To be a champion, a team has to win a few it shouldn't. Duke did that in Saturday's 87-86 win at N.C. State.

The beleaguered Wolfpack did everything but take the game. They led by as many as 13 points in the second half. They shot 54 percent to Duke's 38 percent. They out-rebounded Duke by 10. State played with an effort, a passion that we haven't seen in a while – and still they lost.

Give Duke credit. They clearly were outplayed for 32 minutes, but this team with no inside presence did what it had to do to win. They were able to suck it up defensively and successfully bomb away from three-point land. And they were all clutch.

Duke could hit only nine of 29 shots inside the arc, but made 13 of 28 from outside it.. Teams that live by the three can surely die by the three, and as the season moves into March madness, I think this Duke team will one day die by it. Saturday, though, it was their life's blood. The shot from behind the arc saved them.

Here's the thing: State knew what Duke was going to do, and they let them do it. On one possession, DeMarcus Nelson, whom Coach K said was the star of the game, had enough time to see that he was inside the line and step back to drill a three-pointer. Duke never thought about going inside, yet State couldn't guard the perimeter.

I don't know about you, but I didn't think State played it well at all the final seconds. Following a turnover with 40 seconds left and down 87-86, State chose not to foul, and Duke took the shot clock down as far as they could before Jon Scheyer missed. The best the Pack could get in the final five seconds was a desperation heave by Ben McCauley that didn't come close.

My immediate thoughts were that State should have tried to extend the game. Duke is not a great free-throw-shooting team. Put them on the line. Even if they make them, there's time to get a real good look at a three or take a two and then send them to the line again.

No, State chose to let them run down the clock. Sidney Lowe said he tried to get a time-out after Scheyer's miss, said the ref looked right at him but time expired on McCauley's prayer. But even if he had gotten the time-out, there wouldn't have been much time left.

State players Trevor Ferguson and Gavin Grant told us afterward that they felt they deserved to win. Lowe said he was very proud of his team. And they did play hard, and they had a chance to have a shining moment in the gloom of a dreary season.

But good teams know how to win, how to finish games. We all know that State at 15-14 is not a good team.

Duke did get win number 800 for Mike Krzyzewski, but the Hall of Fame coach knows he was lucky to get it. And lucky to still be tied for first place in the ACC with one week to go. For a man who knows his team’s success starts with defense, Coach K can't be pleased that N.C. State shot 54 percent. That's not a good sign.

The Blue Devils go into the week with a game at Virginia and then the big showdown with Carolina. Tyler Hansbrough and company have won two straight at Cameron. The ACC title will be on the line.

Because there's no inside threat, nothing comes easy for this team. This is a team that has to play with energy and heart. They must play aggressive defense. And make the three-pointer.

Saturday, they had the heart at the end. Scheyer, Nelson, Gerald Henderson – they all told us there was no panic. They knew they could come back.

They also had enough legs to hit all those clutch threes.

Duke teams the past few years have seemed to tire down the stretch. Duke always plays so hard. They play each possession like it's the game’s last. That kind of play eats up energy, though, and in recent years, the Blue Devils have seemed spent at the season’s end

Duke will always play with heart. Only time will tell if there's enough energy left for a March run.