By: Gregoire Beda
In a closely contested matchup in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke beat NC State 71-67. Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell, Dereck Lively II,Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor had double figure performances to improve their overall record to 22-8. The Blue Devils are on an 16-game win streak at home. After defeating NC State, The Blue Devils conference record is 13-6 tied with Clemson.
Both teams struggled shooting from beyond the arc. NC State shot 8 of 28 while Duke shot 2 of 19 from three.
Despite the loss, NC State had double figure performance from D.J. Burns Jr. and Jarkel Joiner.
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts reflected on the loss against Duke and the Wolfpack’s focus moving forward.
Embed from Getty Images“It was a great game. I thought we fought through a lot of adversity. We had a couple of our starters that I didn’t think played well but the fight in our team is so great. I’m so proud of our guys I told them in the locker room we’ve had a really good regular season 22 wins and 12 conference wins and there’s so much to be proud of and we have to turn our attention to obviously the ACC tournament.”
Duke head coach Jon Scheyer discussed the pride in the Blue Devils in the victory over NC State.
“What a special night in Cameron. I thought the crowd was incredible and I’m really proud of our team for the growth that we’ve made this season their perseverance you know NC State is a really good team they’re explosive offensively I thought our defense was the key to the game that’s been really what we’ve hung our hat on all year long. Derek’s job on burns and Tyrese with Smith and you know we are fortunate too they missed some shots but collectively thought we played a great defensive team.”
Duke will travel to Dean Smith Center to face UNC Saturday Mar.4 at 6:30 P.M. EST. Meanwhile, NC State will have a bi-week until the start of the ACC Tournament on March 7.
