‘It’s all about who wants it more.’ NC State, Duke set for heavyweight battle in Dallas

In talking about guarding N.C. State’s D.J. Burns, Duke’s Ryan Young mentioned angles and leverage and weight differences and having Burns back him down in the lane.

Young laughed when someone asked if it was like trying to deal with a Coke machine, given the width and height and, yes, that weight differential.

“He’s just very impressive in the way he uses his body,” Young said. “He uses his talent, his body at the highest level. He’s a very unique guard.

“As I’ve always told my teammates, after playing in the Big Ten before Duke, so much of post defense occurs before the big catches the ball. The more work you can do, pushing the pass out, denying the post, all that, is incredibly important to getting stops in the post because there are so many talented bigs in the country.

“If you let a guy catch the ball with one foot in the paint and closer to the basket, there’s only so much you can do.”

Young, a transfer to Duke from Northwestern, is no little guy at 6-foot-10 and 238 pounds, and Burns is listed at 6-9 and goes 300-plus pounds. The two will tangle in the paint at some point Sunday as the 11th-seeded Wolfpack (25-14) goes up against No. 4 Duke (27-8) in the finals of the NCAA South Regional at American Airlines Center.

Young won’t be the only one. Duke’s Kyle Filipowski and Mark Mitchell also should see time matched up against a player who was the MVP of the ACC Tournament, a player who has many around the nation tuning in during the NCAA Tournament to marvel at how a man with so much girth can be so nimble on his feet and seem to be having so much fun in the Pack’s postseason run of wins.

“He’s really one of one, with his play style and his physicality,” Filipowski said. “You really haven’t seen any other player like that. Many don’t have any experience playing against a player like him, but luckily I’ve gotten to play against him last year and this year, so I’m much more familiar with how he plays.

“He’s a great player, very unorthodox, but that’s what makes him so special. You have to be smart when put in certain positions.”

In Duke’s lone regular-season game against the Pack, March 4 in Raleigh, the Blue Devils’ plan was to go head-up against Burns while pushing out the defense to protect the 3-point line and contest shooters. It worked: Burns had 27 points but the Pack was 3 of 9 on threes as Duke took a 79-64 win.

Another factor: Duke had 19 offensive rebounds that it converted into 23 second-chance points.

That flipped in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. Burns had 10 points but the Wolfpack was 7 of 16 on 3-pointers in a 74-69 win.

“They jumped on us early in that game,” Young said. “We weren’t ourselves. They beat us to a ton of 50/50 balls and beat us in the rebounding battle.

“They were the better team that night. We got those 50/50 balls in the first game but not in the second.”

And in Sunday’s game?

“At this point, it’s all about who wants it more,” Young said.

The Pack wanted it more in the ACC Tournament, needing to run the table to get to the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack now has dispatched Texas Tech, Oakland and Marquette to get to the brink of its first Final Four since 1983.

“We were one of the first teams to help them get to where they are now, with their run in the ACC Tournament,” Filipowski said. “I think it’s funny how things work out sometimes, that we’re matched up against them and one of us has to win to get to reach the Final Four.”

Burns believes that will be the Wolfpack.

“To be able to say that we were the team who put in the blood, sweat and tears and worked to make this happen, it’s everything to us,” Burns said.