NC State Defense falters in loss to Miami 85-70

The NC State men’s basketball dropped an 85-70 decision to the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday at PNC Arena.

T.J. Warren led the Wolfpack with a team-high 20 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Kyle Washington scored 13 points, reaching double-digits for the third time in his last five games, while Desmond Lee added 10 points off the bench for State (17-12, 7-9 ACC).

“Miami played better than we did,” NC State head coach Mark Gottfried said. “They came in and played terrific basketball. We have to regroup and get ourselves ready to go play a quick turnaround game at Pittsburgh on Monday night.”

In a closely-knit contest that went back and forth for the first 34 minutes of play, Miami utilized a 13-0 run down the stretch to pull away. Prior to Canes scoring spurt, Warren had given the Wolfpack a 65-64 lead, utilizing both his offensive and defensive skills.

Trailing by eight points, Warren spearheaded a full court press that turned five Miami turnovers into ten Wolfpack points over a six minute stretch. The Pack outscored the Canes 14-5 during the run, capped off by back-to-back Warren dunks that came from steals via the full court press.

Following a Miami timeout, the Wolfpack wasn’t able to keep the momentum going as the Hurricanes seized control of the game with its deciding run.

A tightly contested first half, featuring six ties and six lead changes, ended with Miami holding a 37-36 halftime advantage. Turner led a balanced Wolfpack scoring attack with nine points, while Lee scored seven, including back-to-back three-pointers near the end of the half.

The Wolfpack used a 12-3 run, spanning nearly seven minutes, to erase an early five point deficit and take a 27-23 advantage at the 3:43 juncture of the half. The Canes closed the half outscoring State 14-9 to take the lead at intermission.

Miami (15-14, 6-10 ACC) was led on Saturday by Rion Brown, who scored 20 points.

The 1974 NC State national championship team was honored at halftime of Saturday’s game.

For its next game, NC State will hit the road to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers on Monday, March 3. Tip-off from the Peterson Events Center is scheduled for 9 p.m.