Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s impressive 88-66 rout of No. 6 Duke in front of a delirious crowd of 19,515 fans on Wednesday evening in Raleigh.

The collective sigh of relief moment for NC State fans probably came with 9:47 left in the game when senior guard Markell Johnson hit a corner three-pointer.

Up to that point, NC State had seen its once 23-point lead whittled down to 11 points at 61-50 thanks to a 16-4 Duke run. Johnson’s three-pointer however started a 14-5 NC State spurt that put the game back out of reach on a truly enjoyable evening for the Wolfpack fans in attendance.

For the third time this year, Johnson made a three-pointer from around half court. He did it to end the half against Wisconsin, to beat UNC Greensboro at the end of regulation and then another just before halftime agains Duke.

Duke legendary coach Mike Krzyzyewski said it best: “Markell Johnson, when he plays like that they are an elite team.”

The good-Markell, bad-Markell has been a storyline this season for NC State. Johnson was a non-factor in last Sunday evening’s loss at Boston College, scoring only four points and turning it over six times in 17 minutes.

Johnson on Wednesday looked like one of the best guards in the ACC. He scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the field, including 5 of 6 on three-pointers. He added nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and just one turnover.

The field goals made were also a new personal-best, and the three-pointers connected were a season-high. Had Johnson notched one more rebound, he would have had his 10th double-double of the season.

Redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels was the catalyst to start the game. He scored 14 of NC State’s first 20 points en route to the Wolfpack grabbing an early 20-11 edge. He finished with his own career-high of 25 points and added nine rebounds and three assists. One more board would have given Daniels his fifth career double-double.

Daniels has now scored in double figures in nine of the last 10 games, including seven in a row.

Redshirt junior forward DJ Funderburk added 21 points and nine rebounds while making 8 of 15 shots from the field, including a three-pointer that was just his second made of the year, and had nine rebounds and three steals. Funderburk joined Johnson and Daniels in being one board away from a double-double, which would have been the second of his career.

Funderburk was one point off his personal-best, but he did set a new high for scoring in a conference game, breaking 20 points for the first time versus an ACC opponent.

NC State never trailed in this game. Nor was it ever tied after the opening tip. The Pack started the contest on a 10-1 run. The closest Duke ever got the score was five points after that. When NC State took a double-digit advantage at 25-13, the Blue Devils were never within single digit again.

It is the biggest loss ever in the Coach K-era to a non-ranked opponent for Duke, and it tied for the second biggest defeat in the past 10 years for the Blue Devils.

The 15-point halftime deficit was the largest Duke has faced since 2016. NC State had a 27-point lead with 1:54 left and was flirting with giving Duke its first 30-point loss since it was routed by that margin in the 1990 NCAA national title game against UNLV.

The Pack’s three-point shooting was a major reason why. NC State made 8 of 13 beyond the arc, or 61.5 percent. The last time a Duke opponent shot that well from long range was when Virginia Tech had identical numbers in 2016.

But Duke also struggled on offense, tying its second-lowest scoring output of the year.

The implications of this game for NC State: it’s a high-profile quad 1 win, the type that the Wolfpack lacked last year when left out of the NCAA Tournament field.

NC State has another opportunity for when it hosts top-10 ranked Florida State on Saturday to further boost its profile.

For now, NC State fans will also become Wisconsin and Syracuse fans, rooting for those two borderline quad one wins to hold up through Selection Sunday. If they do, NC State will have an impressive number of Q1 victories, minimum five, to provide the committee, with three coming on the road.

NC State senior forward Pat Andree was not available for a second straight game.

Popular former Pack player Scott Wood was in attendance. As were a pair of NC State signees: four-star guard Cam Hayes from Greensboro (N.C.) Day and three-star forward Nick Farrar from Apex (N.C.) Friendship.

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

First half

20:00-15:39: NC State 10, Duke 2

15:39-10:59: Duke 7, NC State 6

10:59-7:47: NC State 12, Duke 6

7:47-3:33: Duke 10, NC State 8

3:33-Halftime: NC State 8, Duke 4

Second half

20:00-15:33: NC State 13, Duke 5

15:33-11:47: Duke 13, NC State 2

11:47-7:17: NC State 10, Duke 5

7:17-3:22: NC State 14, Duke 8

3:22-Final: Duke 6, NC State 5

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

Johnson: 25.2

Funderburk: 19.4

Daniels: 18.3

Fifth-year senior guard C.J. Bryce: 3.6

Freshman center Manny Bates: 0.6

Sophomore forward Jericole Hellems: 0.4

Freshman forward Max Farthing: 0.0

Freshman guard Chase Graham: 0.0

Senior center Danny Dixon: -0.8

Junior guard Braxton Beverly: -1.2

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

• Bryce +29 (31:38 minutes played)

• Johnson +26 (35:38)

• Funderburk +25 (32:24)

• Daniels +23 (35:41)

• Bates +5 (10:25)

• Dixon +4 (4:56)

• Hellems +2 (26:56)

• Beverly +2 (20:26)

• Graham -3 (0:58)

• Farthing -3 (0:58)

NC State is 17-9 overall and 8-7 in the ACC, and Duke 22-4 and 12-3. Duke leads the all-time series 147-102, but it has lost 5 of 7 at PNC Arena.

Under head coach Kevin Keatts, NC State is 5-6 against top-10 ranked opponents, including 3-2 at PNC Arena. Keatts is 2-1 against the Blue Devils.

The Pack is 12-3 at home this year. NC State is 10-4 in night games (played after 6 p.m.), 9-4 in weekday games (including 6-0 on Wednesdays) and 15-2 when leading at halftime.

The game was broadcast on ESPN. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.

- ACC Network Extra: 3-0

- ESPN+: 1-0

- RSN: 4-2

- ESPN2: 3-2

- ACC Network: 4-3

- ESPN: 2-2

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

- November: 5-2

- December: 5-1

- January: 4-4

- February: 3-2

• NC State won the battle in the paint, 44-40.

• Duke had the slight edge in fast break points, 25-21.

• Duke’s bench outscored NC State’s reserves, 8-7.

• The Pack had the edge in turnover margin, 13-10, but more importantly had an advantage in points off turnovers, 18-16.

• NC State won the battle on the boards, 51-43 overall, but Duke had an edge, 16-15, on the offensive glass. Despite that, the Pack though crushed the Blue Devils on second-chance points, 24-12.

• Defensively, NC State had three blocks, altered five shots and nabbed seven steals. The Blue Devils had five blocks, three alters and four steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was 27 points. NC State led for 39:36 after scoring the game’s first points 24 seconds into the contest.

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