MBB: Duke 93, NC State 64 (March 2, 2026) Postgame Thread

kako said:
5 thoughts...

1. Though it was close early, I never felt State had any kind of chance winning. Their zone was interesting. Though I think it did slow down getting CamB the ball at first, it didn't really slow down Duke's entire offense. Sarr had a great showing early, though it was still something like 18-18. Then CamB came back in, probably after the Duke staff started figuring out the angles and how State was playing its zone. The ball started going into CamB with him in the right places, and the lead started extending and extending and extending. What has often been a difficult place to play turned out to be another enemy arena blowout. Now Duke has the outright ACC Regular Season Championship (kind of nice). But from here on out, every game is a must win game!

2. It's amazing how solid and steady CamB is. Anybody else scores 26, it's a big deal and you know it. WIth him, he makes it seem so, well, normal and easy. 8-10 from the floor - I guess Wade saw how UVA tried to keep fouling him hard, and it didn't work (or at least they didn't call every foul, case-in-point being that crazy grab burn he had on his arm). Still he was also 9-11 from the line. He throws the ball at the bucket 21 times and 17 time it goes in. CPOY.

3. It was again a team win, because defense once again was the key. Duke holds another team under 65, with 38% from the field/24% from 3. And Duke outrebounds the Pack by 11. It will take a really rough shooting day for Duke to lose when the defense plays like that.

4. I thought Foster got several assists, but the box score says 7 with 0 turnovers. That's what you want out of your PG. All of the starters in double figures, the bench throws in 22. More than enough offense. And shout out to Jake Scott for getting a bucket! Our man CA was busy yakking about his best friend to notice.

5. Glad the team did not look ahead to Saturday. Because now they can. GTHC!

9F
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Not only did Duke figure out the zone, but Duke also tweaked its defense after the first few minutes and was switching ball screens vs hedge and recover (one of the reasons Maliq played more than Pat). Throw in the 2 for 1 at the end of the first half and it was another under-the-radar masterpiece from the coaching staff.
 
BandAlum83 said:
I heard an announcer mention in another game about tired legs and how Duke makes teams work so hard that their legs get more and more tired as the game goes on and their jump shots, particularly from 3, start coming up short. Sorta like stronger teams in football dominating the 4th quarter.

Is that what’s been happening these games as we are just relentless, making the teams just start missing / coming up short oneven open looks?

So maybe a combination of that and halftime adjustments?

We held the best 3pt shooting team in the ACC to 24%?!
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It makes sense-we've absolutely crushed teams on Saturday to Monday turnarounds. Louisville by 31, Syracuse by 37 and @ NC State by 29. That bodes very well for the same turnarounds in the tournament
 
Top rated Ken Pomeroy teams since 2002:

40.86* 2026 Duke
39.40* 2026 Michigan
39.29 2025 Duke
37.63* 2026 Arizona
36.91 2015 Kentucky
36.49 2025 Houston
36.48 2021 Gonzaga
36.46 2025 Florida
36.43 2024 UConn

* and counting (up to 10 more games for 2025-26 Duke) ...

Best NCAA teams according to Bart

Bart Torvik's algorithm started tracking teams in the 2007-08 season.

1. 2024-25 Houston .9836 Final Four
2. 2024-25 Duke .9824 Final Four & 2025-26 Duke .9824*
4. 2025-26 Michigan .9822*
5. 2014-15 Kentucky .9817 Final Four
6. 2007-08 Kansas .9815 Champions

*and counting (up to 10 more games for 2025-26 Duke)
 
Duke 93, NC State 64 (recap, box score, highlights, presser)

No. 1 Duke defeated NC State, 93-64, at the Lenovo Center on Monday, March 2. With the win, the Blue Devils (28-2, 16-1 ACC) secured their second consecutive outright ACC regular-season title and the program's 22nd overall. Cameron Boozer led all scorers with 26 points, while also grabbing a game-high nine rebounds.

Dame Sarr put up 16 points, including 14 in the first half, fueled by three triples, which matched his career high. The freshman also grabbed eight rebounds, also matching his career high. Isaiah Evans and Patrick Ngongba II rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Caleb Foster stuffed the stat sheet with six points, four rebounds and seven assists, giving the junior back-to-back games with at least six assists for the first time in his career.

As a team, Duke dished 21 assists on 32 made field goals and outrebounded NC State, 43-32. On defense, the Blue Devils limited the Wolfpack to 7-of-29 (.241) from beyond the arc, their second-lowest shooting percentage from deep all season.


Chatham Journal has the Duke presser with head coach Jon Scheyer and players Cameron Boozer and Dame Sarr. GoDuke has PDF quotes.


Coach Scheyer: "I’m really proud of this team. To win the ACC outright, 28 wins at this point in the year. Just their professionalism, their approach, they've been an absolute joy to coach. We talked about after Saturday, it's great to get a share [of the ACC]. That means a lot. But let's get this thing outright. Coach [Will] Wade, he's a really good coach, and we knew we could see some different things. Tonight, they went zone, and I thought we did a really good job of just handling that. Not right away, but our guys really worked through it. We put nine guys on the floor that impact winning, and I'm proud to see the individual growth of everybody on the team, but also just how they've come together. I think we're really connected, and what they're doing is incredible. Proud of everybody in the locker room, our staff, our fans, everybody that's been on this journey with us. Obviously, we’ve got a long way to go here, but really proud of this team."

