Duke has been exposed a little bit late in the season, and NC State has played a role in that.

The Wolfpack smashed the Blue Devils 88-66 on Feb. 19 in PNC Arena, and coach Mike Krzyzewski has watched his team lose three out of four games heading into tonight’s rematch. Duke lost 113-101 in double overtime at Wake Forest on Feb. 25, and 52-50 at Virginia on Saturday.

NC State (18-11 overall, 9-9 ACC) plays at Duke (23-6, 13-5 ACC) at 7 p.m. tonight on ESPN.

Duke is built around sophomore point guard Tre Jones and freshman center Vernon Carey Jr., but have had a hard time figuring out the other moving parts.

The 6-3, 185-pound Jones, who is the younger brother of former Duke point guard Tyus Jones, has made a big leap this season. He’s averaging 16.1 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, plus has 170 assists and 73 turnovers. Just as importantly, he has quick hands on the defensive end.

Rankings

In the newly established NET rankings done by the NCAA, Duke is ranked No. 6 in the country this season.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has Duke ranked No. 2, and KenPom.com has the Blue Devils at No. 5.

Duke is ranked No. 10 in the old RPI formula used by the NCAA — according to RealTimeRPI.com.

Shooting

The Blue Devils lead the ACC in scoring (82.1 points per game) and field-goal percentage (47.0), and are fourth in three-point field-goal percentage (34.8). The points per game rank fourth in the country.

Duke doesn’t have that knock down three-point shooter. Freshman power forward Matthew Hurt and sophomore small forward Joey Baker are both shooting 40 percent from three-point land.

Rebounding

Duke is second behind North Carolina in the ACC with 40.0 rebounds per game, third in rebounding margin (5.5) and second in offensive boards a contest (12.7). The Blue Devils rank 16th nationally in rebounds a contest.

The Blue Devils have seven players who are averaging at least three rebounds a game, with Carey leading the way at 8.8.

Defense

The Blue Devils are eighth in the ACC in allowing 67.7 points per game, tied for eighth with opponents shooting 41.7 percent from the field, but are third in allowing 30.1 percent on three-point field goals.

Duke leads the league and fifth in the league with 6.0 blocks per game, and are second with 8.41 steals a contest. Carey leads the way with 46 blocks, four other players have at least 19. Jones has 46 steals and junior guard Jordan Goldwire is right behind with 45.

Depth

Duke uses five bench players with Goldwire and senior center Javin DeLaurier playing key roles. Goldwire is known for his defense and is chipping in 4.6 points in 23.6 minutes per game. DeLaurier is averaging 3.6 points and 3.6 rebounds in 13. 6 minutes a contest.

Sophomore Joey Baker rotates at small forward, junior Alex O’Connell helps on the wing and senior Jack White is the fourth post player.

Carey leads Duke with 17.6 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, and he’s shooting a nifty 57.5 percent from the field.

The listed 6-10, 270-pounder scored at will against NC State in the first meeting, but the Wolfpack were OK with it. He had 27 points and 12 rebounds, but NC State wanted to chase Duke off the three-point line and accepted the steady does of “singles” by Carey in the 88-66 victory.

NC State also made Carey work on the defensive end, and he’s struggled in that regard this season. He has fouled out of his last two games at Virginia and in the double overtime loss at Wake Forest.

Carey has been held to single digits just twice this season — nine points vs. Boston College on Dec. 31 and eight points vs. Wake Forest on Jan. 11. He played a combined 41 minutes in those two games. He had a season-high 31 points and 12 boards in 22 minutes of action in the 87-52 win over California on Nov. 21. The 27 points against NC State is his ACC high, and he has a pair of 26-point outings against both Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

Rivals.com ranked Carey the No. 5 overall player in the class of 2019, and NBADraft.net has him as the No. 12 pick of the upcoming NBA Draft.

NC State

PG — 11 Markell Johnson (6-1, 175, Sr., 13.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 6.5 apg, 1.9 spg)

SG — 13 C.J. Bryce (6-5, 210, 5th-Sr., 13.4 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.2 spg)

G — 24 Devon Daniels (6-5, 205, R-Jr., 12.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 2.2 apg, 1.7 spg)

PF — 0 D.J. Funderburk (6-10, 225, R-Jr., 12.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 0.3 apg)

C — 15 Manny Bates (6-11, 230, R-Fr., 5.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 0.3 apg, 3.0 bpg)

Duke

PG — 3 Tre Jones (6-3, 185, Soph., 16.1 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 6.3 apg, 1.7 spg)

SG — 2 Cassius Stanley (6-6, 193, Fr., 12.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 1.0 apg)

SF — 0 Wendell Moore Jr. (6-6, 213, Fr., 7.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.9 apg, 1.0 spg)

PF — 21 Matthew Hurt (6-9, 214, Fr., 10.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 0.9 apg)

C — 1 Vernon Carey Jr. (6-10, 270, Fr., 17.6 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.6 bpg)

2: Class of 2020 team recruiting rankings for the Blue Devils by Rivals.com. Duke has six signees, three of which are five-star prospects. NC State's class is ranked 8th.

7: Three-point field goals made per game for Duke, which ranks No. 203 in the country.

1,088: Consecutive games Duke has made a three-pointer, which is second behind UNLV (1,101).

In the last meeting, we went with Duke sophomore point guard Tre Jones and NC State senior point guard Markell Johnson. Both played well, but Johnson easily won the matchup with one of his best games.

It also became clear that Duke can get strong performances from Jones and freshman center Vernon Carey and still lose. The Blue Devils need that third scorer, and there wasn’t one in the loss at NC State and again this past Saturday at Virginia. No other Duke player cracked double figures against the Cavaliers.

Enter freshman wing Cassius Stanley, who UVA bottled up and he was just 1 of 9 from the field for four points. He was just 2 of 5 from the field for four points in the lass at NC State.

Stanley is probably generously listed at 6-6 and 193 pounds, but he has explosive leaping ability. He became a YouTube.com sensation his freshman year in high school. Duke wasn’t much of a factor in his recruitment and it appeared he would be headed to Oregon, UCLA or Kansas. Rivals.com ranked him No. 39 overall nationally in the class of 2019.

Stanley and Duke came together very quickly last spring, and it’s hard to imagine the Blue Devils record if he didn’t come. He’s averaging 12.1 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, but has been inconsistent of late. He’s scored nine points or less in four of his last seven games.

Stanley has scored 20-plus points in five games, including going for 24 points and 11 rebounds in the 79-73 loss vs. Louisville on Jan. 8.

Daniels is fourth on the Wolfpack with 12.4 points per game, and he’s shooting 46 percent from the field this season. He exploded for 25 points in the win over Duke on Feb. 19.

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