ATLANTA (AP) – Duke hopes the biggest mistake it makes in its quest for a third straight Atlantic Coast Conference championship is one by a team manager.
|  | | Shane Battier leans in to draw a foul against North Carolina State's Ron Kelley. Battier scored 16 points. |
The Blue Devils (No. 2 ESPN/USA Today, No. 3 AP) forgot their home uniforms, but didn't
miss a beat as Jason Williams scored 10 of his 19 points during a
15-0 first-half run in a 76-61 victory over North Carolina State in
the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament Friday night.
"Our managers usually do an excellent job," Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski said after his team improved to 27-4. "They made a
mistake. I told the kids to forget it. Herb (Sendek) was great. He
told us they were wearing red so we didn't have to wear our underwear."
Duke's white uniforms and warmups were being shipped from North Carolina and were expected to arrive in time for Saturday's semifinals.
"It was kind of crazy that we found out five minutes before we
went out that we were going to wear black when we thought we were
wearing white," Williams said. "They had to buy some T-shirts for
us, but we didn't let that distract us mentally. We just stayed with it."
Duke wasn't particularly sharp in this one, shooting 41 percent
and getting its second-lowest point total of the season. But the
Blue Devils' defense was top-notch, forcing 22 Wolfpack turnovers.
"We played great defense for a long period of time," Williams said. "We kept getting stops and that was crucial for us to build on our lead."
The win was Duke's 10th straight over the Wolfpack (13-16),
seventh straight in the ACC postseason and moved Krzyzewski within
two of No. 600 victories for his career.
Chris Duhon made his second start with center Carlos Boozer out
with a broken bone in his right foot and was impressive again,
scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds. Shane Battier added 16
points.
Anthony Grundy scored 10 of N.C. State's first 14 points, but
finished with just 11 as the Wolfpack fell to 1-11 this season
against ranked teams.
Duke is trying to become just the third team in the 48-year
history of the ACC to win three straight championships. N.C. State
did it in 1954-56 and North Carolina in 1967-69.
The second-seeded Blue Devils got off to a poor start in their
black uniforms instead of the customary white, which is the norm
for the higher seed.
Duke missed 14 of its first 18 shots, including 1-for-8 from
3-point range, before Williams and the defense picked it up a
notch.
Trailing by three, Duke scored on six straight possessions as
Williams had two layups, a fast-break slam and a 3-pointer that
gave the Blue Devils a 31-19 lead 5:39 before the break.
Nate James and Battier also sank 3-pointers during the run, but
the nation's top shooting team from long range had an off night,
going 7-for-22 from beyond the arc.
The seventh-seeded Wolfpack dictated the tempo for the opening
10 minutes, then ran into a Duke defense that began to trap and
force miscues.
N.C. State turned it over on four straight possessions during
Duke's spurt and finished with 15 turnovers in the opening 20
minutes to trail by 14 at the break.
That was bad news against Duke, which is 25-2 when leading at
halftime.
"Turnovers killed us," Wolfpack guard Archie Miller said. "It
was even, even, even and you just can't turn the ball over. You
have to be able to match Duke. If you don't get possessions at the
rim it's going in their favor."
Battier was just 2-for-11 in the first half, but made two free
throws, a shot in the lane and a 3-pointer in the opening 5:23 of
the second half as Duke went up 51-33. The Wolfpack never
threatened again.
The defeat was the first opening-round loss in the tournament
for fifth-year Wolfpack coach Sendek, who upset highly ranked Duke
in 1997 and reached the finals.
"To have the season end is the worst possible feeling you can
ever have," Miller said when asked if he was somewhat relieved a
rough year was now over.
"We worked really hard and put a lot of time and effort in and
we really can't fault that. We've just come up on the short end."
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
North Carolina State Clubhouse
Duke Clubhouse
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Duke's Jason Williams gets the steal, then brings it the other way for the jam.
avi: 587 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Chris Duhon finds the wide open lane and drives to the hoop for the easy 2.
avi: 1117 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Duke's Nate James gets the ball all alone for the two-handed jam.
avi: 718 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
NC State's Damien Wilkens blocks Shane Battier to kick-start a fast break finished by Anthony Grundy.
avi: 642 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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