Cameron Boozer: "I mean, we didn't expect to see zone the whole game. We knew that they could come up with a bunch of different things. They’ve switched their defense a lot throughout the year. But we prepared for them to throw out something random, like they did. I thought, like Coach [Scheyer] said, we started off a little slow on the zone, but we started to figure it out. We had 47 at half, so we found some things that were working, for sure."

Dame Sarr: "I feel like the coaching staff has done a great job just to prepare us for everything we could possibly see in the game. So, every time we see something, we recognize it, and we are able to execute whatever we have planned. I think we just have to keep rolling. Just keep doing whatever we're doing and just getting better."

WRAL has postgame comments from NC State head coach Will Wade and players Quadir Copeland and Darrion Williams.


Coach Wade: "We got a long way to go to catch Duke right now... as good a team as I've played against. I'm not just talking about their talent. The way they operate -- they're ruthlessly efficient on both ends. Coach Scheyer does an incredible job. You watch the way they run to the scorers' table when they sub in. Everything is tight. It's an impressive operation from top to bottom... We kind of know where the standard is now. And we've got work to do, and our eyes are wide open to try to start the chase and try to catch up. But they're a tremendous team. Great players, great coaches, just incredible."


Quadir Copeland: "We ran the zone. It was effective in the beginning and, every team adjusts, and they're still the #1 team in the country. No excuses at the end of the day. I think, with our group, we can beat anybody. It's just, they made great adjustments, and it worked."

Darrion Williams: "Know the importance of Saturday -- go out and play harder than Stanford and beat them, and then play whoever we play in the ACC tournament. Keep going from there. Turns into a one game season after that."

Finally, Duke MBB has Cameron Boozer's locker room interview with Dame Sarr.

 
The defining period of this game was from the 5:26 mark of the first half to the 15:26 mark of the second half. During this 10 minute stretch, Duke outscored the Wolfpack 33-11. That translates to a 132-44 score over 40 minutes of play. Duke was simply unstoppable offensively during this stretch of the game.
 
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brevity said:
Duke 93, NC State 64 (recap, box score, highlights, presser)
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And there's more: specialized highlights and podcast reactions.

ACC Digital Network has a Cameron Boozer reel and Duke's 18-6 run before halftime.



Duke Basketball Roundup: "Dame Sarr was incredible as Duke clinched the ACC regular season title outright. His offensive surge was a huge boost for the Blue Devils. We discuss his big night as well as the rest of what Duke did well to run away from the Wolfpack. There were a lot of great performances individually and collectively as NC State had no answer after about 9 minutes had elapsed in the game. There were some things to clean up, so we discuss what they can do a bit better. And, how can a timeout possibly be considered for Play of the Game? Stick around and find out!"


Talking Ball livestream: "Breaking down Duke basketball's game against NC State."


The Field of 68: Jeff Goodman, Rob Dauster, and Norm Roberts recap the Duke-NC State game.

 
stickdog said:
The defining period of this game was from the 5:26 mark of the first half to the 15:26 mark of the second half. During this 10 minute stretch, Duke outscored the Wolfpack 33-11. That translates to a 132-44 score over 40 minutes of play. Duke was simply unstoppable offensively during this stretch of the game.
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And if you asked me, I’d have said we took control of the game once our defense locked in. The past few games we have delivered results that would make us the #1 offense and the #1 defense. So, maybe that’s why we’re number one? It’s a good time to be a Duke fan.
 
mkirsh said:
Not only did Duke figure out the zone, but Duke also tweaked its defense after the first few minutes and was switching ball screens vs hedge and recover (one of the reasons Maliq played more than Pat). Throw in the 2 for 1 at the end of the first half and it was another under-the-radar masterpiece from the coaching staff.
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We were slow to close out on their 3 point shots initially. Big Pat in particular has been slow in that way in several games. Coaches reacted and pretty much solved that problem early on. After that, the defense was intense.
 
Saratoga2 said:
We were slow to close out on their 3 point shots initially. Big Pat in particular has been slow in that way in several games. Coaches reacted and pretty much solved that problem early on. After that, the defense was intense.
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Yes, very good points. Once we got Cam the ball in the middle of the zone it was game, set, match. Another thing that has happened is Caleb is now the point-guard. The offense runs smoother when he's at the point. Two great assist games in a row. Cayden is not a bad option but he's not as good a defender as Caleb. Coach Scheyer is giving Cayden playing time which gives Caleb some rest after playing so hard on defense. Darren has played pretty well too. He's making some open 3s now and he's not great on defense, but he is playable.

GoDuke!
 
AppliedPsychology said:
Literally the only nits to pick would be our defensive rebounding against a somewhat smallish State team and Maliq going 0-4 from the line.
That's all i got.;) Great stuff once again by our guys!
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Yeah, it is very hard to find anything to complain about. Maybe too many silly fouls? It was never going to be a factor in this game, but I do worry a little that could be this team’s Achilles heel.
 
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