NC State beats Duke, reaches Final Four for first time since 1983

NC State reached the Final Four for the first time in more than 40 years when it knocked off Duke 76-64 to win the South Region of the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The Wolfpack can thank big man DJ Burns for guiding them there, with the bulldozing forward proving virtually unstoppable against the Blue Devils.

Not only did Burns score a team-high 29 points in the contest against Duke, he also helped get Blue Devils star Kyle Filipowski to foul out with about five minutes remaining in the contest. Filipowski had a considerable impact on the game, scoring 11 points and pulling down nine rebounds, one of the few consistent threats offensively.

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Burns outdueled him at every turn.

The talented and skillful big man seemed to get everything he wanted in the post. And when Duke opted to collapse down on Burns to try to slow him down, he emerged as a more-than-capable passer, kicking it out to the perimeter.

The Wolfpack overcame a slow shooting start to finish at 47% from the floor, considerably better than the Blue Devils‘ 32%.

Outside of guards Jared McCain and Jeremy Roach — who needed volume (33 shots) to achieve their scoring — the Blue Devils just didn’t get much else offensively throughout the game. Guard Tyrese Proctor was particularly poor; he finished 0-for-9 from the floor and did not score in the game.

For NC State, leading scorer DJ Horne was once again on point and helped hit some timely shots for the Wolfpack. He finished with 20 points in the contest.

With the win, NC State will advance to take on 1-seed Purdue in the Final Four. Both programs are experiencing an NCAA Tournament run this deep for the first time in decades, which will make for some interesting storylines.

But all eyes, too, will be on the matchup between elite Purdue center Zach Edey and Burns in the post. Edey scored a career-high 40 points and pulled down 16 rebounds in leading Purdue past Tennessee in the Elite Eight on Sunday.