NC State Basketball
NC State Picks Up a STATEMENT Quad 1 Win Over #16 Duke
NC State was in desperate need for a win tonight against crosstown rival #16 Duke.
Entering the game NCAA Tournament Bracketologist Bart Torvik gave NC State a 45% chance of making the tourney if they beat the Blue Devils. If they lost? 9%.
The Wolfpack simply don’t have a lot of Quad 1 win opportunities on their schedule.
A victory wasn’t going to be easy for NC State tonight after learning that Jack Clark would be out indefinitely today.
So how did they do it?
Well, the Wolfpack guard duo of Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner combined for 45 points, and fan favorite DJ Burns scored an audacious 18 points in 16 minutes of play. Smith had 24 and Joiner had 21.
Greg Gantt stepped into the starting lineup in place of the injured Clark, and he shined. The box score won’t show how much of an impact he made, but his energy and effort was evident from the opening tip. Gantt contributed in a variety of ways, scoring 4 points, grabbing 5 boards, and also added 2 blocks and 3 steals.
Defense hasn’t been a strong suit for the Wolfpack this season, but they looked like a different team tonight. They held Duke to 39.6% shooting from the field, and forced 21 turnovers. They played good halfcourt defense, didn’t overly pursue in the passing lanes, and played solid man-to-man defense.
Offensively, NC State played smart. Their shot selection was drastically improved. They were patient, and moved the ball, and didn’t force things that weren’t there. The Wolfpack only turned the ball over 6 times.
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of Jarkel Joiner to this team. Smith gets most of the attention, but Joiner was unreal tonight, dishing out 9 assists with ZERO turnovers.
Also, if you would have told me that NC State beat Duke by 24, and Casey Morsell didn’t hit a single three, I would have laughed. He went a rare 0-4 from beyond the arch. With that being said, Morsell did score 8 points, going 4 of 6 from 2-point land. Morsell was such a steady presence to the Wolfpack offense, and played lockdown defense.
For whatever reason, NC State has had Duke’s number in PNC Arena as of late, and the trend continued tonight. The Wolfpack have won 5 of the last 7 against the Blue Devils at home.
Keatts impressed me tonight, making more technical and personnel adjustments than I’m used to seeing out of him.
The Wolfpack were in need of a Quad 1 win, and they got themselves 1.
If there was ever an example of ‘having a team ready’ this was it. It will be very interesting to see how we play next game.
And I was one who criticized Keatts the most after the Clemson loss. Color me Red — faced, but happy.
WOW!!! Hats off to this team. They played relentless, with heart, and a stomp on your throat, mentality. I don’t think I’ve seen this type of attitude from this team in a loooooooong time. I loved what I saw tonight. Everyone played together. And DJ Fricken Burns, a man of efficiency. All around good game. Fun to watch. Now let’s just do that every night.
Been a Pack fan since the days of Norm Sloan. This is easily the most unlikely win. No miraculous performances, just 9 guys playing their guts out with TWO STARTERS watching in street clothes. Fun to watch. Hope they can replicate it.
Yes! 9 guys playing their guts out. No real talent needed. Just pure effort. Not saying there wasn’t talent on the floor. There was. Just saying, imagine this combined with one miraculous performance. I will say, Joiner and DJ quietly went about their business, so perhaps there could be made an argument for some miraculousness there. Joiner, while shooting similar field goal percentages as Smith, had 9 assist! and 0 turnovers! DJ, is consistent as the rising sun. I would actually say, DJ, despite a dead equal assist to turnover ratio, had a rather impressive game. “Just when I though… Read more »