Duke Basketball: Confident Blue Devils need a fast start against NC State

The Duke Basketball team is back home at Cameron Indoor Stadium and hosting the North Carolina State Wolfpack on Saturday evening.

The first opening minutes of Saturday’s game between Duke and NC State will be critical for the Blue Devils.

Like in Tuesday’s comeback win, Duke got punched in the mouth for the first 30 minutes of the game and did not have a response until the last 10 minutes.

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Coming off the biggest comeback victory in the Coach K era and with North Carolina looming on Wednesday night, this is yet another trap game for the Blue Devils and the team has to come out and assert itself in the first half against the Wolfpack.

Duke is in the midst of its toughest stretch of the season and has passed the first two tests on the road against Virginia and Louisville, but now will return home for two games before heading back out on the road.

The Blue Devils already have the motivation of trying to stay as the top team in the ACC in the quest for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but thanks to NC State’s DJ Funderbunk, Duke has some extra motivation.

Funderbunk told the Raleigh News & Observer that he is ready for every player on Duke’s team and doesn’t see anything special in this Duke team because both teams must put on its sneakers and go out and play on Saturday.

Funderbunk also addressed the monster that is Zion Williamson and said that he is not a special player in his eyes.

Zion is averaging 22.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.3 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game, all while shooting 68.0% from the field. Williamson is also the runaway leader thus far for the National Player of the Year Award.

As for Funderbunk, he is only averaging 18.6 minutes per game and 8.6 points and 4.0 rebounds, so he’s not exactly the player that should be poking the giant.

In home games against Georgia Tech and Boston College, the Blue Devils got a bit of a wake up call by trailing at halftime but nothing was like the wake up call the team received on Tuesday night, down by as many as 23 points with just over nine minutes to go.

After a 25 point swing in those nine minutes, Duke will carry the momentum into Saturday and will try to put NC State away early in the first half, and cruise in the second half to the rivalry showdown on Wednesday night.

The Blue Devils and Wolfpack tip-off at 6:00 pm ET from Cameron Indoor Stadium and the game can be seen on ESPN.

PREDICTION: Duke 93, NC State 74

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

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