NC State blows out No. 17 Duke behind Smith & Joiner

RALEIGH, NC — Terquavion Smith led the NC State Wolfpack with a game-high 24 points en route to a blowout upset 84-60 victory over No. 16 Duke on Wednesday night.

Smith has scored in double figures in all 16 games this season and Wednesday’s performance was his fifth 20-point performance of the season. The Wolfpack victory improves them to 12-4 on the season and 2-3 in ACC play after losing to conference foe Clemson last Friday.

The matchup became lopsided early as NC State opened out on a 15-0 run in the first six minutes of action. DJ Burns Jr. scored eight of the Wolfpack’s 15 points during that run and finished the contest with a season-high 18 points and a career-high four blocks.

Buckets from Jarkel Joiner would extend the NC State lead to as much as 17 during this stretch. The Blue Devils however would spark a 9-2 run behind buckets from freshman Dariq Whitehead. Whitehead finished with 12 points off the bench with all of his points coming from beyond the arc.

An 8-2 swing in favor of NC State was led by Smith, bringing the Wolfpack lead back to 18. A buzzer-beating three-pointer from Jarkel Joiner to end the half extended that lead to 22 points. Joiner played an immense role in the success of NC State, finishing with 21 points, a season-high nine assists and six rebounds.

The Blue Devils shot poorly in the first half, shooting just 29% from the field and committed 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes of action.

NC State refused to let up in the second half, coming out on an 8-0 run with all eight points coming solely from Smith. The Wolfpack lead would grow to as much as 29 in the final minutes of the game.

“We have to take pride in this loss. Road games are always tough,” team captain Jeremy Roach told the media after the game. “Everyone is always going to try and have their best games against us and it’ll be even harder on the road. We’ll learn from this and be ready for Boston College on Saturday.”

No. 16 Duke’s loss tonight marks their largest loss against an unranked ACC opponent in Blue Devils history.

The Wolfpack look to stay hot on Saturday on the road against Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m., who have lost their last two games. Duke on the other hand will attempt to bounce back on Saturday also as they take on Boston College at 1 p.m.