DALLAS – The Duke men's basketball team dropped its Elite Eight game, 76-64, to NC State on Sunday night. Jared McCain led all scorers with 32 points - matching Zion Williamson's Duke NCAA Tournament freshman scoring record - and Kyle Filipowski paced the team with nine rebounds. Both McCain and Filipowski earned spots on the South Regional All-Tournament Team.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Jeremy Roach connected on a baseline jumper on the first possession of the game to get Duke on the board early. A fast-break 3-pointer by Jared McCain pushed the Blue Devils back in front, 7-6, after just over five minutes of action.
• McCain made it eight straight points by the freshman to make the lead three, 12-9, which remained the margin at the under-12 timeout. McCain remained hot from beyond the arc, coming off a down-screen and connecting on his second shot from deep, giving the guard double-figure points and extending Duke's lead to four, 15-11.
• Back-to-back layups from Roach and Mark Mitchell forced a NC State timeout with 7:07 on the clock and Duke leading by seven, 21-14. The Blue Devils remained ahead, 23-16, as the clock ticked under five minutes before halftime but a fast-break layup by the Wolfpack triggered a Duke timeout with 4:15 on the timer.
• The two teams traded layups to open the second half, as Duke stayed in front, 29-23. The Blue Devils continued to attack the paint, scoring back-to-back buckets off the drive, to help maintain an edge, 33-29, five minutes into the second half.
• NC State moved in front, 36-35, following two free throws at the 13-minute mark. Filipowski answered right back with a three-point-play on Duke's next possession, putting the Blue Devils back in the lead. A six-point burst by NC State sent the game into the under-12 timeout with Duke trailing, 42-38.
• The run extended to 12-2 as NC State built its largest lead of the game so far, 48-40, leading to a Duke timeout with 8:19 remaining in the game. The Wolfpack went up by 11, 53-42, as the clock moved under seven minutes to play and opened up a lead as large as 14, 58-44. Duke failed to close within single-digits, eventually falling, 76-64.

NOTES

• Friday marked the first time Duke and NC State met in the NCAA Tournament and the first matchup between a No. 4-seed and No. 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament. 
• Duke led at the half, 27-21, limiting NC State to its second-lowest first-half output of the season – only trailing the 15 scored by the Wolfpack versus Virginia on Jan. 24.
• The Blue Devils finish the season 25-3 when leading at halftime.
• Duke out-rebounded NC State, 41-39, winning the rebounding battle for the 25th time this season. The Blue Devils are now 22-3 this season when finishing with more rebounds than their opponent. 
• Duke has now connected on at least one 3-pointer in 1,225 straight games, the second-longest streak nationally.
• The Blue Devils move to 122-41 (.748) all-time in the NCAA Tournament, the best winning percentage in tournament history by a team with a minimum of 20 games played.
• Duke concludes the season with an overall record of 27-9, marking back-to-back 27-win campaigns.
• The Blue Devils advanced to the Elite Eight for the fourth time in the past five NCAA Tournaments.
• Jared McCain scored a game-high 32 points, aided by a 5-of-11 performance from beyond the arc and 11-of-11 from the free throw line, tying Zion Williamson (vs. UCF, March 22, 2019) for the most points scored in the NCAA Tournament by a Duke freshman.
• McCain finishes his freshman campaign with three 30-point games, including two in the NCAA Tournament to become the first Duke freshman to post a pair of 30-point performances during March Madness.
• McCain's 11 made free throws ranks second among Duke freshman in the NCAA Tournament and he is the first Duke freshman with a perfect free-throw percentage during the NCAA postseason (minimum eight attempts).
• Jeremy Roach scored 13 points, while dishing three assists and grabbing three rebounds. 
• Kyle Filipowski rounded out Duke's double-digit scoring with 11 points and added a team-high nine caroms. 
• Tyrese Proctor led the team with four assists.
• Filipowski and McCain were named to the NCAA South Regional All-Tournament Team. 
• McCain finished the four NCAA Tournament games with 84 points, the seventh-most points scored by a Duke freshman in March Madness.

QUOTES

• "First of all, look, this is really tough. This is not easy. Congratulations to NC State. They earned the win. I thought in the first half, we played great defense. They only scored 21 points, but we never had a rhythm on offense. Never. So in the second half, they started to score more, and our offense just -- it was probably the most disjointed game that we've had all year. It really was. It's disappointing. I feel for these guys, but I'm thankful for them for everything they've done for our program and for Duke. They've been awesome to coach." - head coach Jon Scheyer
• "It meant everything to me, especially Scheyer. He's had confidence in me since day one that he took the job. I can't thank him enough, but just this group is special. As young as we are, just the ups and downs of the season, they just kept fighting, just fighting for my senior year. They made my senior year special. Like Coach said, a lot of people would have folded after the UNC and the NC State loss, but we kept fighting. We kept going. This group is so resilient. I can't thank them enough. These will be my brothers for the rest of my life." - senior guard Jeremy Roach
• "Yeah, it's meant everything to me to come here for Coach to believe in me, for my teammates to believe in me. Especially in the beginning of the year when I felt like I couldn't get things going as a freshman, they instilled confidence in me, especially him right here (Scheyer)." - freshman guard Jared McCain

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