North Carolina State thwarted second-seeded Duke's pursuit of back-to-back ACC tournament championships with a 74-69 quarterfinal win Thursday in Washington D.C.
It was the first game of the tournament for the No. 11 Blue Devils due to a double-bye on account of their top seeding in the conference. They hadn't lost a conference tournament opener since 2013, and the early exit won't bode well for the team's seeding in the NCAA tournament.
The Blue Devils missed their first nine field-goal attempts of the game, which was an early indicator of offensive struggles to come.