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

[DonerKebab]

Honestly extremely satisfying to humble Will Wade. I can’t be the only one who thought he was extremely cocky in his pre-season interviews.

Sure! but props to him for being humble too.

 

[DonerKebab]

WW was extremely cocky and imo downright disrespectful. He repeatedly spoke about a reckoning coming to the ACC. After being here for 5 minutes, apparently he could predict changes coming to a league that’s been around for 70 years.

Having said that, I was pleasantly surprised by how humble he seemed in last night’s press conference. His two players not so much.

I thought the players were fine. Definitely not like that Michigan playing laughing.

 

[bshrader]

I thought the players were fine. Definitely not like that Michigan playing laughing.

Yea, I've never been the biggest fan of Copeland, but I think the presser with him and Williams last night was more of a reflection that their season seems to be coming unraveled in the last month than anything else.

They've now lost 5 of their last 6, including absolutely giving away a home game to Miami, embarrassing losses to us, UVA and Louisville, and another embarrassing loss to depleted Notre Dame. Their only win was over a Carolina team without Wilson and Veesaar.

 

[stickdog]

Since 1/15 (Duke's last 13 games), Duke has been on a tear.

Torvik's algorithm ranks Duke's defense as number one by almost a full point above Arizona's over this span. And Duke's offense is ranked second, behind only Illinois'.

The average score of these 13 games has been 79.7 - 58.1, a 21.6 point margin.

Duke's shooting percentages

59.6% twos
37.0% threes
76.0% free throws

Duke's opponents' combined shooting percentages

45.9% twos
29.0% threes
67.1% free throws

The current NCAA Net ratings of the 13 teams Duke has played over this stretch:

2. Michigan (neutral)
14. Virginia
17. Louisville
25. @ UNC
29. @ NC State
35. Clemson
54. @ Virginia Tech
65. @Stanford
69. Wake Forest
79. Syracuse
89. @Notre Dame
110. @Pittsburgh
163. Boston College

6 of these 13 games were against top 35 teams, including two road games and one game on a neutral court. Just 6 of these 13 games were in Cameron. 9 of these 13 games were against top 70 teams, and 11 were against top 90 teams.

This Duke team is currently riding one of the most impressive streaks of stellar play in Duke basketball history. Duke has posted 6 of the top 9 net rating differentials in ACC play during this 13 game stretch, including in three of its four games against its highest (NCAA net) rated ACC competition.

Since the Louisville game on 1/5, Duke's adjusted defensive rating has exceeded 96 points per 100 possessions just twice in 16 games, and both of these games were home court blowout victories against Wake (104.3) and Syracuse (101.2) in which the opposing teams limped across the 100 point threshold during the last 5 minutes of the game.

The consistency of Duke's defensive effort over this stretch has been awe inspiring. However, Duke's offense has achieved quite a few flawless stretches during this run as well.

But to me, the biggest story of all is just how intelligently Duke's young players and young coaching staff have managed this run. Other than the one (ref-assisted) blip in Chapel Hill and a handful of fruitless trips to the free throw line, I hardly remember yelling any obscenities at a single Duke player or coach during this entire stretch of play. Considering that I am widely considered the Bobby Knight of (angrily tossed) armchair coaches, my almost complete lack of ire at this specific Duke team since the beginning of January borders on historic.

 

[Indoor66]

Since 1/15 (Duke's last 13 games), Duke has been on a tear.

Torvik's algorithm ranks Duke's defense as number one by almost a full point above Arizona's over this span. And Duke's offense is ranked second, behind only Illinois'.

The average score of these 13 games has been 79.7 - 58.1, a 21.6 point margin.

Duke's shooting percentages

59.6% twos
37.0% threes
76.0% free throws

Duke's opponents' combined shooting percentages

45.9% twos
29.0% threes
67.1% free throws

The current NCAA Net ratings of the 13 teams Duke has played over this stretch:

2. Michigan (neutral)
14. Virginia
17. Louisville
25. @ UNC
29. @ NC State
35. Clemson
54. @ Virginia Tech
65. @Stanford
69. Wake Forest
79. Syracuse
89. @Notre Dame
110. @Pittsburgh
163. Boston College

6 of these 13 games were against top 35 teams, including two road games and one game on a neutral court. Just 6 of these 13 games were in Cameron. 9 of these 13 games were against top 70 teams, and 11 were against top 90 teams.

