NC State’s 2nd Half Meltdown Leads to 86-95 Loss to BYU in Vegas (Box Score Included)

What a meltdown. NC State led against BYU for 29:21 out of 40 minutes, but ultimately fell to the Cougars 86-95.

For the first three quarters of this game, NC State was leading against BYU, but the unraveling began earlier in the 2nd half.

Vanderbilt lives and dies by the three point shot. In the first half, the Wolfpack held them to 26% shooting from beyond the arch. In the 2nd half, they shot 60% from three-point land. Most of these three-pointers were uncontested, because NC State was unable to push through screens, over pursued the passing lanes, ultimately leaving BYU shooters open on skip passes.

Also, BYU shot an insane 70% in the 2nd half. Yes, the Cougars were shooting lights out, but the Wolfpack started taking ill advised shots, and didn’t feed Burns or take high percentage shots as BYU started cooking, making it difficult to squash their momentum.

Look, I could talk about the referees. In fact, lets do that for a second. The ejection of Ben Middlebrooks and KJ Keatts was bizarre. Dennis Parker Jr. was simply trying to help up his fallen teammate, but was forcibly blocked by BYU players, who wouldn’t let him through their barricade. A media timeout was called, and the coaches and players started walking onto the court, while simultaneously tensions were rising a few feet away. As a result, Middlebrooks and Keatts were ejected for leaving the bench during an on-court scuffle.

Then in the final minutes, Jayden Taylor was issued an odd technical foul for trying to get through a screen, which seemed like a makeup call from him being chatty with the refs earlier. Then, he somehow was issued a technical foul from the bench a few plays later, and head coach Kevin Keatts was somehow ejected after one technical, for passionately expressing his dislike for the ejection of Taylor.

Father and Son ejection. Someone figure out the last time that happened in college basketball.

Silly stuff happening in Vegas.

Despite the unraveling, the way NC State played against a quality opponent away from home for 3/4 of a game was impressive. Unfortunately, it takes 4/4 of a game to win.

Let me throw out some props, since this has been laced thick with frustration.

Senior Guard Casey Morsell had 28 points, which was a career high. Morsell shot 10 of 17 from the field, 3 of 6 from three, and led the team with 4 steals.

Junior Guard Jayden Taylor had 17 of his own, shooting an impressive 6 of 10 from the field and 3 of 6 from three.

Senior big man DJ Burns was able to score with ease when given the ball (If you can’t tell, I think our unraveling was due to guards forcibly taking poor shots instead of feeding Burns.), scoring 16 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Burns also led the team with 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

Senior Guard DJ Horne also had 14 points, hitting 4 of his 7 three-point attempts, though he only shot 5 of 14 from the field. Horne was 1 of 7 on 2-point field goal attempts.

The Wolfpack only turned the ball over 9 times, and turned BYU over 17 times. They took 2 more free throw attempts than the Cougars.

Simply put, BYU couldn’t miss in the 2nd half. It wasn’t a lack of effort on the defensive end by NC State, but a lack of discipline on the defensive end.

This sounds cliche, but this put a lot on film to learn from, and there’s a lot to learn. This team has a lot going for it, but many of these players are new to each other, and that showed in the final 10 minutes of the game. A lack of cohesion and chemistry was revealed under pressure, but I expect this team to grow in these areas. Their effort was never in question.

NC State will head down to Mississippi to play Ole Miss in the ACC/SEC challenge next Tuesday night at 9pm.