The top two teams showed why they are at the top of the conference on Thursday night, as they tallied two convincing wins. Before we get into the action, we have some injury news.
Demontez Stitt out 2 Weeks
Clemson's freshman point guard, Demontez Stitt, will be out 2 weeks after tearing a ligament in his knee in practice. Look for Terrence Oglesby and David Potter to see more action in Stitt's absence.
UNC 91 Boston College 69 (Box Score)
Remember those defensive problems that UNC has struggled with for much of the year? Well, the Heels took some steps in the right direction in their win over BC. The Tar Heels held BC to 42% shooting from the field, forced 17 turnovers, and dominated the glass to a 17 rebound advantage.
Offensively, the Heels were as efficient as expected, with Ty Lawson leading the charge with 16 points, 10 assists, and 3 steals while not turning the ball over in his 28 minutes of action. Tyler Hansbrough led the Heels in scoring with 18 points and 6 rebounds, while Deon Thompson notched his biggest scoring output of the season with 17 points and 6 rebounds.
For BC, there just simply aren't enough impact scorers. Tyrese Rice got his 20 points on 6-15 shooting and Rakim Sanders got his 16 points on 19 field goal attempts, but too much of their offense was spent attacking one-on-one.
Roy Williams knew the win was all about his team's defensive intensity...
I thought it was a heck of a lot better than that last game here when we played Maryland to say the least. I thought around the nine-minute mark down in the end of the first half, it was the most active defensively that we had been all year. We got some turnovers and some deflections, all of the sudden we were running out in the break. It goes from a four or six point game to sixteen at half. And I thought that was biggest part of the game really--how active we were at that point defensively. We came in after halftime, and we thought we had been really active, but they still shot 43% but I think they had turned it over 11 times in the first half. We had 16 points off the break at that point. It was a big key to the game. Then early in the second half, they missed their first four or five shots, and we made our first four or five. Then after that we couldn't throw it in the ocean, but I'm very pleased to have five guys in double figures.
Duke 92 NC State 72 (Box Score)
If you turned this one off at halftime, then you missed the game. The Blue Devils won this one by 20 despite trailing at halftime by 9 points. To the victorious Blue Devils, who were led by great shooting night from Greg Paulus, who finished with 22 points. Paulus also added 6 assists and 5-8 shooting from three point range, and a number of threes that came at key points in stopping NC State from getting back into the game. Kyle Singler (19 pts), Demarcus Nelson (18 pts, 5 rebs), and Gerald Henderson (18 pts, 6 rebs) also tallied double-figures for the Blue Devils.
For NC State, Gavin Grant led the way with 26 points, while JJ Hickson added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Last year's Brandon Costner showed up for at least part of the game, as Costner scored 14 points in 20 minutes of action, with 9 of his points coming from the free throw line.
So, how did the Wolfpack manage to stay with the Blue Devils in the first half? The key to beating any Duke team is to attack, and the Wolfpack did so successfully. Instead of dribbling side-to-side, the Pack attacked the paint. As a result, the Blue Devils picked up a number of fouls and the Wolfpack lived on the free throw line. In the second half things changed, and specifically Duke started to playing defense without fouling, and the NC State couldn't match Duke's intensity any longer.
Coach K saw a tale of two halves...
This was a tale of two different halves, obviously. They outplayed us in the first half and we outplayed them in the second half. I think they’re a good team. (Javier) Gonzalez did a good job for them, especially in the first half not turning it over and getting them into sets. (Gavin) Grant gave them such a verve early, and then (Brandon) Costner did too and we were just knocked back. We couldn’t turn them over and then we started fouling. We didn’t play a very intelligent first half and they took advantage. Then our kids played a great second half. You can’t play too much better than we did in the second half. We were down to 10 in rebounding in the first half and then we ended up outrebounding them. Our three-point shooting was sensational in the first half, but it’s because we really shared the ball. There were some really beautiful connecting plays. Our defense was outstanding. We played so well in the second half and I thought we were deserving of the win.
Sidney Lowe saw his team's lack
