#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette in the Sweet 16 on Friday night, which will mark the 6th time the two teams have played one another.
The first time the Wolfpack and the Golden Eagles played one another was also in the NCAA Tournament, and it just so happened to be the 1974 Championship game, with NC State winning the game 76-64, giving the Pack their first National Championship.
Wolfpack led the way with 21 points, and Tommy Burleson had a double-double of 14 points and 11 boards, with 7 blocks, which is tied for the 8th most in school history in a single game.
NC State also had 12 steals in the game, which is the most by a Pack team in an NCAA Tournament game.
The next time the two teams would meet was on January 21st, in Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack won 89-76, and it was a night for the history books for Point Guard Chris Corchiani. In that game, set ACC career records for assists with 861 and steals with 276.
The following year, the Golden Eagles picked up their first win against the Wolfpack, winning 66-42 in Milwaukee.
It would be over 15 years before NC State and Marquette would play one another again, and this time it would once again be a home-and-home series in back-to-back years.
On December 22nd, 2008, the Wolfpack lost a close one at home, falling 65-68. Wolfpack Forward Brandon Costner hit all five 3-Point attempts in that game, which still stands as the best 3-Point Percentage in a single game in school history.
The following year, on December 5th, 2009, the Wolfpack would claim the lead in the series again, defeating the Golden Eagles 77-73 on the road. NC State big man Tracy Smith had a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Point Guard Javier Gonzalez had 15 points and 7 assists, and Wing Scott Wood knocked down 4 of his 6 three-point attempts.
I agree with Afterglow… Smith played a sloppy game. EIGHT turnovers!
Thomas played a good game. Glad to see him come on.
Boy was I glad to see Mahoric return. Burns played well but he really needed a breather and Mahoric came back in with a vengeance.
Joiner is special. What a portal prize he has turned out to be.
Agree Joiner is special. He’s also doing a great job taking advantage when Smith is commanding of a lot of the defense’ attention. And Morsell as well. Joiners mid range pull up is deadly.
All three guards are playing really good defense and being disruptive.
It was nice to see LJ be solid when spelling Joiner. He’s really strong with the ball and not phased at all at the task.
Clark is finding his special place on the team as well.
We have so much good stuff to talk about this team, its really fun.
I am glad Smith came back so don’t take this negatively. Like I’ve said before, in the games I’ve seen this year, it often feels like he tries to do too much. But moreover, he seems to be playing sloppy. Some of the mistakes he made today were headscratchers, like dangerous cross court passes, not taking care of the ball, or over dribbling. I know it’s early but thought I’d just mention it. I know with Seabron I thought the same thing but that was more a function of him catching up with his own speed. Maybe it’s some of… Read more »
Smith is asked to make plays, and he is certainly doing that. I’m not sure where the right balance for him is between carefulness and fearlessness, but it seems the latter is what makes him a great player. 8 turnovers is too many, but 6 assists is pretty awesome against that defense, in a game where Joiner had no assists. We were trying to play fast on offense to keep them from bogging us down, and that means multiple attempts at beating your defender on drives. I thought all our guards including Smith played really good defense overall. If our… Read more »
Playing Butler means playing Manny. Not sure I want to do that. Tired legs makes it difficult to hit threes.