Trey Snide – Special Correspondent to SportsCarolina Monthly

Although a long shot, Wolfpack nation has high hope after a win against the Demon Deacons. What if? With a stumbling Duke team coming into face the Wolfpack, now is better than never.

Cat Barber

Maverick Rowan who led the Wolfpack with 24 pts in a 75 – 72 win against Wake Forest. Knocking down 3 3s in a row to take a 7 point lead with only 2:30 left on the clock, had Wolfpack nation loud and proud. Although Duke is a much better team than Wake Forest, yesterday’s game proved that the Wolfpack are here to stay. Yesterday proved that Cat Barber is the best PG in the ACC. It proved they were ready after a week layoff.

The big question mark going into the Duke game is, can BeeJay Anya and/or Abdul-Malik Abu contain Brandon Ingram? It is unclear who Coach Mark Gottfried will match up with Ingram. Whoever name is called, they will have to play the game of their life.

If the Wolfpack have any chance of winning this game, they will need to take a chapter out of the North Carolina playbook. In that game the Tar Heels out rebounded Duke 64-29. Although that game was close to the end, taking away Ingram prove to be the winning formula.

The only way the Wolfpack will enter the NCAA tournament, is if they win the ACC tournament. Finishing the season at 16-16 put a damper on this season, but Wolfpack nation can keep faith now that they face a Duke team that is very week down low. Win the rebounding game, and you can win this game Wolfpack.

Trey Snide is the host of “Thr3 & Out” a weekly sports program you can hear on SportsCarolina Radio Network. Trey also writes a weekly column for SCM.