Foul trouble, an off shooting night and poor defense made for the perfect storm in the PNC Arena on Wednesday night as the NC Central Eagles upset NC State 82-72 in OT.
It was just one of those nights for the Wolfpack. You can blame it on the refs all you want but this was a game that shouldn’t have happened. The Eagles used a zone to slow down the Pack and really take them out of their rhythm. That coupled with an off shooting night really hindered State’s offense.
Then there were the fouls. Central was constantly spreading the floor and attacking, and the refs were quick with the whistle in this one, but Gottfried needs to get his guys moving their feet more. Everyone just seemed a little sluggish in this one except for Cat Barber.
Lee, Turner, Freeman and Warren all fouled out and Lewis and Anya were playing scared at the end with 4 fouls each, so that left it up to the freshman Barber who really answered the bell in the 2nd half. He really showcased his quickness and his ability to finish at the rim, notching 22 points in his highest scoring game of his young career.
The real story however, was NC Central. The small Durham school has some real talent. Jeremy Ingram went for 29 and Emanual Chapman pitched in with 18 for the Eagles. Both guards really took it to NC State. This is a veteran team that beat Campbell pretty bad and nearly knocked off Cincy. They have talented smart guards that can score it, but that doesn’t mean an ACC school like NC State should fall to them.
The truth is, State is young. They are inexperienced and they aren’t very deep. They once again were outrebounded (37-30) and they only shot 15% from 3. Those were big factors. To State’s credit, they did compete till the end and they did force overtime thanks to a Patrick Wallace 3 with time running out, but with all their big guns fouled out, they didn’t have enough in the extra time.
State will take on Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday at 7pm at the PNC arena.
NC State (4-2) will play their first ACC game of the 2023-24 season tomorrow on the road against Boston College (5-2), and they enter the game as slight underdogs. The Wolfpack are 1.5-point underdogs, and the Total is 150.5.
NC State is 0-2 Straight Up as underdogs
BC is 4-1 Straight Up as favorites.
NC State is 2-4 Against the Spread.
BC is 4-3 Against the Spread
The Total has gone Under in 2 games for NC State, Over in 3 and Pushed in 1.
The Total has gone Under in 3 games for Boston College and Over in 4.
NC State is 6-4 in their last 10 games against BC Straight Up.
NC State is 4–6 Against the Spread in their last 10 games against BC.
The Total has gone Under in 5 games, and Under in the other 5.
The 5th ranked NC State Women’s Basketball team improved to 8-0 tonight, defeating Vanderbilt 70-62 in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge.
Notes
Saniya Rivers scored 20+ points for the 2nd time this season, scoring 22 points on 8 of 14 shooting. She also chipped in 8 rebounds and 2 steals.
River Baldwin posted her first double-double of the season. She scored 12 points and grabbed 10 boards.
Aziaha James has now scored in double figures in 7 of 8 games, scoring 14 points tonight, shooting 6 of 10 from the field and 2 of 3 from beyond the arc.
Freshman Zoe Brooks led the Pack in steals (4) and assists (4).
NC State didn’t shoot well, making only 39% of their shots. Fortunately, they held Vandy to 34.3% shooting.
The Wolfpack will host Illinois State on Sunday at 2pm.
This Saturday, NC State heads to Boston College for the now-annual early ACC opener. The Pack will face off against the Eagles at 4pm on ACC Network. Here is where the team is statistically after 6 games.
Casey Morsell leads NC State in scoring with 14.5 ppg.
The Pack has 4 double-digit scorers this season. Morsell (14.5), Jayden Taylor (13.3), DJ Burns (13) and DJ Horne (11.2) (Last season State had 4 double-digit scorers as well. Terquavion (17.9), Joiner (17), Burns (12.5) and Morsell (11.8))
After their top 4 scorers there is a big dip. Parker comes in at 6.8, O’Connell at 6.3, and Middlebrooks at 5.5 ppg. (Last season Jack Clark was 5th on the team in scoring at 9 points and Mahorcic was at 8.7. However, both guys missed a large chunk of the season.)
Burns is leading NC State in rebounding this year at 5.3 per game. Diarra is next with 5.3 (but is currently hampered by an ankle injury.)
O’Connell is leading NC State in assists with 3.3 per game, and Burns is up next with 2.5. PG DJ Horne is only averaging 2.
LJ Thomas and Mike O’Connell are tied in leading the team at .15 assists per minute.
Jayden Taylor is leading NC State in 3pt %, shooting an outstanding 45.8%, while Morsell is up next at 34.6%. Horne is close behind at 33%. (LJ Thomas is shooting 50% from 3, but only has 2 attempts.)
Burns is leading the bigs, shooting 56.5% from the floor, while Middlebrooks is close behind at 54.2%. Dennis Parker Jr is coming in at 45.2%.
For the guards, it’s Casey Morsell leading the way at 44.6% from the floor, while O’Connell is next up at 43.4%. Taylor is shooting 42.4%, and DJ Horne is struggling a bit, shooting just 34.8% from the field.
Jayden Taylor is turning the ball over the most at 1.8 times per game, while Burns is next at 1.7. Morsell is at 1.5 and O’Connell is at 1.2. DJ Horne has been doing a good job of protecting the basketball, turning it over just .3 times per game.