Quick hits and notes from NC State Wolfpack basketball’s 69-53 loss to Duke inside PNC Arena on Tuesday evening.

It's hard to pinpoint one because this game was dominated by Duke. We'll go with Duke sophomore forward Matthew Hurt's third three of the first half that put the Blue Devils up 19-10. That was part of an 8-0 run that started to put the contest away.

Head coach Kevin Keatts then called a timeout with 11:54 left in the first half in what proved to be a futile attempt to stop the bleeding.

Believe it or not, NC State actually had the better "highlight plays." Here are a couple that stood out.

Hurt was on fire for Duke. He made 8 of 10 shots from the field, including 6 of 7 three-pointers, and connected on both of his free throws to finish with a game-high 24 points.

Hurt did not do much else, statistically. He had just two rebounds and a blocked shot and actually spent much of the first half on the bench with two early fouls, but his shooting stood out in the lopsided affair.

Hurt had come into this game on a bit of a prolonged shooting slump. In his last five games, Hurt had not made multiple threes in any of them and was just 5 of 22 from long range in that stretch.

This game was somewhat a reversal of the NC State blowout of Boston College last week in Chestnut Hill.

Duke was ahead 11-10 after junior forward Jericole Hellems' fast break dunk (see highlights of the game) with 14:15 left. What ensued was a dominating run that put the contest into ugly territory for the Wolfpack. Over the next eight minutes, the Blue Devils went on a crushing 22-3 run and was up 33-13 before another Hellems dunk slowed the momentum.

The closest NC State got from that point forward was 16 points, once when it scored four straight points at that point, and the other when it finished the contest on an 11-3 run for the final margin, capped by a three-pointer from freshman guard Shakeel Moore with 14.3 seconds left.

The overwhelming storyline for this game was the same as the last one, a home loss to Syracuse: too many turnovers. NC State had 13 at halftime before finishing with 18. Against the Orange, the Wolfpack also had 13 turnovers at the break before concluding with 20.

Once again, it was a team-wide issue. Six of the eight primary players in the rotation finished with multiple turnovers, led by freshman guard Cam Hayes' four and senior guard Braxton Beverly's three.

Keatts was blunt after the game, at one point telling reporters any question they may have about the game, he will quickly turn back around to the turnovers. He stated, on multiple occasions, that NC State's ball security "stinks" at the moment.

Conversely, Duke turned it over just 13 times, and the Blue Devils enjoyed a sizable 22-10 edge in points off turnovers.

In the first 13 games of the year, NC State had more points off turnovers than its opponents. In three of the last four it has been opposite, and the negative-12 differential on Saturday was the worst, by five points from its loss at Florida State, of the season for NC State.

For just the second time this year, Keatts maximized the height in his front court in his starting lineup.

Fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk joined junior forward Jericole Hellems and redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates in the starting lineup. The three were joined by Moore and redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen in the Wolfpack's first five, marking the 10th different starting lineup combination of the year.

For Funderburk, it is his first start since the loss at UNC on Jan. 23. He responded with 11 points and five rebounds in 35 minutes.

Moore, making just the second start of his career, had a team-high 13 points in the loss, notably scoring the last eight Wolfpack points.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:28: Duke 10, NC State 8

15:28-11:54: Duke 9, NC State 2

11:54-7:48: Duke 9, NC State 2

7:48-4:25: NC State 5, Duke 5

4:25-Halftime: Duke 6, NC State 4

Second half

20:00-15:24: Duke 7, NC State 6

15:24-11:48: Duke 6, NC State 4

11:48-5:45: Duke 14, NC State 13

5:45-1:14: NC State 6, Duke 3

1:14-Final: NC State 3, Duke 0

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU:

• Hayes: +4 (22 minutes played)

• Freshman forward Jaylon Gibson: +2 (0)

• Redshirt freshman wing Dereon Seabron: -5 (14)

• Moore: -9 (22)

• Hellems: -11 (33)

• Beverly: -11 (12)

• Bates: -13 (36)

• Allen: -14 (26)

• Funderburk: -19 (35 minutes played)

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Moore — 11.9

Bates — 9.2

Funderburk — 9.0

Hellems — 4.3

Allen — 1.4

Gibson — 0.0

Seabron — -0.8

Beverly — -1.0

Hayes — -1.3

NC State drops to 8-9 overall and 4-8 in the ACC while Duke is 8-8 and 6-6. The Wolfpack is now 6-4 at home and 4-3 in day games (tipoff before 6 p.m.). NC State is 2-4 in weekend contests.

The Blue Devils lead the all-time series against the Pack, 149-103, and it is 9-7 in PNC Arena.

This game was televised on ESPN. Throughout the year we will keep track of the Pack's record on the different channels:

• ESPNU: 1-0

• ACC Network: 6-5

• ESPN: 1-1

• RSN: 1-2

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 2-0

• December: 4-1

• January: 1-5

• February: 1-3

• NC State actually won the points in the paint, 40-26.

• Duke had the edge in fast-break points, 14-6.

• The Blue Devils' bench outscored NC State's reserves, 13-6.

• Duke won the turnover margin 18-13, and it had a decisive 22-10 edge in points off them.

• The Pack won on the boards, 31-27 in overall rebounds and 12-8 on the offensive glass NC State had a 10-5 advantage in second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had four blocks and eight steals. Duke had six blocks and added nine steals.

• Duke's largest advantage was 23 points and it led for 38:45. NC State's only lead was at 2-0.

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