NC State landed in an all too familiar spot of trying to regroup and pick itself up after another tough ACC loss Saturday.
Wake Forest held on to top NC State 93-88 at PNC Arena, snapping a 25-game ACC road losing streak. The Demon Deacons last road win was 83-77 at Virginia Tech on Jan. 22, 2014. The Wolfpack fell to 13-7 overall and 2-5 in the ACC, with road games looming at Duke on Monday and at Louisville on Jan. 29.
NC State head coach Mark Gottfried was impressed with his players effort and the offense, while leaving some points at the free-throw line, scored more than enough points. NCSU was right there, trailing 68-67 with 8:18 left after freshman point guard Dennis Smith Jr. made all three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt.
Wake Forest junior center Dinos Mitoglou didn’t have a particularly good game, but he made a three-point play and followed with a three-pointer from the left corner. WFU hit three more free throws and the lead bulged to 77-67 with 5:57 left in the game. The Wolfpack couldn’t get over the hump down the stretch, though the officiating received some unwanted scrutiny after a late NC State rally.
NC State fifth-year senior shooting guard Terry Henderson came alive with eight points in the final minute, and made an apparent steal with 5.2 seconds left, but was ruled out of bounds. The play wasn’t reviewed due to it not being a deflection caused between two players.
“He [official Jamie Luckie] said he didn’t need to review it,” Gottfried said. “He had it for sure. Life moves on.”
NC State’s margin for error wasn’t much leading up to the dramatic incorrect call due to the first 39 minutes of the game. Another contributing factor was the Demon Deacons just didn’t miss many free throws. Wake Forest entered the game shooting 75.9 percent from the free-throw line, and showed why. WFU sank 29 of 33 free throws for an impressive 87.9 percent, and NC State struggled at 16 of 27 for 59.3 percent.
“We have to convert on the free-throw line,” said NCSU redshirt sophomore Torin Dorn, who provided a spark off the bench with 13 points in 17 minutes. “I’m the first one that needs to be better on the free-throw line. We’ll get better.”
NC State has battled foul trouble throughout the season, and had Abdul-Malik Abu and Omer Yurtseven foul out, and BeeJay Anya and Dennis Smith Jr. had four fouls apiece. The foul trouble didn’t cause Gottfried to alter his rotation, with freshmen post players Darius Hicks and Ted Kapita not playing.
Smith finished with 15 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds, and the Wolfpack had 21 assists on 33 made baskets. However, NC State shot an uncharacteristically 6 of 26 on three-pointers. The offense might not have been completely in sync, but scoring 88 points is more than enough to defeat an opponent like Wake Forest, which has become a common refrain during NC State’s recent rough patch. The 93 points allowed was the third most this season.
“We are giving points away at times,” said Gottfried, who played more zone extensively. “We aren’t going to shut everybody out and we know that, but we have had some mental errors defensively that seem to add up against us pretty quick. That has to get better.”
Abdul-Malik Abu Has Early Hot Hand
Abu couldn’t miss a shot in the first half, but came back down to earth a bit in the second.
Part of the issues after halftime involved foul trouble, but Abu was locked in with his mid-range jumper during the first half. He had 17 of his team-high 20 points by halftime, and added seven rebounds in 32 minutes played. The 6-foot-8, 240-pounder was 1 of 3 for three points in 13 second-half minutes.
“Sometimes it is just the way the game is,” Gottfried said. “Sometimes get really hot and maybe they made adjustments or we didn’t get him the ball. Maybe he didn’t make some shots. I thought we had pretty good shots [as a team] for most of the game.”
The 17 first-half points matched what Abu had don the last three games against Pittsburgh (two points), Georgia Tech (seven) and Boston College (eight).
The performance was reminiscent to Abu’s breakout game freshman year at Miami, when he scored the Wolfpack’s first 12 points en route to 19 on Jan. 22, 2015.
“When I made a couple early, I knew I was on,” Abu said. “I just wanted to keep shooting. I felt I had the hot hand.”
Abu’s offense was a much-needed jolt in trying to keep up against Wake Forest star sophomore power forward John Collins. He led the Demon Deacons with 21 points and nine boards in just 26 minutes of action. Like Abu, he also fouled out of the contest. Collins has 48 points his last two games.
“He’s a good player,” Gottfried said. “Most of those guys have played some now. They have the two transfers [Keyshawn Woods and Austin Arians] and they’ve helped them greatly. They are better.”
NC State Back On The Road
NC State’s path doesn’t get easier with a trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on No. 18-ranked Duke.
The Wolfpack played the Blue Devils three times last year, including the ACC Tournament, but have just one regular season meeting this season. NCSU had a quick turn-around after losing to Georgia Tech and playing Pittsburgh last week, and will do the same at Duke.
“We just have to have a short term memory and forgetting about it, refocusing and shoring things up defensively,” Dorn said. “It’s definitely frustrating, hurt.
“We are definitely disappointed, but eager to get back and regroup and right this ship.”
The Wolfpack take a one game at a time approach, but the losses are starting to build up in ACC action. NCSU is 2-5 in the league, and probably need at least a 9-9 mark to feel decent about its NCAA Tournament chances.
“We did it last week and we have to do it again,” Gottfried said. “It is a one-day turnaround. It is just the way the league schedule comes out. We’ll practice tomorrow and then play Monday.”
NC State and Duke have both had its rosters in flux this season due to suspensions or injuries.
“It’s hard to get your team developed but you have to figure it out,” Gottfried said. “We have to figure it out and they have to figure it out. That is part of the game of basketball.”
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