NC State 82 Saint Louis 70: BY THE NUMBERS

NC State was carried by the sharp shooting efforts of DJ Horne and Casey Morsell this evening in the Wolfpack’s 82-70 win over Saint Louis. Let’s take a look at the victory…BY THE NUMBERS.

• As a team, NC State shot extremely well, making 50% from the field and 36% from three.
  • On a disappointing note, the Wolfpack shot 50% from the free throw line, making 11 of 22. That’s unacceptable.
• Defensively, I love creating 18 turnovers, and scoring 29 points off of those Turnovers.
  • I hate allowing Saint Louis to shoot 50% from the field.
• When you look at the fact that both teams shot the same percentage from the field, it makes it a little easier to determine what separated the victor from the loser.
  • As mentioned above, NC State scored 29 points off of turning Saint Louis over 18 times.
    • The Billikens on the other hand only managed to turn the Wolfpack over 6 times, scoring only 2 points off of turnovers.
      • Props to the Wolfpack for taking care of the basketball tonight.
  • NC State is going to look back on this game later in the year, and thank the Lord they found a way to win.
    • Saint Louis led for 23:35. In comparison, the Wolfpack led for only 13:37.
  • What gave NC State the edge to grab the lead and not let go of it?
    • The sharp shooting efforts of Casey Morsell and DJ Horne in the 2nd half.
      • Horne scored 14 of his 18 points in the 2nd half, going 4 for 5 from three (4-6 in the game).
      • Similarly, Morsell scored 2/3rds of his points in the 2nd half, scoring 14 in the 2nd period of play.
        • Morsell, like Horne, went 4 for 5 from three in the second (4-6 in the game).
      • NC State doesn’t win this game if Morsell and Horne don’t go flipping 8 of 10 from three in the 2nd half.
• Thanks primarily to the defense of Morsell, Saint Louis’ leading scorer Gibson Jimerson only had 7 points, on 1 of 8 shooting.
  • He is averaging 16.8 points per game.
• Two defensive compliemnts in a row here…NC State held Saint Louis to 1 of 12 from beyond the arc. On the year, the Billikens are shooting 39.2% from three.
  • Defending the three isn’t typically the Wolfpack’s calling card, so kudos to being strong where you’re typically weak.
• DJ Burns was the only other Wolfpack player to score in double figures, with 13 points on 5 of 10 shooting.
• Who was the MVP tonight?
  • The Wolfpack was +20 with DJ Horne on the court, which led the team.
• Not counting the players that entered the game in the final couple of minutes, Dennis Parker Jr.’s -4 was the lowest on the team.
  • Parker did lead NC State with 7 rebounds, and scored 8 points on 4 of 8 shooting.
• I haven’t been the biggest fan of Mike O’Connell’s play for much of this season, but he was solid tonight, pacing the Pack with 5 assists and 0 turnovers.
  • The Wolfpack were +13 with him on the court, which was tied with Morsell for the 2nd best number on the team.
• One of the more disorienting things for me, is to try to understand Keatts’ philosophy of playing time.
  • After the Tennessee game, I would have expected Kam Woods and MJ Rice to get more playing time against Saint Louis.
  • That almost seemed like it was going to happen, with both of them being the first two players to sub in for the Wolfpack, with roughly 14 minutes left in the 1st half.
  • In the end, Woods played 4 minutes and Rice played 2. Make it make sense.
• I’m a big Ben Middlebrooks fan. Once again, he maximized his playing time, with 9 points, 4 boards and 2 steals in 15 minutes.
  • NC State was +11 with Middlebrooks on the court, which was 4th best on the team.
• Casey Morsell scored 20+ points for the 2nd time this season.
  • Earlier this season, he scored 28 points against BYU.