Jan 11, 2015 4 min read

Trevor Lacey and North Carolina State picked apart No. 2 Duke’s defense and ended the Blue Devils’ unbeaten start.

Lacey scored 21 points and the host Wolfpack shot 55 percent to beat Duke 87-75 Sunday, knocking off one of the last three undefeated teams in the country.

The Wolfpack (3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference, 12-5 overall) ran constant double teams at preseason All-American Jahlil Okafor to slow Duke’s big man. N.C. State went 10 for 16 from 3-point range to take control, knocking down tough shots and attacking the paint. The Wolfpack stayed aggressive as Duke’s defense couldn’t get a stop and looked lost.

Okafor finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds, but the Blue Devils (2-1, 14-1) shot 37 percent and just couldn’t keep up when N.C. State’s offense got rolling.

The Wolfpack ran off seven straight scoring possessions to build a 19-point lead – Duke’s biggest deficit all season by far – then did enough to turn away the Blue Devils’ late comeback attempts.

N.C. State led 37-33 at the break then used the big second-half flurry to push the lead to 72-53 when Lacey hit a straightaway 3-pointer over Okafor with the shot clock winding down at the 5:43 mark.

The Blue Devils made a late push and got as close as seven on Matt Jones’ 3 with 1:37 left. But the Wolfpack hit enough free throws down the stretch and got two breakaway dunks from Des Lee in the final minute to punctuate a win that ended with another court-storming celebration for the rowdy home fans.

Ralston Turner scored 11 of his 16 points after halftime, including two straight 3s to break open a tie game. And BeeJay Anya added a career-high 14 points, giving the Wolfpack some of the inside production coach Mark Gottfried has been looking for all season.

N.C. State also blocked 10 shots, four apiece coming from Anya and Kyle Washington.

Quinn Cook scored 18 points for Duke, which missed 20 of 27 3-point tries and couldn’t make it through a pair of instate ACC road games unscathed this week. The Blue Devils had a tougher-than-expected win at Wake Forest Wednesday.

With Duke’s loss, No. 1 Kentucky and No. 3 Virginia are the nation’s last two unbeatens.

Rutgers 67, No. 4 Wisconsin 62: Myles Mack had 19 of his 21 points in the second half and host Rutgers scored its biggest upset in school history, a 67-62 victory over banged up No. 4 Wisconsin.

Kadeem Jack added 20 points for the Scarlet Knights (2-2 Big Ten, 10-7), whose previous biggest upset was a win over No. 6 West Virginia in 1982.

Sam Dekker and Nigel Hayes had 15 points apiece for Wisconsin (3-1, 15-2). The Badgers did not have leading scorer Frank Kaminsky for the game because of a concussion, and they lost guard Traevon Jackson early in the second half with an injury to his right leg.

Rutgers, which trailed by 12 entering the second half, shot almost 67 percent from the field in the second half.

No. 15 Wichita State 67, Loyola of Chicago 53: Tekele Cotton hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points to lead No. 15 Wichita State to a 67-53 victory over Loyola of Chicago.

Ron Baker scored 15. Fred VanVleet added 14 points and 10 assists, and the Shockers (4-0 Missouri Valley Conference, 14-2) took control in the second half. They outscored the Ramblers (2-2, 12-4) 44-25 after trailing by five at the break to pick up their 22nd straight league win.

Earl Peterson led Loyola with 13 points and Devon Turk scored 11. The emerging Ramblers hit 10 of 18 3-pointers but simply came up short down the stretch against the league’s powerhouse.