This Duke team is currently riding one of the most impressive streaks of stellar play in Duke basketball history. Duke has posted 6 of the top 9 net rating differentials in ACC play during this 13 game stretch, including in three of its four games against its highest (NCAA net) rated ACC competition.

Since the Louisville game on 1/5, Duke's adjusted defensive rating has exceeded 96 points per 100 possessions just twice in 16 games, and both of these games were home court blowout victories against Wake (104.3) and Syracuse (101.2) in which the opposing teams limped across the 100 point threshold during the last 5 minutes of the game.

The consistency of Duke's defensive effort over this stretch has been awe inspiring. However, Duke's offense has achieved quite a few flawless stretches during this run as well.

But to me, the biggest story of all is just how intelligently Duke's young players and young coaching staff have managed this run. Other than the one (ref-assisted) blip in Chapel Hill and a handful of fruitless trips to the free throw line, I hardly remember yelling any obscenities at a single Duke player or coach during this entire stretch of play. Considering that I am widely considered the Bobby Knight of (angrily tossed) armchair coaches, my almost complete lack of ire at this specific Duke team since the beginning of January borders on historic.

May peace continue to accompany you on your journey.

 

[pat0125]

This NC State team may have the highest swagger to ability ratio I've ever seen.

Skill and Ability > Swagger. Swagger is icing on the cake.

 

[kmmk]

Until they didn't.

This is going to get me permanently banned from this board but when Michigan and UNC played for the title in 1993, I hated Michigan and their dumb swagger so much (even though we beat them multiple times and obviously for our own title) that I actually was hoping UNC beat them. I felt so dirty and disgusting even thinking about rooting for UNC, though. LOL! I maintain that I was saved by "the timeout that wasn't" because, essentially, Michigan lost it more than UNC won it. LOL!

 

[kmmk]

This 1000%. And this is really what higher education is expected to do, right? Equip your students with the proper tools to effectively figure things out on their own, without your needing to be present every step of the way. Professor Scheyer indeed!!

Great point! Professor Scheyer and, also, hopefully at least a few of the players are taking Coach K's leadership classes at Fuqua.

 

[kmmk]

I guess at that point, NC State must have figured out that their zone was ineffective and so they switched back to an ineffective man to man for the remainder of the game. . . .

Maybe their zone would have been more effective if they actually played it for more than two minutes this year. Someone will remind me of the numbers but they had played zone a ridiculously low amount this season so trying to switch to that was probably worse because their own players didn't know what to do!

I don't for a second think Will Wade is a bad coach but it just says a lot, as we've been saying here, about Jon's growth and ability now to make these in-game adjustments versus some other coaches.

 

[kmmk]

Full moon… attacked by a Wolf…

Ah-ooooo, werewolf of Durham

I kept saying to people on Twitter that it looked like he was playing against Wolverine. LOL! I don't suppose anyone thought they might have seen Hugh Jackman in Raleigh yesterday?

 

[DukieTiger]

Will Wade with some nice words about Duke last night:

Question: When it comes to rivalries, you were on the high side with UNC, and now you were on the low side here. I mean, how do you feel about it?

Wade: Well, they’re big games, but like I said, we’ve got a long way to go to catch Duke right now. I mean, this is 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. Watch the way they run to the scorer’s table when they sub in. Everything is tight. I mean, it’s an impressive, impressive, impressive operation from top to bottom, and we’ve got some work to do. We kind of know where the standard is now, and we’ve got work to do. Our eyes are wide open to try to start the chase and try to catch up, but they’re a tremendous, tremendous team. Great players, great coaches. Just incredible. The whole operation, to see it up close, watch it on film, it’s really very impressive to see it up close. It’s almost unparalleled from what I’ve seen in coaching. Very impressive.

