North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
#5 Duke
Pack Falls at No. 5 Duke, 76-52
2/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2011
DURHAM, N.C. - After a first half in which his team fell behind early against No. 5 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium, NC State coach Sidney Lowe wasn't sure what to expect of his squad in the second half.
Though the Wolfpack was able to cut into the defending national champion Blue Devils' enormous 53-24 first-half lead just a little, it did play better on offense, on defense and on the boards. The result was still a 76-54 loss, but Lowe found reason to praise his team's second-half effort.
"I'm very encouraged by our team in the second half," Lowe said. "They didn't stop. I really thought Lorenzo Brown and Richard Howell played well. I thought our defense was really good in the second half.
"It was a good showing by our younger players to do that here against a team like Duke."
Duke shot a sizzling 64.5 percent from the field to open the game, but was just six of 31 in the second half, a percentage of 19.4. The Wolfpack, playing with a depleted and ailing lineup, made 39.6 percent of its shots from the field in the game.
"We probably had a little bit of an emotional letdown, but that's not taking away that State played well," said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. "I thought they just played better in the second half."
For the third consecutive game, the Wolfpack was without a member of its starting lineup, as freshman C.J. Leslie was out of action after being suspended for a violation of team rules. Freshman guard Ryan Harrow returned after missing the last two games because of a stomach bug, though he is still recovering. He did not score in 15 minutes of action.
Senior Tracy Smith, bothered by a sore knee, had four points and six rebounds in the contest, while sophomore shooter Scott Wood was held scoreless.
Meanwhile, the Pack turned to Howell, the sophomore forward from Atlanta, for its offensive production. He had the best scoring game of his career, contributing 18 points and five rebounds. It was one point better than his previous career high, which he established two weeks ago against Miami.
Brown, a freshman swing player, added 15 points and nine rebounds.
Duke's Nolan Smith scored a game-high 20 and Mason Plumlee added 16 points and 12 rebounds.
The teams were even in the first four minutes of the contest, with Duke taking a 10-8 lead. But the Blue Devils went on a 21-2 run that included 3-point daggers by Nolan Smith and Andre Dawkins. Duke made six of its 10 3-point attempts in the first half, while the Wolfpack was 0-for-3.
"I'm very disappointed with the way we started this game and the way we've started the last four games," Lowe said. "We've gotten ourselves in too much trouble early in those games.
"We came out and took a couple of questionable shots, and they made an awful lot of shots in the first half."
NC State junior C.J. Williams picked up four fouls in the first half and fouled out of the game with 7:23 remaining in the contest.
The Wolfpack has the week off before heading to Wake Forest next Sunday for a 1 p.m. game at Joel Lawrence Memorial Coliseum.
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
