N.C. State could not have asked for a better game from Dennis Smith Jr. on Monday night at Duke.
He scored, he shared and he rose to the challenge in N.C. State’s 84-82 win over the Blue Devils — its first in Durham since 1995. Smith is friends with Duke’s Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles, who are expected to join Smith in the draft lottery in June, and he seemed to relish the moment and the stage.
It helped Smith that an astounding 12 of his 18 attempts were at the basket. If you’ve been following these shot charts along in ACC play, you know the phrase “Good things happen when Dennis Smith takes the ball to the basket” is included in every one.