NC State has faced different kinds of adversity, but playing without star senior guard D.J. Horne was a new one.
Horne played 12 minutes in the first half and missed the rest of the game, and Pittsburgh took advantage. The Panthers closed out the first half strong and rode some hot second-half shooting to pull off a 81-73 victory Saturday.
Pittsburgh ended the regular season winning 11 of 14 games down the stretch, and the Panthers earned a double-bye as the No. 3 seed in the ACC Tournament. No. 10-seeded NC State will open up against Louisville at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
NC State finishes the regular season at 17-14 overall and 9-11 in the league. Like the majority of NC State’s losses this season, the Wolfpack were right there, trailing 70-67, with 2:26 left in the game. Getting to that point was pretty surprising.
Horne exited the game with an injury with 9:17 left in the first half, with both teams tied 21-21. Not surprisingly, Pittsburgh took advantage of NC State’s offense becoming disjointed while it adjusted on the fly. The Wolfpack missed nine of 10 shots and when junior guard Jayden Taylor got a layup, the Panthers led 37-28 with 1:20 left in the first half.
The adversity came with Pittsburgh bombing from deep to start the second half. Freshman shooting guard Carlton Carrington got hot, and got help from star senior forward Blake Hinson. The two combined for 32 second-half points and six three-pointers, and the Panthers led by as much as 17 points, 52-35, with 16:33 left.
With the game looking bleak, that is when Taylor player other-worldly. He scored 22 of his 28 points and went 5 of 9 from three-point land to will the Wolfpack back into the game. Some how, some way, the hot shooing of Taylor gave the squad a chance to pull it out in the last 2 1/2 minutes.
To Pittsburgh’s credit, Carrington hit the last of his four three-pointers to calm things down and win the game. The Panthers finished the second half with zero turnovers and five for the game.
Pittsburgh also had 16 assists on the 32 made baskets and managed to out-score the Wolfpack 40-28 in the paint. NC State tried to play through senior center D.J. Burns in the first half, but he struggled after halftime and had just one free throw. With Horne injured and Burns ineffective, Taylor made seven of NCSU’s 14 field goals after halftime.
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