ACC Basketball Power Rankings: Duke Blue Devils gelling at the right time

DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - FEBRUARY 10: Teammates Jordan Goldwire #14, Wendell Moore Jr. #0 and Tre Jones #3 of the Duke Blue Devils react after a play against the Florida State Seminoles during their game at Cameron Indoor Stadium on February 10, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

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CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA – MARCH 13: Head coach Kevin Keatts of the NC State Wolfpack (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /

5. NC State Wolfpack (7-7 ACC)

The Wolfpack has an explosive offense though it did let them down over a three-game late January slide, in which they averaged 60.0 points per game. The Wolfpack has picked up over their recent stretch, dropping 83 points in a February 5 road win over Miami (FL) and a 79 in Tuesday’s win at Syracuse.

Senior guard Markell Johnson has been coming off of the bench lately but he is orchestrating the offense well nonetheless. He is averaging 7.6 assists and 4.6 turnovers over his last three games, with junior wing Devon Daniels picking up the scoring slack. Daniels chipped in 14 points in the win over Miami, and a team-high 23 points in the win over the Orange. Daniels has been getting to the free throw line well as of late and has taken a bit of pressure off of senior leader CJ Bryce who is still doing his best to lift this team to a solid place in the NCAA Tournament.

Bryce is averaging 18.6 points over his last three games, two of which are NC State wins over top-110 KenPom teams. Bryce scored 22 points on 50% against Miami and 19 points on 7 shots against Syracuse. When the Wolfpack lost to Boston College on Sunday, Bryce was 0-for-6 from the 3-point line, the first game in which he has gone 0-fer from 3-point range since January 27th. NC State goes as Bryce goes, and they will need the best version of him with daunting matchups with Duke and Florida State coming over the next week.