Duke Stumbles in ACC Quarters, Filipowski Shines

WASHINGTON D.C. - No. 11 Duke’s run in the ACC Tournament came to a disappointing end Thursday night, as the Blue Devils fell 74-69 to NC State in the quarterfinals at Capital One Arena.

Despite a monster performance from sophomore big man Kyle Filipowski, who poured in 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, Duke couldn’t overcome the hot-shooting Wolfpack. NC State knocked down several timely threes and capitalized on second-chance opportunities to hold off Mike Krzyzewski’s former team.

“It’s a disappointing loss for us,” said first-year Duke head coach Jon Scheyer. “We wanted to make a run at this thing…I just thought they had the will to win, which is what you need. But we didn’t have that collectively.”

The game opened with an offensive slog, as neither team scored for the first three minutes. The Blue Devils took a brief 28-24 lead late in the first half on the strength of Filipowski’s inside dominance. But NC State closed the period on a 5-0 spurt to take a 29-28 edge into the locker room.

The Wolfpack extended their margin to nine early in the second stanza before Duke made a push. Filipowski sparked a 7-2 run with back-to-back buckets to pull within five at 48-43. However, NC State answered with a 7-2 burst of its own to re-establish a double-digit cushion.

Duke hung around and clawed within two points in the final seconds thanks to Filipowski’s relentless effort. But the Blue Devils’ comeback bid fell just short, as NC State secured the final rebound and ran out the clock.

“For me, it’s even more of a wake-up call,” said Filipowski. “We just have to want it more than any other team we play against.”

In addition to Filipowski’s dominant outing, sophomore wing Mark Mitchell chipped in 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while freshman guard Tyrese Proctor tallied 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 40 minutes of action.

With the loss, Duke’s ACC Tournament run ends sooner than expected. But the Blue Devils, now 24-8 on the season, will quickly turn their attention to the bigger prize - an NCAA Tournament bid.

Duke will await its seeding and first-round matchup, which will be unveiled on Selection Sunday. The 68-team field for the Big Dance will be announced this Sunday, March 12th on CBS.