Playing its second consecutive game against a Tobacco Road rival, No. 8 Duke welcomes NC State to Cameron Indoor Stadium for the 252nd game in the all-time series. The Blue Devils, who are looking for their 150th win over the Wolfpack, have won two straight and seven of the last 10 in the series. Duke is 52-26 at Cameron Indoor and 57-25 under Coach K.
Bouncing back from a two-point setback to Miami, Duke used a 22-1 run that spanned both halves for a decisive 76-64 victory at Wake Forest Wednesday in Winston. Freshman Paolo Banchero and AJ Griffin each had 20-point games.
About Duke
- Paolo Banchero is sixth in the ACC and leads major conference true freshman in scoring (17.7). His six 20-point games match Auburn’s Jabari Smith for the most among major conference true freshmen.
- AJ Griffin made his first career start at Wake Forest and delivered with a career-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-5 from three-point range in a career-high 36 minutes.
- Over Duke’s last seven games, Griffin is averaging 13.1 points, shooting .627 (32-of-51) from the field, .500 (13-of-26) from threepoint range and 18.9 minutes. He averaged just 4.0 points and 10.5 minutes over the first eight games.
- Junior Wendell Moore Jr. made his 30th consecutive start Wednesday and filled the stat sheet with seven points, five rebounds, six assists, no turnovers and three steals — his fifth game this season with five or more assists and one or fewer turnovers.
- Moore leads the ACC in assists (5.0), is third in assist/turnover ratio (2.50), sixth in field goal percentage (.540) and 11th in scoring (15.4).
- Sophomore Mark Williams leads the ACC and ranks 10th nationally in blocked shots, averaging 3.1 per contest. Only six players in the nation have more total blocks this season than Williams’ 47.
- Since the calendar turned to 2022, Duke opponents are shooting just .231 (12-of-52) from three-point range — the fourth best percentage defense by power conference teams in that span (23rd overall).
- Duke has made 44 more free throws than opponents have attempted this season (211-167), which represents the largest disparity in the ACC.
- Duke enters the game with the nation’s third best assist/turnover ratio of 1.75. The Blue Devils also rank top 20 nationally and lead the ACC in field goal shooting (.486) and assists (17.1).
- Duke has had a positive assist/turnover ratio in 13 of 15 games — its only games with a negative ratio was vs. Kentucky (9 turnovers, 8 assists) and vs. Virginia Tech (11, 10).
- Since the calendar turned to 2022, Duke opponents are shooting just .231 (12-of-52) from three-point range — the fourth best percentage defense by power conference teams in that span (23rd overall). Both Virginia Tech and Wake Forest made their fewest number of threes and shot their lowest percentage of the season against the Blue Devils — VT was 5-of-19 (.263), while Wake was 2-of-16 (.125). For the season, Duke is 58th in the NCAA (second in the ACC) in three-point defense (.301).
- Duke leads the ACC and is 15th nationally in blocked shots per game (5.7), paced by the ACC blocks leader, sophomore Mark Williams. Williams has swatted 3.1 shots per game, which ranks 10th nationally. Only eight players nationally have more blocks this season than
Williams’ 47 and his 6.29 blocks per 40 minutes rank second among power conference players
About NC State
- NC State shot a season-high 56.1 percent – including 66.7% in the second half – to go into the KFC Yum! Center and knock off Louisville, 79-63, Wednesday night. The Pack shot a season-high 48 percent (12-of-25) from three-point range and tied its season-high with 12 three-pointers made.
- Freshman guard Terquavion Smith scored 24 points, his high against an ACC opponent, on 9-of-13 shooting. He was 6-of-9 from three-point range. Smith scored 15 of his 24 points in the second half on 6-of-7 shooting.
- Smith has now started the last 10 games for NC State. He is averaging 17.7 points per game since joining the starting lineup and has hit at least three three-pointers in eight of the 10 games. He is averaging 3.83 three-pointers per game in ACC play which is the most of any player in the conference.
