Pack Survives, Beats LSU in OT

NC State had a tall task in shutting down the sure-bet NBA lottery pick Ben Simmons and beating #22 LSU.

It looked like a nightmare matchup for the Pack, but Gottfried was ready and hatched a plan that helped his NC State Wolfpack upset the #22 LSU Tigers 83-72 in OT.

State decided to pack the lane and really make LSU beat them from outside. They literally allowed nearly wide open looks from the beyond the arc instead of letting Simmons go one-on-one to the rim.

While this did give the LSU guards a lot of open 3s, it also negated Simmons ability to get inside and create havoc with his ability to score and his NBA level passing. When Simmons did drive, he had 2 or 3 black jersey’s swarming him at all times. He’d kick to the corner to Tim Quarterman or Antonio Blakeney, only the two starting guards shot a pedestrian 6-18 from beyond the arc. When they missed, it was the Wolfpack who was there to clean up on the glass (winning that battle 54-41).

With LSU struggling to find a rhythm on offense, the Pack had to figure out how they were going to put points on the board. As they have all season, Caleb Martin and Cat Barber took the lead. Martin, finished with 16 points and Barber with 20.
Caleb hit 4-10 3’s and Barber was 12 of 12 from the FT line, but overall the duo only hit 10-30 from the field. The slack was picked up by Malik Abu and Cody Martin, both of whom filled the box score and had the best games of their young seasons.

Abu finished with 15 points and 12 boards while Cody Martin came up huge in the second half, finishing with 14 points, 10 boards, 4 assists and 4 steals.

After a crazy finish that saw an ‘And 1’ layup by Abu taken away due to a show clock violation and a big missed FT by Simmons, the game went to OT.
Abut started things off with a layup and then Cody Martin made a smart move by attacking Simmons off the dribble. Simmons reached in and with that, was charged with his 5th foul.
Once Simmons hit the bench, NC State was able to extend their defense, challenge more shots and really get out on the break.. After the dust cleared it was NC State with the upset win, 83-72 over the #22 ranked LSU Tigers.