NC State struggled from three-point land in losing against Pittsburgh, but came out blazing Tuesday night.
The Wolfpack crushed Coppin State 94-72 behind a barrage of first-half three-pointers at historic Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh. The backcourt of senior point guard Jarkel Joiner and sophomore shooting guard Terquavion Smith combined for 62 points and 11 three-pointers, with Smith chipping in seven assists.
NC State improved to 8-2 with the victory and play at Miami on Saturday afternoon. Coppin State fell to 4-7 on the season.
“It was an electric night and the energy was great,” said NCSU coach Kevin Keatts, who enjoys playing games at Reynolds Coliseum. “We had a lot of fun.”
NC State will know more Wednesday if senior center Dusan Mahorcic will miss some time with a scary right knee injury. The 6-foot-10, 225-pounder, who transferred in from Utah, bypassed using a wheelchair and walked off the court with some help with 12:41 left in the game.
“We are going to continue to pray for Dusan,” Keatts said. “I do not have an update at this point. He’s with our medical doctors and our trainers. I’ll know more hopefully in the next 24 hours, we’ll give you some type of update when we get one.
“I look at them as my kids. It is hard to see any of your kids or any of those guys in that situation. I was there to just to calm him down and let him know we were with him.”
NCSU shot 10 of 19 on three-pointers in the first 20 minutes, thanks to Smith and Joiner. Smith drained 5 of 7 three-pointers in the first half with 19 of his 33 points. The only thing that could slow down Smith was two first-half fouls.
If it wasn’t Smith, then it was Joiner. He started the game with a three-pointer, which was a welcomed sight. He had gone 0 of 12 from the field and 0 of 7 on three-pointers in the 68-60 loss vs. Pittsburgh last Friday. The Wolfpack as a team went 6 of 27 vs. the physical perimeter defense for Pitt.
Joiner was humming along in bouncing back against Coppin State. He had 15 of his 29 points in the second half.
Smith and Joiner talked about being the best backcourt in the ACC. Keatts joked that he is keeping those guys, and Smith just enjoys playing at Reynolds.
“I feel like we are the best backcourt in the ACC,” Smith said. “It will be hard to stop us, especially when things get going.”
Joiner said he went to the Dail Center to get up extra shots immediately after the Pittsburgh loss.
“We feel we are hard to stop,” Joiner said. “We talk about that all the time. It started in the summer.”
Coppin State cut the NC State lead to 10 points on two occasions in the second half. The Wolfpack led by as many 25 with 8:58 left in the first half. The Eagles were led by senior guard Sam Sessoms, who had 24 points and nine assists.
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