RALEIGH, N.C. — Markell Johnson scored a career-high 28 points, including his third half-court shot this season, to help NC State beat sixth-ranked Duke 88-66 on Wednesday night.
The loss tied the second-largest ever by an AP top-10 Duke team against an unranked opponent. In the 1968 NIT, 10th-ranked Duke lost by 29 to Saint Peter’s. The Blue Devils’ other 22-point loss was in 1956, also against NC State.
Devon Daniels added a career-high 25 points for the Wolfpack (17-9, 8-7 Atlantic Coast Conference), who led by 15 at halftime and by as much as 27 late in a surprisingly lopsided victory against the Blue Devils (22-4, 12-3), who entered the game atop the ACC.
The 22-point win was the Wolfpack’s largest over a top-10 team since 1965, when they beat Saint Joseph’s by 22. It ties their second-largest victory ever against an AP top-10 team.
It was a desperately needed marquee win to boost the NCAA tournament résumé for the Wolfpack, who saw their chance to make the tournament jump from 16% to 26%, according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index (BPI).
With the loss, Duke went from an 82% chance to a 78% chance to secure a 1-seed, and from a 96% chance to an 86% chance to win a share of the ACC title.
Duke has now lost six of eight in PNC Arena dating to 2010, with five of those coming against the Wolfpack and one being an NCAA tournament loss to Mercer in 2014.
Vernon Carey Jr. scored 27 points to lead Duke, which shot 38% and struggled both at the line and from the arc. The Blue Devils made just 4 of 17 3-pointers and 10 of 22 free throws, part of an all-around shaky showing that included a complete inability to slow Johnson and Daniels in the first half.
The two combined for 33 points before intermission to outscore the Blue Devils (29), the last coming when Johnson banked in a runner from just beyond half court for a 44-29 lead at the break.
Duke got as close as 11 with about 11 minutes left, only to see Johnson answer with a 3 before DJ Funderburk followed with a three-point play to push the margin back to 67-52 with 8:31 left.
The lead only grew from there, with Wolfpack fans storming the court to celebrate when the final horn sounded.
BIG PICTURE
Duke: The Blue Devils hadn’t lost since dropping back-to-back games to Clemson and current No. 11 Louisville in mid-January, moving past the Cardinals and into the ACC lead as Louisville stumbled twice last week. Yet they didn’t come out Wednesday with anything approaching the same edge as the Wolfpack, getting down 10-1 out of the gate and watching that margin push well past 20 after halftime. From there, there would be no repeat of the wild comeback at North Carolina, with Duke never getting the lead to single digits after halftime.
NC State: NC State entered Monday ranked No. 60 in the NCAA’s NET rankings with a 4-3 record against Quadrant 1 opponents to top the résumé. Its best win had come in December against a 10-loss Wisconsin team sitting at 30th in the NET. Now Kevin Keatts’ club has something much stronger, thanks in large part to dominating first-half performances from Johnson and Daniels that put the Wolfpack in control from the jump. The team shot 45% for the game.
UP NEXT
Duke: The Blue Devils host Virginia Tech on Saturday.
NC State: Eighth-ranked Florida State visits the Wolfpack on Saturday.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Credit: Source link