 

[Lurkingdukedog]

Maybe their zone would have been more effective if they actually played it for more than two minutes this year. Someone will remind me of the numbers but they had played zone a ridiculously low amount this season so trying to switch to that was probably worse because their own players didn't know what to do!

I don't for a second think Will Wade is a bad coach but it just says a lot, as we've been saying here, about Jon's growth and ability now to make these in-game adjustments versus some other coaches.

In my opinion, it was just a match-up nightmare for Wade and State. Once Duke figured out how to get it into Cam on the zone, it was game over. He either drove and scored/drew a foul or passed it to Pat/Maliq over the top for a score. Wade did say in the press conference that if they had played man to man the entire game, the team would have fouled out. And not because the refs were giving Duke all the calls, it was because he recognized that his team could NOT effectively guard Duke man to man.

 

[CDu]

In my opinion, it was just a match-up nightmare for Wade and State. Once Duke figured out how to get it into Cam on the zone, it was game over. He either drove and scored/drew a foul or passed it to Pat/Maliq over the top for a score. Wade did say in the press conference that if they had played man to man the entire game, the team would have fouled out. And not because the refs were giving Duke all the calls, it was because he recognized that his team could NOT effectively guard Duke man to man.

Yeah, I don't envy Wade in that matchup. Duke is not a good team to go 2-3 zone against, because our bigs are SO good at passing that if our guards can get it to the big at the FT line, it's a basket or a foul pretty much guaranteed. But as you said, State simply couldn't guard Duke's bigs man-to-man. There was not a good solution. I'd probably have tried a different type of zone, but ultimately the outcome probably would have been about the same: once we figured out how to get the ball to a big in the soft-spot of whatever zone was played, it would be game over.

 

[BandAlum83]

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.

In addition to the quoted above, Wade: "The whole operation, to see it up close..it's almost unparalleled from what I've seen in coaching. Very impressive"

I don't think I've ever heard a coach as complimentary of an opponent as Wade was in this post-game interview. He was almost in awe of what Jon has built. It's safe to say who he's voting for for COY.

 

[BandAlum83]

And man, was the silence deafening starting in the second half of the first half, or what? This team took the crowd out of it, both figuratively and literally. As my lovely wife commented in the second half, "The stadium is slowly turning red," as the White-Out turned into empty seats.

FIFY

 

[BandAlum83]

And attend the team meeting at 7:00 PM tomorrow to scout the crowd from the Dump on the hump.

Pffft.. I don't coach...I don't want or need to watch that team unless they are playing Duke. Waste of my time unless I'm turning them on for the last minutes to see crying baby blue faces in the crowd.

 

[Phredd3]

FIFY

Fair enough, although there were at least a few believers still in the first half, and the "red out" didn't happen until the second half. But yes, it was notably quieter toward the end of the first half, too.

 

[BandAlum83]

The thing about Sarr that confounds me is that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player whose drives to the basket in transition (and in half-court but it’s more glaring in transition) so frequently conclude with him taking off a full step too far from the basket. It seems like this is a factor in 80 percent of his awkward finishes, successful and unsuccessful alike. I’ve been trying all season to come up with a transition-from-European-basketball explanation for this, without success. I have to think this is fixable; he doesn’t seem to entirely lack offensive basketball instincts or skill.

THAT!!

His badly missed jam the other night...I swear he took of at least a half step early. I mean, I know he's got long arms, but not that long!

 

[BandAlum83]

Kyrie?

I agree that Cam is great. He just passed The Landlord for 12th place on the Duke single season scoring record with 679 points.

Cam would need 101 points slide into third place, with 780 points for the season, which seems highly likely if we make the Sweet 16.

Cooper was so effective with his left, and used it so often, it makes me wonder if it was his off hand. Or is he ambidextrous?

 

[CDu]

THAT!!

His badly missed jam the other night...I swear he took of at least a half step early. I mean, I know he's got long arms, but not that long!

I wonder if it is related to his ballhandling struggles. In order to get your steps timed right to an optimal launch point, it often requires chopping up your steps at the end. And maybe doing that at speed while dribbling against major college comp is a step too far for him right now. So he frequently gets stuck "a half dribble" too far out when he takes off.