NC State redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels played with a much-needed edge on both ends of the court to save the Wolfpack against Boston College on Wednesday.
Daniels might have scored more points or been flashier in other games this season, but he put his hard hat on and proved to be the difference. He finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and five steals in just 25 minutes of action to propel NCSU (19-8 overall, 7-7 ACC) to an 89-80 victory over Boston College in front of 14,435 fans at PNC Arena.
He was two points away from his previous season-high, which he achieved against Western Carolina on Dec. 5, and he tied his career high for boards, which he achieved while playing for Utah against UC Riverside on Nov. 25, 2016.
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts credited Daniels’ defense against BC star point guard Ky Bowman, and simply said that sometimes transfers take some time to fully embrace their new roles.
“I thought Devon Daniels was tremendous, especially the overtime period,” Keatts said.
Bowman had a chance to win the game at the end, but he ended up shooting a difficult three-point attempt against Daniels that missed easily, and the game went to overtime.
“It was good defense and he’s a good player, but I thought I was there,” Daniels said. “I’m just glad he missed it.”
Daniels said that he played with a lot of fire against the Eagles, but wouldn’t call it his best game of the year.
“I feel like I haven’t been doing that for some of the season, but I’m trying to get that back,” Daniels said. “I want to play how I play. I just want to play with energy and do anything to help my team win.”
Becoming a defensive stopper of sorts seemed an unlikely role for him in October, but Daniels has quietly embraced that challenge the last few games.
“I’m getting these guys to play for NC State,” Keatts said. “It takes a while for guys to understand their role. I know that’s crazy with four more regular season games.”
Daniels’ teammates could see the difference in his play Wednesday. He had been 4 of 18 from the field for a combined 11 points in his last three games.
“When he’s on top of his game, he’s unstoppable,” NCSU redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk said. “I don’t care if he’s angry, passionate, whatever it is, for us to get the win is what I like. He was very locked in today.”
NCSU fifth-year senior forward Torin Dorn echoed Funderburk’s sentiments and said he likes “angry Devon Daniels.”
“That is when he plays his best, when he’s mad,” Dorn said.
NC State dominates overtime
NC State dominated the overtime period in jumping out to a 10-point lead, 85-75, with 1:09 left. Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce got the positive energy flowing when he converted on a three-point play, and then Daniels eventually hit a three-pointer to open up the floodgates.
Keatts stressed being aggressive to the team before overtime began and figured the team's conditioning would kick in.
“We switched from what we were running,” Keatts said. “Instead of running our zone stuff, we switched to our man-to-man stuff.”
NCSU might have dodged a bullet in regulation but weren’t going to give up anything to chance in overtime.
“In overtime we had a little huddle and we said, ‘We have to turn it on. We had been playing good the whole game, lets finish strong,’” Daniels said.
Dorn pondered the idea that NC State could have won by 20-plus points going away in regulation, but he’s glad to get the victory regardless.
“They were able to make a little run and you have to win all types of games,” Dorn said. “Was I nervous? Not at all.”
Wolfpack experience long field goal drought
NC State struggled at times figuring out Boston College’s zone defense that had some man-to-man principles.
NCSU freshman forward Jericole Hellems hit a jumper and then Daniels made a steal and layup to give the Wolfpack a 64-51 lead with 11:29 left in the game. The next NC State point was fifth-year senior forward Torin Dorn splitting a free throw to cut Boston College’s lead to 67-65 with 5:10 left.
Funderburk made a layup to tie the game 69-69 with 2:53 left for the first field goal during that drought.
“Basketball is a game of runs and we just had to get back to our offense,” Daniels said. “We had to share the ball more and we broke out of it well.”
BC used a steady dose of Bowman and junior center Nik Popovic to forge the comeback. Bowman had 16 points and four three-pointers, and Popovic had 18 second-half points to lead the way.
“Ky Bowman is a great guard and Popovic, it’s a credit to him, he’s a great big,” Funderburk said. “It wasn’t really hard to guard. We knew from the scout, that is where most of their points came from those two and [Jordan] Chatman.”
Chatman hit four three-pointer’s in the first half, but then injured his finger and never played in the second half. The Hamilton brothers from Charlotte, N.C., Jairus and Jared, combined for 27 points and 12 rebounds to try and fill that void.
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