North Carolina State University Athletics
Gary's Game Notes: NC State Travels to Duke
2/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2003
NC STATE (14-8, 7-4) at No. 8 DUKE (18-4, 8-4)
DATE: Saturday, February 22, 2003 @ Cameron Indoor Stadium, Durham, NC (9,314)
TIME: Tip-off: 4:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: Wolfpack Radio Network.
AIRTIME: 3:30 p.m. EST
Wolfpack Radio Network Affiliates
TELEVISION: CBS (National)
OPPONENT-- Watch out ACC. Duke looks like its starting to roll again. The Blue Devils avenged an earlier road loss to Maryland by outlasting the Terps 75-70 on Wednesday night. It was Duke's 26th straight victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium and put the Blue Devils back in the hunt for the ACC regular season title.
Dahntay Jones scored 21 points and J.J. Redick added 17 as Duke pulled into no worse than a second-place tie with Maryland pending Thursday's game in Atlanta between first-place Wake Forest (7-3) and Georgia Tech. Tahj Holden led Maryland with a career-high 18 points, but Drew Nicholas, who scored 24 against Duke a month ago, was held to eight.
The Terrapins beat Duke 87-72 on Jan. 18 by dominating the second half. This time the Blue Devils closed out the game in the final minutes after leading 37-33 at halftime. Steve Blake missed a heavily contested 3-pointer with 2 seconds left that could have tied it for the Terrapins, but the forced shot was an air ball and Redick sealed it with two free throws.
Freshman Shelden Williams stepped up big for the Devils after scoring only 3 points in 13 minutes in the first meeting with the Terps. He finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and six of Duke's season-high 13 blocked shots.
A slow start plagued both teams in the second half before Duke went up 67-57 with 5:49 left as Redick made two long 3-pointers and Jones had a three-point play in a span of 1:47. But Maryland made a final rally, pulling within two with 3:18 remaining. Jones then made two free throws and Daniel Ewing nailed a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left on the shot clock to give the Blue Devils a 73-66 lead. Duke was protecting a three-point cushion in the final 45 seconds and tried to run the clock down, but Ewing lost the ball in the lane with 11-seconds remaining, setting up Blake's final shot.
Duke has won two straight after losing in double overtime to Wake Forest on February 13th. The Devils are the top scoring team in the ACC (83.6) and lead the league in turnover margin (+4.32). Jones ranks in the ACC's Top-15 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and free throw percentage. He was held to only 2 points in the Devils loss at FSU, but since then has averaged 17.2 points in his last 5 games.
Reddick is the league's best free throw shooter (.932) and also ranks in the Top-10 in scoring and three-point percentage (.393). Duhon leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.58) and is No. 2 in assists and No. 4 in steals. Williams and Casey Sanders are two of the ACC's better shot blockers and offensive rebounders.
The Blue Devils feature scoring balance, a productive bench, tremendous three-point shooters, and the ability to get to the foul line, averaging nearly 30 free throw attempts a game.
Duke has been relying less on three-point shots lately. A month ago 34-percent of the Blue Devils points came from long range shooting. That's dropped to 26-percent. Duke's pressure defense and rebounding have been steady. That's been significant because its shooting has taken some dips lately. For example, the Devils shot only 41 percent from the field and were 7-22 from the three-point line on Wednesday night against Maryland.
NC State beat Duke 80-71 in Raleigh on January 22nd by shooting 50 percent from the field, holding the Devils to 38 percent shooting and scoring 22 points off turnovers. Cliff Crawford's 21 points and 18 from Julius Hodge paced the Pack. State made 25 of 34 free throws in that game.
PROBABLE DUKE STARTERS
No. Name
21 Chris Duhon, G,6'1
04 J.J. Redick, G,6'4
20 Casey Sanders, C, 6'11
23 Sheldon Williams, F, 6'9
30 Dahntay Jones, F, 6'6
TOP RESERVES:
42 Shavlik Randolph,C, 6'10
05 Daniel Ewing, G, 6'3
03 Nick Horvath, F, 6'10
15 Sean Dockery, G, 6'2
* Blocked shots per game
A WIN-- Would give the Wolfpack its second straight ACC victory and third in its last four games. The Pack would sweep the regular season series with Duke and get its first win over the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995, breaking a 7-game losing streak to the Devils in Durham. NC State would earn its second victory over a Top-10 opponent this season and would improve 15-8 overall, 8-4 in the ACC and 2-6 on the road.
A LOSS--Would be the fourth in the last six games for NC State, dropping the Wolfpack to 14-9 overall and 7-5 in the ACC. The Pack would suffer its eighth straight loss to Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium and drop to 1-7 on the road this season. Duke would earn a split in the regular season series with NC State, its first split with the Wolfpack since 1991.
HITTING FROM THREE EQUALS VICTORY-- In its 14 victories, the Pack is shooting .385 from the arc (125-325) while only .279 in its 8 losses (55-197). A total of 34-percent of the Pack's scoring has come via three-point shooting.
PROBLEMS DIALING LONG DISTANCE--Over the last 7 games, the Wolfpack has shot only .293 from beyond the three-point arc (49-167). NC State has lost 4 of those 7 outings. Overall, NC State has shot .440 from the field in its last 7 games (160-363).
NIFTY FIFTY -- NC State has shot 50% or better in 7 games this season including its last outing vs. FSU and won all of them. The Pack is 7-8 when shooting less than 50%. Combined, the Pack is shooting .497 from the field in its 14 wins (370-745) and only .382 in its 8 losses (174-455).
