NC State comes to Cameron Monday after the 88-66 beatdown in Raleigh on February 19th to meet a Duke team that has, including that game, has lost three of its last four. Meanwhile, NC State is desperately seeking an NCAA bid and another win over Duke would really help. Monday’s game promises to be surpassingly intense.
Essentially it comes down to a gut check for both teams.
Part of the problem for Duke is that teams have been really cracking down on Vernon Carey. In the last four games, he’s scored 27, 16, 10 and 17 points. And while that’s productive, he’s fouled out of the last two games, both of which were very close at least up until the second overtime in Wake Forest’s case.
And the three games that Duke lost were on the road, with all three of them coming against teams with solid post defenders.
And here’s the kicker. In those games, a couple of Duke’s weaknesses were exposed. First, Carey has come up against bigger and more athletic defenders and teams have doubled and tripled him to shut him down.
And second, Duke’s limited scoring options beyond Tre Jones and Carey have been exposed.
Jones has been doing everything he can to help his team win. In those games, he has scored 17, 14, 24 and 17.
Duke has not established a reliable third scorer and that’s starting to catch up. When teams go after Carey as they have lately, the Blue Devils don’t have a reliable third option.
On any given night, Cassius Stanley, Matthew Hurt, Jordan Goldwire, Joey Baker or Alex O’ Connell might heat up. At Wake Forest it was Justin Robinson.
Consistently though?
Honestly it’s a crap shoot. The three primary guys are Hurt, Stanley and Baker. All three have shown a lot of progress this season but none of them have become offensive players you can count on every night.
And we can live with that. As Coach K likes to say, everyone runs their own race, as Justin Robinson showed us at Wake Forest.
When Hurt is more powerful, he’ll be a handful. You can see him showing flashes now but 25 lbs. from now? He’s a great inside-outside threat.
Stanley is a superb talent, already a great defender and increasingly a reliable three point shooter. He’s still not as aggressive offensively as his talent suggests he should be. Easy for us to say - he’s the guy who’s jumping four feet off the ground around guys who are huge and powerful. Having played against some seven footers a couple of times in pick up ball, and getting a concussion and a pair of broken glasses, we try to never forget that. It’s rough in there.
And Baker?
We love Joey Baker.
We see him as a real warrior, a guy who comes into the game with a burning intensity that we haven’t seen very often. He may have the best shot we’ve seen at Duke since JJ Redick.
We get the sense that he’s still trying to put the pieces together. Like Redick, he’s not a phenomenal athlete but his burning desire may propel him to unforeseen heights.
We think he’ll put all the pieces together and get there but he’s just not there yet.
Which leads us back to Robinson.
Perhaps the most respected walk-on Duke has ever had - he’s since been put on scholarship - Robinson was called on at Wake Forest and responded magnificently.
As much as anyone this side of the magnificent Jones and young Carey, who is still learning, Robinson demonstrated what Duke Basketball means. If his younger teammates take the lesson, Duke will be fine against NC State and beyond.
- Wolfpack’s goal: be the tougher, better team against Duke again
- Duke lost ugly at Virginia, but Coach K hopes the experience proves valuable
- Duke men’s basketball seeking revenge as it welcomes N.C. State to Cameron
- Jones, Carey and ?: Duke men’s basketball desperate for 3rd scoring option as March begins
- Wolfpack set for rematch with Blue Devils