NC State junior point guard Anthony Barber has been on a scoring binge of late with at least 30 points in four of the last five games.
The pressure to create and score will be put on Barber’s 6-foot-2, 190-pound frame again this Saturday at unranked Duke (16-6 overall, 5-4 ACC). Barber joined NC State legend David Thompson in passing the 30-point plateau in three straight games.
Barber had 19 of his 31 points in the second half at Florida State on Monday, which coincided with the Wolfpack (12-11 overall, 2-8 ACC) changing both their offensive system and personnel preference.
NC State turned to small ball in a more extensive matter, even playing freshman small forward Shaun Kirk for four minutes. The moves paid off in trying to overcome a steep 38-26 halftime deficit. The contingent of Barber, Caleb Martin, Cody Martin, Maverick Rowan (or Kirk) and a post player opened up the floor and gave Barber even more ball screens and one-on-one opportunities. NC State shot 17 of 29 from the field for 58.6 percent in the second half of the 77-73 loss.
“A lot of that [success] had to do with the small lineup on the floor,” Gottfried said. “We attacked the basket with the small group. We’ll see if that is something we need to look at in the future.
“For us, you have to remember that when we go small, we don’t have a lot of small guys. At some point by our sheer numbers, we have to play two bigs in the game together just because guys need a blow here and there.”
Barber thought the Wolfpack gained an advantage by having an extra ballhandler and athlete on the court against the Seminoles.
“Once they trapped me, you could put Cody in the middle and Caleb and Maverick outside to shoot the ball,” Barber said. “Cody can facilitate and see open guys. I think it helped us.”
Barber has also played all 40 minutes the last three games, and has achieved playing at least 40 minutes in 11 contests this year. He doesn’t think it has slowed him down at all in his attempt at becoming an All-ACC player and player of the year contender.
“I pace myself,” said Barber, who leads the league with 23.4 points per game. “I go hard but I still pace myself. I have great stamina. I feel like I can go hard and play the whole game every time.”
Barber played with forward T.J. Warren in 2013-2014, when the future Phoenix Suns lottery pick led the ACC in scoring at 24.9 points per game en route to going to 22-14 and 9-9 in the ACC. Warren topped Duke’s Jabari Parker to win the ACC player of the year award, but even Warren didn’t have three-straight games of 30-plus points like Barber. However, Barber has yet to have back-to-back 41- and- 42-point games like Warren achieved at Pittsburgh and vs. Boston College respectively.
“T.J. is a great player and he put up numbers because of the player he is,” Barber said. “I remember it like it was yesterday. T.J. is a great player and I’m a great player. He put up numbers and I’m putting up numbers, but our games are different.”
Duke has been playing small ball but mostly due to injury. Senior power forward Amile Jefferson got hurt in the 10th game of the Blue Devils have trusted newcomers Chase Jeter and Sean Obi.
Jefferson is expected back later this month, but won’t be playing against NC State, who were the runner-ups in his recruitment. Another former NCSU target has been playing power forward, freshman Brandon Ingram of Kinston, N.C. If the Wolfpack elect to go with a smaller lineup, sophomore Cody Martin could be getting the assignment against Ingram.
The one-two punch of Ingram and sophomore guard Grayson Allen combined for 53 points in the Blue Devils’ 88-78 win Jan. 23 in Raleigh. Both teams gave each other a lot of different looks, and that chess match will likely continue Saturday. Ingram and Barber in particular both present matchup concerns.
“I think every team has tried something a little bit different to slow Cat down, whether it’s picking up fullcourt pressure, doubling him with different guys on the floor,” Gottfried said. “I think we’ve seen a lot and not sure there is a whole lot left to discover to go against.”
One of the key turning points was when Barber banged his knee with 12:11 left in the game. He rested for 40 seconds and played the rest of the way, but wasn’t the same player or otherwise he might have five straight games of reaching at least 30 points. Duke took advantage and broke a 56-56 game open for the win.
“It’s going to be hard to go into Cameron and try and beat them,” Barber said. “That is where we are at right now. It was frustrating because I was having a good game until something happened to my knee, they bumped it. I couldn’t really move the way I wanted to move. I wasn’t 100 percent. I wasn’t trying to go into the lane and hurt it more.”
