Wolfpack squeezes out sloppy win over Pitt 72-68

NC State trailed for a majority of the game, but a late surge by Torin Dorn and a 15-2 run down the stretch helped State come from behind and eek out a win over Pitt 72-68.

.@PackMensBball ends the game on a 15-2 run to earn a 72-68 win over Pittsburgh! #GoPack pic.twitter.com/MB3QoYWTmM

— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) January 25, 2018

NC State shot 33.8% from the field and a disgraceful 25.7% from long range in the victory.

Omer Yurtseven scored a team-high 16 points on 6-7 shooting, but the Pack struggled to get him the ball against the Pitt zone. Torin Dorn got hot down the stretch and finished with 12 points.

NC State escaped an embarrassing loss in this one and it wasn’t because Pitt did anything out of the ordinary. Sure, Pitt made some shots, but what do you expect when they are getting wide open looks thanks to absurd overplays on the pick and roll. Jared Wilson-Frame scored a career-high 22 and at times seemed unstoppable against the soft Wolfpack defense. Pitt as a team shot 41.8% from the field but really went cold in the 2nd half as NC State stepped up the defense, shutting out Wilson-Frame from the 15-minute mark on.

For State, they really can’t afford to have Braxton Beverly and Sam Hunt doing combining to go 6-26 (23%) from 3 point range against a team that has no defensive stoppers in the paint. They also had Al Freeman go 3-13, meaning those 3 guys, by themselves, went 9-39 from the floor (23%) and that’s just unacceptable.

The good news was that Markell Johnson finished with 12 assists and only 2 turnovers. His ability to share the basketball has really helped this team and was a difference in this one as the clock winded down. NC State also didn’t quit. They were down as many as 15 in this game and they never gave up. That fact needs to be credited. This is a game that Wolfpack teams from recent years would have lost, but this group scrapped out a W.

NC State won the battle of the boards and forced more turnovers, which in the end seemed to be the difference in this ugly performance.

But hey, a win is a win and this was NC State’s first road win their last 5 tries. The win also brings NC State to 4-4 in the conference and puts them in the thick of the ACC standings with a matchup at UNC on the horizon.