NC State is in survival mode and Duke is up next.

NC State and Duke recently played March 4, with the Blue Devils winning 79-64 at PNC Arena in Raleigh. The Wolfpack were competitive until about 10:53 remained in the game down three. Duke took over and went on a 14-5 run to open up the game. Duke grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and senior point guard Jeremy Roach had 21 points in the win.

Duke (24-7 overall) and NC State (19-14) will play at 7 p.m. tonight on ESPN in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in Washington, D.C. NC State has defeated Louisville and Syracuse and will be playing its third game in three days, while Duke is making its league tourney debut.

Duke has settled into its roles with three guards, and essentially two power forwards with sophomores Mark Mitchell and Kyle Filipowski.

Filipowski earned first-team All-ACC, but the perimeter trio of Roach, freshman shooting guard Jared McCain and sophomore point guard Tyrese Proctor of Australia.

Duke’s bench has grown with post players Ryan Young, a senior, and freshman Sean Stewart, along with freshman forward T.J. Power. They’ve been without injured freshman guard Caleb Foster.

Rankings

Duke is No. 10 in the NET rankings, and NC State is No. 79.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Blue Devils ranked No. 7 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 71.

KenPom.com has Duke at No. 7, and NCSU checks in at No. 72.

Shooting

Duke is averaging 80.2 points per game, and shooting 48.4 percent from the field, 38.1 percent on three-pointers and 72.5 percent from the free-throw line.

The Blue Devils aren’t lacking for three-point threats, with Roach shooting 44.2 percent from beyond the arc, and McCain is shooting 40.6 percent. Proctor is 36.9 percent this season and Filipowski is 35.3.

Rebounding

The Blue Devils are averaging 36.4 rebounds per game, with 325 on the offensive boards and a plus-5.0 rebounding margin.

Filipowski leads the way with 8.0 rebounds per game, plus 85 offensive rebounds. Mitchell is second with 6.1 rebounds a contest and 64 offensive rebounds. Stewart can also be a factor, especially the offensive boards.

Defense

Duke is allowing 67.2 points per game, with opponents shooting 43.1 percent from the field and 32.3 percent on three-pointers.

Filipowski has a team-high 50 blocks, with Roach having a team-best 35 steals.

Depth

Duke regularly turns to Young, a former Northwestern transfer, for backup minutes behind Filipowski, but have been using the random of freshmen Stewart and Power of late at the forward spots. Stewart is a rebounder/energy guy and Power’s 16 field goals this season include 14 from three-point land.

Stewart had 12 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes in the regular season meeting against NC State. Rivals.com ranked the 6-9, 226-pound Stewart No. 17 overall in the class of 2023, and he’s the son of former NBA center Michael Stewart.

If the guards need a break, junior wing Jaylen Blakes has appeared in 26 games this season.

Slowing down senior point guard Jeremy Roach appears to be a good start in slowing down Duke’s offensive attack.

Roach went 9 of 17 from the field and had 21 points, four rebounds and three assists in the Blue Devils’ 79-64 win over NC State on March 4 in Raleigh. He has reached 20 points or more in four games this season, and he’s been held to single digits in four ACC contests.

Roach, who has a COVID year available, has steadily gotten better during his Duke career. He is averaging career-highs in points per game (14.3), steals (1.2), field-goal percentage (48.4), three-point field-goal percentage (44.2) and free-throw percentage this season (85.7). On top of that, he’s tied for his career-best marks of 2.5 rebounds per game and 3.1 assists a contest.

Roach had 20 points apiece in the losses at North Carolina and Georgia Tech, and a season-high 22 points in the loss against Arkansas.

Roach was a standout in high school with Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI High and Team Takeover traveling team in the class of 2020. He played traveling team ball with NC State senior wing Casey Morsell. Rivals.com ranked him No. 25 overall in the country and he had to overcome a ACL tear in high school.

NC State

PG — 12 Michael O'Connell (6-2, 195, Sr., 5.2 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.0 apg)

SG — 1 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Jr., 12.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg, 1.3 spg) or 0 DJ Horne (6-1, 175, R-Sr., 16.8 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.4 spg)

G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Sr., 11.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.8 apg)

PF — 23 Mohamed Diarra (6-10, 215, Jr., 5.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 0.5 apg)

C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Sr., 12.1 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.6 apg)

Duke

PG — 3 Jeremy Roach (6-2, 180, Sr., 14.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.1 apg, 1.2 spg)

SG — 5 Tyrese Proctor (6-5, 183, Soph., 10.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.7 apg)

G — 0 Jared McCain (6-3, 197, Fr., 13.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.1 spg)

PF — 25 Mark Mitchell (6-9, 232, Soph., 12.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.1 apg)

C — 30 Kyle Filipowski (7-0, 248, Soph., 16.7 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1.1 spg, 1.6 bpg)

17 ACC Tournament wins for Duke over NC State in 26 games.

22 ACC Tournament titles for Duke, with the last one coming last year.

2,400,000 Followers on TikTok for Duke freshman shooting guard Jared McCain.

Duke sophomore Kyle Filipowski struggled with first-half foul trouble against NC State in the first meeting, and finished with nine points in 22 minutes March 4.

The 7-foot, 248-pound Filipowski bounced back with 23 points and seven rebounds in the 84-79 loss vs. North Carolina on Saturday. He has topped 20-plus points in 11 games this season. Filipowski erupted for 30 points and 13 rebounds in the 84-79 win over Georgia Tech on Jan. 13.

Filipowski is averaging 16.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per contest, and is shooting 50.4 percent from the field and 35.3 percent on three-point shooting. He has career highs in nearly every category but free-throw shooting and rebounds per game.

If Filipowski is feeling it from deep, he’s a tough matchup, but he’s gone 12 of 45 from three-point land over his last 14 games. Filipowski has eight double-doubles for points and rebounding. He had a season-best five blocks against Queens on Dec. 30.

Filipowski was the Rivals.com No. 5-ranked overall player in the class of 2022, and he went on to average 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game last year.

NC State preferred senior center D.J. Burns to guard Duke sophomore forward Mark Mitchell in the first meeting. That led to junior power forward Mohamed Diarra handling the responsibility of guarding Filipowski. He’s averaging 5.5 points and 6.8 rebounds in 18.9 minutes per game. He had eight points and 14 rebounds in the win over Syracuse on Wednesday.

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