EASY BASKETS --Overall, NC State is forcing an average of 16.3 turnovers a contest (359) and is converting many of those opportunities into points. In its last 3 losses that number has dropped to 10.7 points off turnovers (32). State is averaging 8.9 steals a game (190).
LOOKING GOOD AT THE LINE --NC State's free throw shooting has been impressive. The Pack is shooting .753 from the charity stripe (336-446) this season.
PINE POINTS-- Last season, the Wolfpack bench averaged nearly 20 points a game. This season is a different story. So far, the bench has scored 257 points for an 11.7 average. Its season-low production was vs. Coppin State and UNC with zero points. Its best was 34 against Fairleigh-Dickinson.
LEAD AFTER 20.....WIN AFTER 40--NC State has posted a 11-4 record when leading at the half this season. The Wolfpack is 3-4 when trailing at the break.
DIRTY GLASS--The Pack outrebounded UVA on 2/9 (33-30), but has been outrebounded in 7 of its last 9 games, including a 103-71margin on the offensive glass.
NEXT FOR THE PACK-- NC State will visit UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday, February 25, 2003, Airtime from the Smith Center will be 8:30 p.m.
WOLFPACK PLAYERS TO WATCH
JULIUS HODGE-- One of the top scorers in the ACC at 18.2 ppg. (400), Hodge bounced out of a slump with 21 points on 8 of 13 shooting vs. FSU on 2/18. In 6 games prior to facing the Seminoles, Hodge was hitting .361 from the field (26-72) and only .172 from the three-point arc (5-29). In addition to his scoring, Hodge also ranks among the ACC's Top-15 in field goal percentage, free throw percentage, rebounding, assists, and steals. He also leads the Pack in rebounding at 6.0 (132) and minutes played with 765 (34.8). Hodge scored a career-high 30 points and added 10 rebounds vs. UNC on 1/26. He's scored 20 or more points 9 times this season. On 12/14/02 Hodge became the first NC State men's player to record a triple-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists against NC A&T.
MARCUS MELVIN--This versatile junior forward broke out of a slump with 20 points on 7 of 13 shooting vs. FSU on 2/18. Melvin had struggled in his previous 6 games, averaging 10.2 points (61), 5.3 rebounds (32) while shooting only .356 from the field (21-59) and .333 from the three-point line (13-39). He's not been to the free throw line much lately (6-7 in his last 5 games). Melvin led the Pack at FSU on 1/18 with 21 points and 10 rebounds and was 3-5 from the three-point line. He scored a career-high 23 points vs. Northwestern on 12/4/02 and has scored in double-figures in 17 of 22 games. Last season, Melvin was a difference-maker in the Pack's upset of eventual national champion Maryland in the ACC Tournament with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists on 7-12 shooting from the field.
JOSH POWELL-- The sophomore center has scored in double figures only once in his last 5 games. Suffered back spasms vs. FSU on 2/18 and played only 14 minutes. He leads the Pack in field goal percentage at .550 (94-171) and has shot .635 from the field (33-52) in his last 8 games. Powell was outstanding vs. UNC on 1/26 with 17 points and 9 rebounds. He tied a career-high with 23 points and added 9 rebounds in the loss to Boston College on 1/16.
SCOOTER SHERRILL--The Pack's leader in three-point attempts and makes (45-120) is also one of the team's better free throw shooters. This season Sherrill has made 25-29 attempts from the charity stripe (.862). The junior guard scored a career-high 22 points vs. Gonzaga on 12/17/02, but since then his point production has dropped. He's averaged 7.8 points (117) over his last 15 games. In his last outing vs. FSU on 2/18 he scored 10 points on 4-9 shooting from the field.
CLIFF CRAWFORD-- The Wolfpack lone senior has been steady in his last 5 games, averaging 9.2 points (46), 5.8 rebounds (29), 4.0 assists (20) and 3.4 steals (17) while playing solid defense. Crawford recorded a game-high 5 steals vs. Georgia Tech on 2/12. He led the Pack at WFU on 2/6 with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals while shooting 8-13 from the field. Crawford was sensational vs. Duke on 1/22 with 21 points, 6 assists and played tremendous second-half defense on J.J. Redick. The Duke Freshman was held to only 4 points in the final 20-minutes. In his last 12 games, Crawford has shot .506 from the field (40-79). He leads the Pack in assists (95) and steals (55). Against Wofford on 12/29/02, Crawford scored a career high 22 points while hitting 9 of 11 field goal attempts. Crawford is the team's best defender and leads the Pack in deflections. He is among the ACC's Top-10 in assists and steals.
LEVI WATKINS--The Maryland native led the Pack with a career-high 18 points vs. Georgia Tech on 2/12. He has played well in his last 5 games, averaging 9.8 points (49) and 4.2 rebounds (21) while shooting .486 from the field (18-37). Against WFU on 2/6, Watkins recorded 11 points on 4-6 shooting from the field--his best outing in two weeks. In the win over Duke on 1/22, the sophomore contributed with 10 points and 3 rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench. Scored 15 points at GT on 1/11 and hit 4 of his 5 attempts from the three-point arc. A 2001 Parade High School All-American, Watkins suffered a torn knee ligament (ACL) vs. Maryland on 12/30/01 and was lost for the remainder of the 2001-02 season. Shedding his knee brace vs. Virginia on 1/5/03, Watkins recorded 6 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists while holding Travis Watson to 4 points and 4 rebounds during the opening half.
