NC State’s Dismal Shooting & Dismal Defense Leads to a 60-74 Loss to Syracuse on the Road

Well, after tonight’s 60-74 loss on the road to Syracuse, it’s clear that NC State’s victory over Wake Forest this past Saturday wasn’t a turning point for the better.

This NC State team is among the worst shooting teams in the last 25 years. Despite shooting 50% against the Demon Deacons, which included a breakout game by freshman Paul McNeil, one had to wonder if they could maintain decent shooting performances to end the regular season.

The reality is this: both teams understood the stakes of tonight’s game. No one wants to be one of the three teams left out of the 2025 ACC Tournament. A loss for NC State would make it extremely difficult to qualify for the tournament, trailing by two games with three games left. Similarly, a loss for the Orange would drop them out of the Top-15 with three games remaining.

The pressure was high; one team was prepared to handle it, and the other crumbled.

Was there any reason to think NC State had become a good shooting team after a 50% performance against Wake Forest? Certainly not. Coming into tonight’s contest, the Wolfpack had shot over 45% in only 9 of their 27 games, including 4 of 16 ACC games.

NC State followed up its 50% shooting performance against the Deacs with a 34.4% output tonight against the Orange. For perspective, this was NC State’s second-worst shooting percentage of the season, trailing only a dismal 29.2% performance against SMU on January 25th.

On the defensive side, this was the third-worst field goal percentage defense in a single game for the Wolfpack this season, allowing Syracuse to shoot 58.3%.

Senior Dontrez Styles was the only NC State player to score in double figures, putting up 17 points.

I’m honestly tired of hearing excuses for a team that can’t shoot the basketball. I’m tired of excuses about the lack of a superstar, about not having players like DJ Horne, DJ Burns, Jarkel Joiner, or Terquavion Smith.

It’s the coach’s job to assemble a roster that can shoot the basketball.

I’m also tired of the excuse that this team doesn’t have enough NIL funding.

I don’t know the NIL budgets of all the teams in college basketball, but the Wolfpack entered tonight’s game ranked 273rd in field goal percentage. Don’t try to convince me that NC State ranks 273rd in NIL funding for Men’s Basketball.

The Wolfpack is now 2-games outside of making the ACC Tournament with 3 games left.