RALEIGH – In a game decided by defense, Wake Forest proved tougher on Sunday afternoon, staggering N.C. State en route to a 70-57 victory at Reynolds Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons – mixing full and half-court traps – smothered the Wolfpack and pulled ahead late in the second half. They held on for the win and sent the sold-out crowd home disappointed after they had filled the venue for the seventh annual Hoops 4 Hope event.
Of Duke-UNC scheduling, Atlanta's increasingly soft market, NCAA futures and 14-team tournament formats.
No. 10 Duke had a strong second half Saturday afternoon, maintaining its momentum from Wednesday’s win over North Carolina with a 73-55 victory against Maryland at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
From Miles Plumlee’s monster effort on the glass (22 rebounds, an all-time high for a Mike Krzyzewski-coached team) to Seth Curry’s steady offensive performance, there were a lot of things the Blue Devils had to like about the win.
Here are three of the more encouraging things Duke can take from the victory:
Wednesday’s loss to Duke left North Carolina’s Tyler Zeller so depressed that Tar Heel coach Roy Williams resorted to gallows humor in hopes of lifting the player’s spirits.
UNC's freshman guard is battling a foot injury.
Several Tampa area news outlets are reporting that former UNC football coach Butch Davis could soon join the Tampa Bays Buccaneers staff.
Davis was fired by North Carolina and given a $2.7 million payoff in July 2011.
The Bucs hired former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano on Jan. 26. Raheem Morris was fired as the Bucs’ coach after the 2011 team finished 4-12.
ATLANTA -- N.C. State’s 61-52 ACC victory against Georgia Tech on Thursday was built on the memories of what happened the last time the two teams played.
It was a month ago, when the Yellow Jackets exposed the Wolfpack defensively, shooting 51 percent in an 82-71 win in Raleigh.
“That hurt us,” said Wolfpack Mark Gottfried.
But it also served N.C. State well on Thursday in Philips Arena. The Wolfpack (18-7, 7-3 ACC) clamped down defensively on Georgia Tech (9-15, 2-8), forcing the Yellow Jackets into a 32.2 percent shooting night on its way to a third consecutive triumph.
As Austin Rivers comes down from his adrenaline rush of a Wednesday night, the person who may have the best idea of how Rivers’ one shot will affect his Duke legacy is Jeff Capel.
It’s conceivable that Rivers’ game-winning 3-pointer was the Blue Devils’ most memorable shot in the series with North Carolina since Capel hit a running 30-footer at the end of the first overtime of the teams’ Feb. 2, 1995 game.
There are differences between the two buzzer-beaters, with the most notable being that Capel’s effort didn’t win the game for Duke – North Carolina ended up outlasting Duke 102-100 in double overtime.
Three N.C. State basketball recruits have been selected to play in the 35th McDonald's All-America boys basketball game on March 28 in Chicago.
The Wolfpack recruits are Rodney Purvis of Raleigh Upper Room; Tyler Lewis, who played at Forsyth Country Day in 2010-11 and is at Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill this season; and T.J. Warren, who played at Durham Riverside and Raleigh Word of God before going to Brewster Academy for this season.
All three grew up playing in North Carolina.
Duke recruit Rasheed Sulaimon of Houston (Texas) Strake Jesuit and North Carolina recruit Marcus Page of Linn-Marr (Iowa) Marion also are on the all-star team.
Devils' Dennard, Heels' Kenny Smith and Pack's Fuller among those to be honored
