Tracy Smith scored 23 points, Dennis Horner added 20 and North
Carolina State stunned No. 7 Duke 88-74 on Wednesday night.
Javi Gonzalez had 15 points for the Wolfpack (13-6, 2-3
Atlantic Coast Conference), including a critical 3-pointer that
beat the shot clock with about four minutes left. It was N.C.
State's first home win against Duke since 2004 and the first win
against the Blue Devils overall since the first round of the 2007
ACC tournament.
By the time it was over, Wolfpack fans were charging the
court for the kind of home win they haven't savored since an upset
of highly ranked rival North Carolina in coach Sidney Lowe's first
season.
Kyle Singler scored 22 points to lead the Blue Devils (15-3,
3-2), who fell behind by double figures in the first half and by as
many as 17 points in the second half.
This was hardly the outcome anyone could have expected.
Despite a tough loss at Georgia Tech earlier this month, Duke had
looked every bit like the top team in the ACC. All three of the
Blue Devils' league wins had come by at least 20 points, while
their defense had allowed less than half of teams to even crack 40
percent shooting against them.
N.C. State, meanwhile, was picked to finish last in the
league in the preseason and was still struggling to gain its
footing in Lowe's fourth season as coach at the program he helped
lead to a national championship as a player.
Yet behind Smith -- and perhaps some more magic in Lowe's red
coat he wears for rivalry games -- N.C. State hit shot after shot
to build a 10-point first-half lead, then pushed that margin all
the way to 69-52 on Horner's dunk with 8:53 left.
Perhaps even more surprising, the same team that couldn't
hold late leads in home losses to Florida and Virginia this month
never let the Blue Devils back in it. Duke clawed to within eight
points three times, yet couldn't get enough stops against the
sharp-shooting Wolfpack to make it even tighter.
The last time came at 74-66, and Gonzalez answered by
draining a long 3-pointer over the outstretched arm of 6-foot-10
Miles Plumlee to beat the shot clock and push the lead back to
double figures with 3:50 left. Duke got no closer than nine points
the rest of the night.
Smith shot 10 for 12 to lead a balanced offense that had five
players in double figures. Most impressively, N.C. State shot 58
percent -- including 64 percent in a first-half performance that
charged up the home crowd -- while the Blue Devils hit just 39
percent.
As the final seconds ticked away, Smith motioned to the
roaring crowd to get even louder, while teammate Farnold Degand
simply extended his arms in the air. When the horn sounded, Lowe
broke into a big smile and pumped his fists at his players before
being mobbed by his assistant coaches and disappearing in the crowd
of red-clad fans running to midcourt to celebrate.
