The NC State men’s basketball team earned a huge upset victory over its Tobacco Road rival, the No. 17 Duke Blue Devils, 84-82, in Cameron Indoor Stadium Monday night.
The Wolfpack won its first game in Cameron Indoor Stadium since Jan. 18, 1995. Blue Devils (15-5, 3-4 ACC) head coach Mike Krzyzewski was also absent during that game while recovering from back surgery.
Poor defense once again plagued the Wolfpack (14-7, 3-5) to start the contest, as it allowed the Devils to shoot 6 of 14 from deep and 56.7 percent from the floor in the opening half of action. Duke moved the ball around and spread the wealth, resulting in 16 assists on 30 made baskets for the night. The Blue Devils got just about any look it wanted at the basket in the first 20 minutes, and even when they missed it was rarely a result of the Pack’s defensive efforts.
NC State’s forwards could not find an answer for Duke freshman forward Jayson Tatum. Tatum took the ball to the rack at-will, and refused to be kept off the glass. The freshman phenom finished with 16 points and nine rebounds.
However, the Wolfpack would not go down without a fight. Freshman guard Dennis Smith Jr. found a counter to Duke’s offensive attack. Smith tallied 18 of his 32 total points in the first half alone. The elusively quick guard finished the night with 32 points, six assists and four rebounds.
“[Smith] has that look in his eyes sometimes where you just can tell that he’s gonna play at a high level,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “Today he was just spectacular.”
What was a ‘one-man circus’ of Smith by himself in the opening half turned into a team effort when the Pack came back on the court after halftime. NC State went on a tear to begin the final 20 minutes of the contest, going on a 13-2 run and taking the lead for the first time since the 17:16 mark of the first half.
During the stretch, State received production from its bigs and worked the ball inside and out. Junior forward Abdul-Malik Abu and freshman forward Ted Kapita provided the Wolfpack offense with the second dimension it desperately needed.
Abu added 19 points for NC State, and his handful of monstrous jams energized his teammates. The big man was very efficient, shooting 8 of 12 from the floor while also contributing on the backboards with nine rebounds.
The biggest surprise, and ‘x-factor’ of the game was Kapita, who arguably had the best game of his young career. The Congo native had a double-double, pitching in 14 points and 10 rebounds. This performance came after being benched in the Wolfpack’s last two contests. Clearly not registering double-digit minutes since Dec. 31 at Miami was just the motivation Kapita needed.
“I know how hard I can play, it was hard for me not playing two games,” Kapita said. “I went to my room and I was kind of mad, but the best thing I could do was get in the gym and work hard.”
While the Wolfpack got some production where they may not have expected it, Smith continues to be the driving force of this team. This is his third game with 30-plus points — production that the Pack will need to make a run down the stretch after a slow start to conference play.
“We’re better than a lot of people think,” Smith said. “We never got down on each other; we always believed in each other, the team, and the staff. We believe we’re gonna do great things this year.”
For the night though, the Wolfpack deserves to live in the moment.
“My dream was always to win in Cameron and I got that,” Abu said.
NC State next takes on No.13 Louisville (16-4, 4-3) Sunday on the road, hoping to build on this momentum. For Smith, this win is just one step in the direction the team hopes to head.
“We have a lot of time to recuperate we’re gonna relax and then get back to practice and compete hard,” Smith said.
Christian Rust, a sophomore studying chemical and textile engineering, celebrates with his friends at the belltower after the men's basketball team beat No. 17 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Jan 23. Rust was one of the first students to reach the belltower after the win. The basketball team had not won at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 1995.
