NC State Basketball
A Few Thoughts on NC State’s 73-69 Win Over Virginia Tech
Phew.
NC State led the whole entire game tonight, but the final minute was as stressful as I’ve watched in sometime, but the Wolfpack found a way to pick up another Quad 1 win on the road, defeating Virginia Tech 73-69.
The truth of the matter is, NC State won a game where everything wasn’t clicking necessarily. The Hokies shot better than the Wolfpack (45.3%/41.4%). The Wolfpack only hit 5 three-pointers, and the Hokies did as well (VT’s Maddox hit three of those in the final minute). NC State only had 7 assists on 24 field goals, and only forced 11 turnovers.
But the mark of a maturing team is that you win the game when it’s not exactly beautiful.
So how did they do it?
Well, NC State’s three guards put a dent in the box score. Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner both led the way again, combining for 43 points. Smith scored 22 and Joiner scored 21. Smith shot poorly, hitting only 6 of his 19 shots, but Joiner and Morsell were more efficient. Joiner shot 6 of 14 and Morsell was 5 of 8, scoring 15 points. When the Hokies would come running, one of these three would find a way to make a timely bucket.
D.J. Burns scored 10 points, but was limited tonight due to foul trouble, playing only 16 minutes. Several of his buckets quieted VT runs.
The Wolfpack have managed to get off to a hot start in the past two games, leading the Hokies 13-2 to begin the game.
A difference in the game was the fact that the Wolfpack had twice as many offensive rebounds (12/6). Greg Gantt had 4 of them, and led the team with 9 total rebounds. Without those offensive boards, NC State doesn’t win this ball game. They shot worse than the Hokies, but had 5 more shots, and scored 12 second chance points.
Another difference in the game was the fact that NC State hit 20 of 25 free throws, shooting a blistering 80% from the charity stripe.
I could quibble about the reliance of 1-on-basketball when Burns was on the bench, or the debacle of the final minute, but hey, NC State just walked away with a Quad 1 victory on the road, and the Wolfpack will eat ice cream before coming home. I’m not complaining.
Go Pack!
Watching the celebration, Clark seems to be hiding from the chaos. Protecting himself from further injury? Gantt took over a year to recover from his groin injury. Clark is out “a few weeks”? How good can we be if both Mahorcic and Clark are back in Feb?
Just to add additional praises to Gantt and Ebe, we out rebounded both Duke and VaTech. Considering we were without Clark, that is a remarkable achievement. Rebounding has been a weakness for several years. Dof87 comments about tapping missed shots back to guards is an insightful observation.
Seems to me Gantt is generally more athletic than Clark and he’s really getting up there for the rebounds. You have to think he’ll keep on getting better after so much time off.
But not in any way criticizing Clark, he’s clearly got a high basketball IQ, I like to watch him play. And maybe the shot will fall a little more if he’s sharing minutes with Gantt. Although, historically, he’s only shot the 3PT in the high 20% range other than his freshman season when he only took 39 3PT shots.
Rewatched the game. I highly recommend only the second viewing as that is much less stressful. Anyway, as much guff as I give to Smith, he was absolutely clutch in those final minutes even in the debacle. He had that big turnover but had ice in his veins at the line. So too was Ebe. He had some valuable minutes at the end there. Alright. On to the next!
I’m not complaining either. Agree, the last minute took about ten years off my life. Nice (ugly) road win that is a win regardless. The Duke game was great, but this game in my opinion was more important. Let’s go get another!!!
Absolutely agree AG, this one was much more important. Winning at home when things are working is expected. Winning on the road when you’ve got foul troubles, the 3PT isn’t falling, you go through scoring droughts, and you totally screw up the end of the game, takes a strong will to win. Having all that experience is huge as well.
I’m starting to think this season might be fun. When Clark went down, I thought we were done.
Huge respect for Gantt and Dowuona, they are true difference makers.
One thing I see us doing that I’ve not seen in the past is us tapping offensive rebounds out to the guards, who are staying in position instead of shooting then immediately scooting back on defense.
Big props to Ebe who has played smart BB (as did Gantt) the last two games. That little baseline jumper looked smooth….and was his only shot of the game. Ebe had every reason to hang it up for the season with little court time early and other bigs supplanting him.