Duke Basketball: Slow Starts Bound to Catch Up with Resilient Blue Devils

For the second time in a little over two weeks, the Duke Blue Devils overcame a large second-half deficit to defeat an ACC foe, this time taking down in-state rival NC State 78-73 on Thursday. Duke's resiliency is impressive but isn't something the Blue Devils can sustain over the long haul.

Duke trailed by 16 at halftime against the Wolfpack and by as many as 20 in the second half. Thanks to strong play from guards Seth Curry and Austin Rivers, as well as cold shooting from NC State down the stretch, the No. 4 Blue Devils stormed back and beat a quality NC State squad.

The win was reminiscent of their victory over the rival North Carolina Tar Heels on the road several days ago as Duke stormed back from 10 points down with under three minutes left in that contest. There is no question that the Blue Devils' ability to stay in any game is admirable, but they can't count on it in order to be successful moving forward.

Like their game against North Carolina, the Blue Devils stumbled out of the gate against the Wolfpack, this time doing so on their home court, however. Duke had just 30 points at halftime and seemed like it couldn't buy a basket. Also, the Blue Devils' defensive deficiencies showed their ugly head, as NC State put up the second-highest first-half scoring total of any Duke opponent this season with 46 points.

The Wolfpack actually increased their lead a bit early in the second half before Duke made its move. As was the case against North Carolina, the Blue Devils' terrific tandem of guards took over the game and willed Duke to victory.

Guard play can be huge in the NCAA tournament, but the Blue Devils are still lacking in other areas.

Duke received very little in terms of offensive contributions in the game from post players, including Ryan Kelly and the Plumlee brothers. Against the nation's top teams that is something that will need to change, as a balanced offense is key. It's very difficult for a team to succeed when it can only count on two players to score the basketball.

If the Blue Devils go down by 16 at halftime deep in the NCAA tournament, then the odds of making a comeback are quite slim. Teams like Kentucky, Syracuse, Kansas and Ohio State aren't going to wilt under the pressure like NC State did. All of those teams play disciplined basketball and will find a way to force players other than Curry and Rivers to score.

It's tough to say why the Blue Devils have been such slow starters lately, but it's an issue that could eventually lead to their demise. A team with the talent level of Duke really has no excuse for starting games sluggishly, and the players need to bring the same intensity in the first half as they do later in the contest.

Duke can't afford to start games so poorly. It may seem like a non-issue since the Blue Devils were able to come back and win in the past two instances, but Coach K knows full well that the quality of opponents and intensity of play will be reaching another level very soon.

The Blue Devils have a very talented team and a lot of offensive firepower in the backcourt, but without a more consistent effort throughout the game, their season won't be ending with them cutting down the nets.