Duke Basketball: 3 takeaways for Blue Devils home victory over NC State

When they went inside, they scored

Regardless of the score during the first half of Big Monday’s game on ESPN, the Blue Devils did not stop shooting, and they shot from deep. On the night they made five of the fifteen shots beyond the arc, the difference was the split between the halves.

In the first, half Duke made four of 12 3-pointers which culminated in a 2 point lead at halftime. During the second half when Duke extended their lead and eventually put the game out of reach, they shot just three 3-pointers and made one. On the season Duke averages 20 three-point shot attempts per game and hit 34%. Their success rate has been considerably worse in losing 3 of their last 4, before Monday’s tip. In those three losses, they shot 26% from the arc, but still shot seventeen shots twice and 23 once.

The obvious correlation is that when they make more three-pointers they will more games. What Coach K needs to take away from this game is the fact that Duke needs to get the ball inside more often.

It cannot be overlooked that Carey Jr. is not the typical back to the basket player, who will be sealing off his defender and utilizing a drop step into the paint, but he needs to get more shots in the second half, despite going 3 for 3 with all three shots in the paint. It was Stanley who was getting to the rim in the second half.