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

    Harrow has missed two very tough ones. Both should have dropped. Tough luck.

  12. beeeejay 01/19/2011 at 8:10 PM #

    i believe harrow needs to put some more time into the layup line thats 2 now

  13. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:12 PM #

    Harrow has missed two very tough ones. Both should have dropped. Tough luck.

    We’re also getting hosed by the Zeebs.

  14. choppack1 01/19/2011 at 8:13 PM #

    Charges – what’s more pathetic than how few we take is how rare it is that our guys in are position to take one.

  15. eas 01/19/2011 at 8:15 PM #

    Harrow = finally having a PG who can drive at will. Just need to hit the shot.

    The behind the back lay up move was wicked. Would have been an espn highlight if he would have made it.

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

    Cincinnati is making us look like Phi Slamma Jamma.

  17. eas 01/19/2011 at 8:18 PM #

    Our offense is the SAME every time. PG to left side everytime. Dribble around.

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

    Singler: “It puts the lotion on the skin or it gets the hose again.”

  19. Dogbreath 01/19/2011 at 8:18 PM #

    How the fuck does Duke manage to find all these ugly ass white boys, year after year after year.

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

    These refs are terrible.

  21. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:20 PM #

    Well for one K raids our backyard and takes guys to put on their bench that would start for us.

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

    plumlee will have 50 blocks if none of our bigs want to bother to mix up their spin moves in the post

  23. NOT A FAN OF BLUE 01/19/2011 at 8:21 PM #

    Why do our “big” guys always look like they are in slow motion? Is it that – with their body language – they are trying to tell us “I’m such a star amongst the chumps on my team that I am just going to go through the motion in protest” … or … do they just suck??? Like when around good actual good players, they look really bad. No, I mean r-e-a-l-l-y bad. How is it that the Duke players always seem to be in the right place at the right time??? Is it luck??? Or are they c-c-c-coached to be there??? Is it our coach’s fault? Or is it the fault of our 2-star athletes? Whatever … whomever … same as it ever was.
    AD Yow, please see Pomeroy for stats that matter. Then make a professional decision, a good decision to end the suffering. Time to start over – once again.

  24. GAWolf 01/19/2011 at 8:21 PM #

    Literally. These refs are TERRIBLE. We’re not helping ourselves much, but neither are those clowns.

  25. BJD95 01/19/2011 at 8:21 PM #

    Just flipped the TV to the game for a second. 7 blocked shots. Think our offense is a wee bit predictable? Hilarious shit.

    How many people in the stands now?

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