- Senior forward Jericole Hellems added 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, 5-of-7 from three-point range. Hellems and Smith combined to shoot 11-of-16 from three-point range. He added a career-high three blocks.
- Redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron added 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting and led the team with seven rebounds and five assists. Seabron has now led NC State in scoring nine times, in rebounding 16 times and in assists 12 times this season. He is the only player in the ACC to lead his team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals.
- Seabron averages 19.8 points and 9.8 rebounds to lead the Pack in both, while Jericole Hellems (14.5) and Smith (14.4) also average in double figures. Seabron is third in the ACC in scoring, second in rebounds and leads the league in offensive rebounds (3.4).
- State leads the ACC in offensive rebounds per game (12.4) and only 14 teams nationally have been to the line more than the Wolfpack’s 255 attempts.
- NC State head coach Kevin Keatts is in his fifth season with the program and has led the Pack to nine wins over ranked opponents in his tenure. Keatts has a 5-8 record at NC State against teams ranked in the top-10. He has led NC State to victories over No. 2 Arizona (90-84 on 11/27/17), No. 2 Duke (96-85 on 1/6/18), No. 6 Duke (88-66 on 2/19/20), No. 7 Auburn (78-71 on 12/19/18) and No. 10 North Carolina (95-91 on 1/27/18).
- NC State has won seven of its last eight ACC road games. The Pack ended last season by winning its final five conference road games. The five-game conference road winning streak was the most since the 1973-74 season. NC State dropped its ACC road opener this season to Miami, 91-83, but won at Virginia Tech (68-63) and Louisville (79-63) in its last two road outings.
- Saturday’s game will be the first for NC State on ABC since Jan. 31, 2009 when the Pack hosted North Carolina. NC State is 4-14 all-time on ABC.
- Senior guard Thomas Allen missed the final eight games of last season because of an ankle injury and his senior season got off to a slow start as well. Through the first 10 games he played in this season, Allen had made only six field goals and scored 18 points total. But Allen has been a different player since coming back from Christmas break. In the first game after the break, Allen was 6-of-10 shooting and scored 13 points off the bench for NC State. Overall, in 10 games before Christmas, Allen averaged 1.8 points per game. In the five games since coming back from Christmas break, Allen is averaging 9.0 points per game and has passed out 14 assists while committing just two turnovers.
- Saturday is a matchup of two of the highest scoring freshmen in the country. Duke’s Paolo Banchero leads all true freshmen in the NCAA in scoring at 17.7 points per game. NC State’s Terquavion Smith ranks third in the ACC among true freshmen in scoring (14.4 points per game) and is fifth in all of NCAA DI. Smith has started the last 10 games for NC State and since joining the starting lineup is averaging 17.7 points per game. With 46 three-pointers this season, Smith has hit the second-most three-pointers of any freshmen in
NCAA DI.
- NC State has hit 42 three-pointers in its last four games and has hit at least nine in all of those games. In the first 13 games of the season, NC State only hit more than nine three-pointers in a game two times. The Pack has twice hit 12 three-pointers in a game in the last four outings, including in Wednesday night’s win at Louisville when NC State shot a season-best 48.0% from long-range (12-of-25). Terquavion Smith with 23 three-pointers has the most of any player in the ACC in conference play.
Duke vs NC State
- Saturday’s game is the 252nd meeting between Duke and NC State with the Blue Devils looking for their 150th win in the series.
- Duke leads the all-time series, 149-102, and has won two straight and seven of the last 10.
- Behind 24 points from Matthew Hurt, Duke took the teams’ lone meeting last season at PNC Arena, 69-53, on Feb. 13. Mark Williams added 13 points, five rebounds and five blocks in the win.
- NC State is Duke’s third most-frequently played opponent behind Wake Forest (256 games) and North Carolina (255).
How to Watch
Time: 2:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ABC (Bob Wischusen, Debbie Antonelli)
Stream: Watch ESPN
Radio: Blue Devils Sports Network (David Shumate, John Roth)
Per Release
