January 4, 2023
In a career game for NC State's DJ Burns, who looked reminecicnt of Reggie Johnson from Miami in 2013. In a unreal shooting night for Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner. In a night where Duke played what may have been the worst game I've seen during my time watching the Blue Devils. When it comes to that night, I was there. My partner and friends from high school were standing next to me in the NC State student section (I had a guest ticket), which made it a lot easier than if I had been around strangers. Still, it's never easy to watch the team you invest so much time in get dismantled the way Duke did.
The fans and mascots gave me a lot of crap, and I really can't blame them. NC State won in a commanding fashion. They had Duke scared and making mistakes from tip to buzzer. The Blue Devils were flustered and never managed to make it a game. The entire crowd was eating up every hookshot from Burns, or "Jokic Jr" as I dubbed him for the night. I received many mocking crying jesters from a NC State band member (also on record, I'm absoutely not complaining, the heckling was in good fun and I thought a lot of it was funny myself). The mascot (Mrs. Wuf that is) took my hat for a minute. It was a brutal time for me from the jump. Duke didn't score for the first 8 minutes, and that was just the start of two hours of me closing my eyes every time NC State shot a three, only to open them to red and white pom poms waving all around me as the crowd erupted...again...and again.
At the end of the first half, Jon Scheyer made a really, really questionable coaching call when he told Jaylen Blakes to foul multiple times in an attempt to stop NC State from making a momentum gaining shot at the buzzer. I saw what he was doing and explained it to my friends only to turn around and see the Wolfpack drill a shot at the buzzer. Blakes had two more fouls and State still had the momentum. The epitome of brutality. And really that play summarizes the whole night. Something that has me screaming "Why?" Or simply "Ughhhh" and then a State bucket and a crowd eruption.
Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with my partner and friends, but man next time I go to a Duke road game I just hope it's closer.
Oh, and PLAYER OF THE GAME: Dariq Whitehead (12 PTS & 4/7 3PT), he made some threes and his shooting was one of the only bright spots from the night, if not the only.
From Raleigh, this is Duke Wisdom signing off
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