The theme all week has been NC State’s “Bracket Luck” and it resulted in a Sweet 16 berth.
No. 11-seeded NC State got No. 6-seeded Texas Tech on Thursday in the NCAA Tournament, and already knew Oakland awaited if the Wolfpack won. NCSU took care of its business in upsetting the much smaller Texas Tech squad, right after Oakland had shocked No. 3-seeded Kentucky 80-76.
Oakland, which was also another undersized squad as most smaller schools are, proved to be much trickier. NC State dug deep in overtime to pull off the 79-73 victory Saturday against Oakland in Pittsburgh, Pa.
NC Sate star center D.J. Burns was the catalyst and said after the game there is still plenty of room for Wolfpack Nation to jump back on to the bandwagon.
“I’ve been saying ‘Welcome back,’” Burns said. “They didn’t really believe in us and still don’t, but that doesn’t matter to us. We’ll stay together. If you have supported us, ‘Thank you.’ If not, then it is what it is.”
Senior point guard Michael O’Connell said the key was not to listen to the “outside noise," and senior wing Casey Morsell simply said, "We are here [in the Sweet 16]."
“We kind of have left everything in the past,” O’Connell said. “If people are with us, that’s great. If not, it is what it is, but we’ll take all the support we can get.”
NC State’s amazing run has now resulted in seven straight victories, an ACC Tournament title, Sweet 16 appearance and multi-year contract extension for coach Kevin Keatts. The Wolfpack will play the winner of Sunday’s battle between No. 2-seeded Marquette and No. 10-seeded Colorado.
NC State returns to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015, and the fourth since 1989. The ACC Tournament title was the first since 1987, with Wolfpack getting used to making school history.
“We’ve come together here,” Keatts said. “We have been a good team all year long. We just hadn’t stacked games, or stack opportunities.
“We have cut down on our mistakes and most have been on the defensive end. This team can score the basketball. Defensively, we were a mess at times. Our ball screen coverage wasn’t well.”
The rules of engagement were relatively simplistic. NC State went inside to senior center D.J. Burns against the Oakland matchup zone, and the Grizzlies went to junior power forward Trey Townsend.
NC State had plenty of jump shots available but weren’t clicking from deep, and Oakland shooter extraordinaire Jack Gohlke was the only offensive alternative to Townsend. The rest of the team went 8 of 24 from the field.
“He [Gohlke] is dangerous and you have to pay so much attention to him,” Keatts said. “Then you look at the fact that Trey Townsend is really good. They have a inside-out punch.”
Burns finished with 24 points and 11 rebounds and was able to play 42 minutes against the slower pace. Townsend had 30 points and 13 rebounds and contributed to both Ben Middlebrooks and Mohamed Diarra in fouling out.
NC State made 9 of 26 on three-pointers and missed seven layups, and Gohlke, who hit 10 3-pointers in the win over Kentucky, finished 6 of 17 from beyond the arc for 22 points.
“I’ve never played anyone who could shoot at that caliber,” NCSU senior wing Casey Morsell said. “One thing that Jack does is that he tests your awareness.”
NC State led by as many as seven points in the second half, but the lead could have been more if it weren’t for missed layups and jumpers. The biggest “run” in the second half was NCSU going on a 9-3 spurt to open up a 51-45 lead with 10:01 left in the game.
Oakland did a good job of hanging around and had its opportunity when Townsend got a 3-point play to give the Grizzlies a 63-61 lead with 2:49 left. O’Connell came through with a big three-point play with 55 seconds left, but then Gohlke got fouled and tied it up at 66-all with 41.5 seconds left. Oakland had a chance to win it in regulation but the Grizzlies threw the ball away with 1.4 seconds left, and it was on overtime.
The extra five minutes proved to be all NC State. Oakland’s only field goal came after the game was decided with 14 seconds left. The dagger came with junior guard Jayden Taylor hitting a corner 3-pointer. He came into the game due to Diarra fouling out, who finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds. His big shot gave NC State a 75-70 lead with 1:13 left.
“We were running out of players,” Keatts said. “I looked around and I was going to put [assistant coach] Levi Watkins in at one point. We needed another post guy. We had some calls that didn’t go our way. Trey Townsend had a great game.”
NC State finished going 9 of 26 on three-pointers, but all five starters reached double figures, and the Wolfpack had a 46-34 advantage on the boards.
“I thought Michael [O’Connell], even though might not have impacted the game much with his scoring [second leading scorer at 12 points], he had a career high in assists at eight. That is what kind of makes us special. That makes us tough to guard.”
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