North Carolina State University Athletics
Pack Suffers Road Loss at No. 3 Duke, 101-75
2/11/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
DURHAM, N.C. -- At halftime of its home game against NC State on Sunday, Duke honored its 1991 National Championship team. But before Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and company took the floor to soak up applause from an appreciative crowd of Cameron Crazies, the 2001 Blue Devils put on quite a show themselves with a dazzling display of basketball in the first half.The end result was a surprisingly easy 101-75 Duke victory over the Wolfpack.
And while the 3rd ranked Blue Devils (22-2, 10-1) were certainly hitting on all cylinders most of the day, NC State (11-11, 3-7) did contribute to its own demise with some shaky ball handling and just 37 percent shooting from the field in the opening half when the game was pretty much decided.
"We finished the first 20 minutes with 16 turnovers, which is an extremely high number," said Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek. "The turnovers, coupled with the fact that even when we did get good shots at the basket, we didn't do a really good job of converting early hurt us. That allowed them to open up the lead with some spectacular shooting."
As it showed earlier this season when it opened up a 34-2 lead over Michigan, Duke is fully capable of taking an opponent out of a game within a matter of minutes. Like the Wolverines back in December, the Wolfpack had that same helpless feeling when the Blue Devils started lighting up the scoreboard like a pinball machine during an incredible stretch in the first half.
After a Ron Kelley basket in the low post gave the Pack a 9-7 lead, Duke went on a 17-0 run to grab a 24-9 advantage with 11:13 left before intermission. During their decisive blitz, the Blue Devils got three point baskets from Chris Duhon, Shane Battier, Nate James and Mike Dunleavy.
"Everything they threw up went in," said forward Kenny Inge, who led the Wolfpack with 16 points and nine rebounds. "They're a great shooting team, and they're especially tough when they're shooting like that."
Three-point baskets by Battier and guard Jason Williams helped Duke build its lead to as many as 22 points on two occasions in the first half. Some of the shots were contested, others weren't. But it became abundantly clear very early on that the Pack would be no match for its talented Big Four rival on this day.
"I thought we played really well, especially on the defensive end," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "We forced a good number of turnovers and shot a good percentage."
For the game, the Blue Devils shot 53 percent from the floor and converted on 13-of-29 three-point shots (45%).
Williams bounced back from a couple of sub-par performances to lead Duke. The sophomore point guard, who recently announced that he would return for his junior year, was 8-of-12 from the floor to finish with 23 points. He also added eight assists in 29 minutes of work. James (19), Battier (18), center Carlos Boozer (17), and Dunleavy (13) also finished in double-figures for the balanced Blue Devils.
With Duke ahead by 20 at the half, any of hopes of an NC State comeback were quickly erased in the opening minutes of the second half when the Blue Devils made 11 of their first 12 shots from the floor to open up a gaudy 85-54 lead with 10:59 remaining.
A Boozer layup at the 6:37 mark gave Duke its biggest lead of the day at 94-58.
The Wolfpack knocked down 45 percent of its shots, including 51.5 percent in the second half. Kelley, who has been battling a knee problem for the last two years, recorded his second straight 12-point performance by hitting six of seven from the field. Damon Thornton also finished up with 12 points for the Wolfpack, which will host Clemson on Wednesday night at the ESA.
