NC State wrapped up its non-conference slate by overwhelming Rider 89-63 on Sunday at the Lenovo Center.
The Wolfpack had essentially a week off after falling 75-60 at Kansas, and won’t play again until Dec. 31 at Virginia for their second ACC tilt. NC State finished the non-conference slate at 7-4, and have an overall mark of 8-4 after already defeating Florida State on Dec. 7.
“Certainly we worked on a lot of things and we took two days off after the Kansas game. We got in there on Tuesday and Wednesday and really worked on NC State,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “We took Thursday off and then we turned our attention to Rider on Friday and Saturday. What we wanna do is clean up things. I didn't think in the Kansas game we played together enough. I thought we had moments.”
NC State had a little bit of a slow first seven minutes of the game, but then just put on a decimating 23-2 run to take a 35-11 lead with 5:19 left in the first half. The drama ended right then and there for the contest. The Wolfpack’s largest lead was 71-37 with 11:36 left in the game.
NC State senior shooting guard Jayden Taylor had 16 points to lead the Wolfpack, and both Ben Middlebrooks, a senior center, and senior guard Breon Pass had 12 points apiece.
Keatts was impressed that senior guard Marcus Hill had 11 points, six assists and four rebounds.
“You’re always rewarded when you make the right play,” Keatts said. “I think that's where his growth is.”
NC State shot 55.8 percent from the field and only trailed for the first 2:31 of the contest. The Wolfpack had 21 assists on 29 made field goals.
“We have to play off each other,” Keatts said. “I thought we really did a good job tonight, moving the basketball and playing off each other. Defensively, we got back into the right places.”
The Wolfpack entered Sunday at No. 115 in the Basketball Net rankings. The ranking is influenced by going 0-4 against the four high-major opponents, but NC State also played seven opponents who all were .500 or worse going into Sunday. Three opponents already have double digits losses — Coppin State (No. 361 in Net), South Carolina-Upstate (345) and Colgate (266).
“Now our focus is now for the rest of the season, all ACC games,” Keatts said. “We got off to a great start, being 1-0 [defeating FSU], taking care of home. Now, obviously, we got 19 more of those games.”
With the ACC struggling as a league with five teams in the top 50 — No. 3 Duke, No. 9 Pittsburgh, No. 28 SMU, No. 33 North Carolina and No. 39 Clemson — the Wolfpack will need to dominate in ACC action to get in the NCAA Tournament mix. Otherwise, it would have to be deja vu of last year year — win the ACC Tournament or bust.
The players will take off Monday-through-Thursday, and then return back to Raleigh. Keatts knows the name of the game is to find as many good wins as possible in the ACC.
“It's still tough,” Keatts said. “It doesn't change that you gotta go to great venues. It doesn't change who you're playing. It doesn't change anything that we get a chance to play against one another.
“We did not have a great November, December. That being said, it doesn't change that we got really good teams, that we gotta play at their venues.”
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