Duke 79, NC State 56

Just a fantastic game in all aspects yesterday by Duke. Both offensive and defensive execution and efficiency were excellent. NC State was held to just an 80.0 ORating, and their shooting was especially frustrated. Prior to yesterday's game, State was shooting at a .655 EFG% on the conference season. Yesterday, their EFG% was .390, including a 10 for 30 performance on 2s. Duke also forced 20 Pack turnovers in 70 possessions, or 28.6%. On offense, Duke seemed to be able to get into the lane and get open shots at ease. Part of this was the result of superb offensive spacing and very good ball movement. Even though there were still a couple too many turnovers, that is as effective as the offense has run all year. Scheyer and Paulus both had very solid games in the backcourt, and McRoberts was once again magnificent in all aspects of the game. David McClure also played extremely valuable minutes, and although the comparisons to Nate James are certainly warranted, he showed flashes of a game that was more polished, like Carrawell's. McClure had a very nice drive for a layup where he demonstrated great body control, he hit jumpers, and played solid lockdown defense. All in all, it was a very fun game to watch. NC State only kept it as close as it was thanks to a tightly called game and some excellent free throw shooting. Here's the efficiency table for the game:

Player		O Poss.	Points	OPPP	D Poss.	Points	DPPP
McRoberts	ON	63	75	1.190	64	49	0.766
	OFF	5	4	0.800	6	7	1.167
Scheyer	ON	56	70	1.250	58	51	0.879
	OFF	12	9	0.750	12	5	0.417
Nelson	ON	58	73	1.259	59	47	0.797
	OFF	10	6	0.600	11	9	0.818
Paulus	ON	51	62	1.216	52	46	0.885
	OFF	17	17	1.000	18	10	0.556
Henderson	ON	33	30	0.909	33	23	0.697
	OFF	35	49	1.400	37	33	0.892
McClure	ON	46	55	1.196	48	43	0.896
	OFF	22	24	1.091	22	13	0.591
Thomas	ON	18	21	1.167	18	11	0.611
	OFF	50	58	1.160	52	45	0.865
Zoubek	ON	5	4	0.800	6	7	1.167
	OFF	63	75	1.190	64	49	0.766
Pocius	ON	6	5	0.833	7	3	0.429
	OFF	62	74	1.194	63	53	0.841
Davidson	ON	2	0	0.000	2	0	0.000
	OFF	66	79	1.197	68	56	0.824
Johnson	ON	2	0	0.000	2	0	0.000
	OFF	66	79	1.197	68	56	0.824
Pagliuca	ON	0	0	0.000	1	0	0.000
	OFF	68	79	1.162	69	56	0.812
Duke Overall		68	79	1.162	70	56	0.800

A couple comments on the numbers. This was the second straight game during which the offense has struggled (comparatively) with Henderson on the court. It's noticeable watching the games, too - he's the only one of the top 7 in the rotation who looked like he hasn't quite figured out exactly how to move without the ball and where to be in the offense. However, his performance has been steadily improving as conference play roles on. He's no longer only looking to score whenever he gets the ball, and seems more selective about picking his spots. His progress is encouraging. This was also the second consecutive game where the team has been substantially better with Nelson on the court than without. This time the dramatic difference was shown more on offense than on defense, but it's clear that he's equally indispensable as McRoberts. Even on a day where his own personal shooting wasn't as good as it has been this year, the offense as a whole clicked when he was there (witness, for example, two pretty drive-and-dish plays to McRoberts).

Duke tempo-free stats are updated through the NC State game. After tonight's Maryland-Virginia Tech game, conference-only tempo-free team and player stats will make their debut. I'll have some comments about those stats so far when they're updated.