NC State showed it can put the hammer down when needed.
The Wolfpack featured five players in double figures with senior guard Marcus Hill getting 19 points to help the Wolfpack improve to 5-0 with a 84-61 win over William & Mary on Friday at the Lenovo Center.
The Wolfpack built a double-digit lead within the first 7:27 of the game, and it kept expanding and expanding.William & Mary came out aggressive in the second half and cut deep into the Wolfpack’s lead, which was high as as 20 points in the first 34 minutes of the game.
Senior power forward Noah Collier scored nine points and forward Keller Boothby hit a 3-pointer and the Tribe were within 59-52 with 5:29 left in the game. That was the first time the Wolfpack felt legitimately threatened in the contest.
NC State answered with a crippling 16-2 run and the drama exited the Lenovo Center.
“I’ve seen tremendous growth in these guys every game,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “On any given night, it can be someone else [as leading scorer]. We talk about who will b the energy guy. Who will be the energy guy in the building.
“I thought Ben came off and did a good job, and I thought Marcus was good again.”
Hill and senior center Ben Middlebrooks played with good energy. The latter had 11 points, seven rebounds and five blocks in 22 minutes of action. He led NC State with a plus-26 while on the floor.
The center position for the Wolfpack combined for 21 points, 16 rebounds and five blocks, with senior center Brandon Huntley-Hatfield’s contributions.
Collier, a Pittsburgh transfer three years ago, had 25 points and seven rebounds in sparking the Tribe’s second half spurt. Keatts could tell his team had some lulls in the game and said there was a “6-7-minute stretch where I didn’t like who we were.”
William & Mary fell to 3-4 on the young season and finished shooting just 7 of 31 on three-pointers for 22.6 percent.
“I thought we played great in the first half,” Keatts said. “We were a little slow in the second half, start of the second half. That's where a new team has got to learn how to continue to play the way we do. But boy did we finish the game the right way.”
The other major difference was simply an inordinate amount of turnovers by the Tribe, who had 13 of their 21 in the first half. The turnovers helped NC State hold a 29-15 points off turnovers advantage, and it also helped lead to 39 fast-break points. NC State finished with 13 steals, with five different players getting two apiece.
“Colgate and William & Mary do a great job of taking care of the ball, and we did a good job of turning them over,” Keatts said.
NC State returns to action against Purdue in sunny San Diego, Calif., on Nov. 28 in a rematch of the Final Four semifinals. The No. 6-ranked Boilermakers are off to a 4-1 start, falling at Marquette 76-58 on Tuesday this week. Purdue has had to adjust to playing without star center Zach Edey, and 7-foot-4 Daniel Jacobsen got hurt after two games.
NC State welcomed back freshman point guard Treymane Parker, but junior post player Ismael Diouf didn’t play while nursing an elbow injury.
“It's a good Purdue team,” Keatts said. “Honestly, I haven't had a chance to watch any of Purdue, but I know [coach] Matt [Painter] does a great job with his program.
“It's a rematch of the Final Four. How sweet is that to have the opportunity to play against a team that you played in the Final Four that does a really good job.”
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