NC State Rally’s After Keatts’ Ejection to Beat Wake Forest 83-76

For the first time since 1988-89, NC State has started ACC play 5-1, defeating Wake Forest 83-76 tonight.

The Wolfpack didn’t lead in this game until the 2:17 mark in the 2nd half.

With 3:31 left in the 1st half, NC State head coach Kevin Keatts was hit with a double-technical foul, after a no call on a foul on Dennis Parker Jr. As a result, Wake Forest hit all 4 free throws, putting the Deacs up by 10, which is what they ultimately led by at the half.

At one point, Wake Forest led by 12 points right before halftime.

NC State shot the ball well all night, shooting 55.6% in the first half, 51.9% in the 2nd, and 53.7% for the game. Oddly enough, the Wolfpack just won a game in which they didn’t hit a single three-point shot, going 0-8 from beyond the arc.

On the other hand, NC State locked down on defense in the 2nd half. The Demon Deacons shot 53.8% from the field in the first half, hitting 4 three pointers. In the 2nd, the Wolfpack weren’t having it, holding Wake to 33.3% in the 2nd half, making only 2 three-pointers.

Senior Guard DJ Horne led the Pack in scoring once again, pacing NC State with 21 points, hitting 9 of his 19 shots. The Wolfpack were +17 with Horne on the court, which was the best on the squad.

With that being said, my MVP of the night was Junior big fella Ben Middlebrooks, who scored a career high 14 points, shooting a perfect 5 of 5 from the field, and 4 of 4 from the charity stripe. He also grabbed 6 boards. The Wolfpack were +15 with Middlebrooks on the court, which ranked 2nd on the team.

With 46 seconds left on the clock, Middlebrooks made an And-1 layup, and as he walked away hyped up, he incidentally bumped into Wake’s Hunter Sallis, who instantly got in Middlebrook’s face. The result was a technical foul on each, with the technical fouling Middlebrooks out of the game. Mohamed Diarra somehow felt the need to go get in the face of Sallis, which resulted in the two of them receiving technicals for “head-butting” each other, leading to the ejection of both players. In my opinion, there was no head-butting, and Diarra alone deserved a technical, which would have put the Wolfpack in a very precarious position. NC State got lucky in this instance.

It was an emotionally charged game, culminating with DJ Horne giving the referee the double bird after he turned his back with 2.2 seconds left, which went unseen to the referee, but not the television camera. Not a good look for Horne.

With that being said, kudos to Horne for owning it after the game. We all are guilty of making poor choices at times when emotions are high.

My sincere apologies for what happened at the end of the game. I got caught up in the heat of the moment and made a disrespectful gesture that I should have never done. That’s not who I am!

— DJ Horne (@djhorne0) January 17, 2024

Did I mention that DJ Burns left the game early, and was throwing up in the tunnel.

In the end, NC State has shown some extreme resolve as of late. Against Notre Dame, they led for the first time with 0.6 seconds left. Tonight, they led for the first time with 2:17 left.

It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Wolfpack deserve respect for starting 5-1 in the ACC.

The Wolfpack will look continue to hang out in 2nd place in the ACC standings on Saturday, when they host Virginia Tech at Noon.