NC State Seniors Score All 71 Points in 71-63 Win Over Pitt in Final Home Game

In order for NC State to even have a chance of squeaking into the 2025 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament, they needed to defeat Pitt in their final regular season game at home tonight. The Wolfpack beat the Panthers 71-63.

NC State entered the game with a 7% chance of making the ACC Tournament, but with the win, PlayoffStatus.com increases their odds to 19%. That percentage will increase significantly if Notre Dame loses to Stanford tonight.

In a bizarre statistic, NC State’s 7 seniors scored all 71 of their points this evening.

The Wolfpack controlled the game from the jump, allowing Pitt to only hold the lead for 1 minute and 29 seconds.

Michael O’Connell led NC State in scoring and arguably played his best game of the season, with 15 points and 8 assists (2 turnovers). The 15 points were the second-highest total he’s scored this year, trailing only the 16 points he scored against BYU on November 29. O’Connell was 3 of 6 from three. This was the only game this season in which O’Connell was the sole leader in points.

Breon Pass started his first collegiate game in his 115th appearance and made the most of it, scoring a career-high 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. Of the 7 seniors honored tonight, Pass is the only one who spent all 4 seasons in Raleigh. In fact, he’s one of only 8 seniors in the ACC who spent all 4 years at their current school. NC State was +13 when Pass was on the court, which was the highest plus/minus on the roster tonight.

Dontrez Styles posted his third double-double of the season, with 13 points (6-13 FG) and 13 boards.

Ben Middlebrooks chipped in 11 points, and Marcus Hill added 10.

Honestly, it wasn’t a pretty victory. The Wolfpack once again shot the ball poorly, making 40.7% from the field, compared to Pitt’s 41.2%. The difference in the game was that NC State made four more three-pointers (10) and scored seven more points off turnovers.

When the other team shoots slightly better than you, forcing them to make more mistakes and hitting a few more three-pointers can lead to a victory.

NC State will be glued to the television tonight, pulling desperately for Stanford to beat Notre Dame. If the Fighting Irish win, they will officially eliminate the Wolfpack from the 2025 ACC Tournament.