Duke bounced back Saturday with a blowout victory over NC State, 69-53. The win stopped the bleeding for the Blue Devils, who were on a three-game skid leading up to their short trip to Raleigh to face the Wolfpack.

The win, which gives Duke some much needed confidence, and perhaps momentum as the season winds down, keeps the Blue Devils fight for life after the regular season alive.

Though Duke’s chances to play after the ACC Tournament remain a long shot, there is still a glimmer of hope. This win helps reinforce that for the Blue Devils.

“Proud of my guys,” Mike Krzyzewski said. “They really responded to what we practiced.

“They could have come in here down, you lose three in a row, you’re under .500 and you lose some close games and you’re playing at Duke, and all those things. And they’ve not done that.

“Something, momentarily, because we won one game, (good) happened today. You’ve just got to stay with it, man. That’s what our program has done and just see what happens if you do that.”

The game was briefly competitive with a nearly six minute stretch to start where Duke led between one and four points for the majority of that time. However, the tide turned to Duke’s favor quickly around the 13:49 mark of the half when Krzyzewski sent Matthew Hurt and Wendell Moore Jr. back into the game after a short stint on the bench.

Hurt and Moore made an immediate impact, along with a strong stretch of play for freshman center Mark Williams.

Thanks to a flurry of points from Hurt, who didn’t miss his first shot in the game until the 11:32 mark of the second half, and one of the Blue Devils best defensive showings, Duke went on a 14-0 run to jump out to a 25-10 lead.

NC State turned the ball over five times during that stretch, resulting in nine Duke points. That run set the tone for the remainder of the game, when Duke’s lead hovered around 20 points for the rest of the day.

“Us being active on the defensive end led to a lot of easy buckets,” Williams said. “I think we all played well together. We moved the ball. We were unselfish. So I think that translated today.”

For the game, the Blue Devils were outstanding at turning the Wolfpack’s mistakes into points. For the game, Duke turned NC State over 18 times, converting them into 22 points. In contrast to NC State’s offensive miscues, Duke finally cutdown on its mistakes for most of the night, ultimately turning the ball over 13 times. NC State converted those into just 10 points.

Duke’s ability to control the game on the defensive end of the floor was perhaps the story of the day. During the three game losing streak, Duke allowed its opponents to shoot better than 52% from the field in each contest.

Additionally, Duke allowed its opponents in the last two games to score an average of 92 points. Clearly, one of the biggest obstacles for Duke has been improving its play on the defensive end of the floor.

Today, the Blue Devils did exactly that, holding the Wolfpack to a much more respectable 45.1% from the field, and just 20% from 3-point range.

According to Krzyzewski, it’s a product of the work his team put in throughout the week following the loss to Notre Dame.

“We’ve been working the last few days on our defense,” Krzyzewski said. “Pretty much that’s all we’ve been working on. And we played really good defense today. By working on our defense we also got to be more physical. In the first half our defense was outstanding and we got loose balls. We won some scrums.”

Hurt was also pointing to the extra work as a benefit.

“Our defense wasn’t good the last two games and we just tried to switch up the ball screen coverages,” he said. “It worked out tonight. That’s why Coach is so good at this. He makes adjustments and we’re all proud.”

Aside from Duke’s ability to hold NC State to a lower field goal percentage, and of course just 53 points, the Blue Devils were quite disruptive.

As previously mentioned, NC State turned the ball over 18 times. Nine of those turnovers came as a result of Duke steals, led by Jordan Goldwire and Moore, who recorded three apiece.

Beyond the steals, the Blue Devils had a strong physical presence with Williams, and later in the game, Jaemyn Brakefield and Henry Coleman, who made the most of their minutes by putting bodies on the Wolfpack’s bigs.

Williams, in particular was outstanding, posting five blocks in the game while playing the most minutes of his career with 28.

His final line was 13 points, three rebounds, five blocks, one steal and one assist.

“Mark’s getting better and better,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s learning to play physical.

“If there is a big guy playing like Mark is, you’ve gotta play him. Mark and Matt, they were really good today. They were really good.”

Offensively, Hurt was the story for Duke. The sophomore had his best performance since the loss to Miami, scoring 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-7 from 3-point range.

Those 24 points came in just 26 minutes of action, after he sat 12 minutes in the first half with two fouls. Krzyzewski indicated following the game that Hurt would have come back in the half, had Brakefield, DJ Steward, Williams and others had not stepped up and continued to extend Duke’s lead.

The most notable thing about Hurt’s 24 points is how they came about. Following Duke’s loss to Notre Dame, Krzyzewski said Hurt was slow in getting his shot off. Hurt took note of that fact and worked to be quicker with his release.

“I worked with Coach (Jon) Scheyer a lot last week with getting my shot off a lot quicker,” Hurt said. “Against UNC I was playing slow, and shooting the ball slow. So, the whole week I’ve been working on getting it off quicker. My teammates did a great job finding me, whether that was in transition, whether it’s pick and pop.”

Krzyzewski also noted the bounce in which Hurt played with, which seemingly gave him an edge that has not been seen in quite some time.

“He was quicker than he’s been for over a month, today. That’s after a couple really hard defensive practices. He seemed more alive today. He was quick and he got his shot off quick. He had a heckuva game. With his scoring, it’s a lower scoring game, to get 24 points, six for seven from three.

“He got his shot off quicker. He just seemed bouncy. Our team hasn’t been that for some reason.”

Also of note, is how Williams and Hurt connected on the offensive end of the floor. The two played well together, even coming together for high-low opportunities that resulted in easy buckets.

Both Hurt and Williams discussed their work in practice on that very thing, and one can surmise there will be more of that coming in the future.

It appeared fluid and natural for the two, something that could bode well for Duke going forward.

“We’ve been working in practice every day on that high-low, making that pass, moving the ball, communicating, all those things I think translated, especially today,” Williams said.

Duke’s win is just one positive step forward, and the Blue Devils know they must build upon the victory against Wake Forest next week.

While that fact is not lost on the coaches or players, Krzyzewski’s emotion and pride for how his team responded was evident throughout the game and after.

“There were a few fist bumps today,” he said. “Our guys made some big plays. I love my guys and they need to see - and I think they do see it in practice - but even in a game or practice, me being emotional for them in response to what they are doing.

“We’re going to keep working at it, and keep going. This was a really big win for us today.”