NC State put aside the dejection of not making the NCAA Tournament, and rode the energy of the crowd at Reynolds Coliseum and three key veterans to top Hofstra 84-78 on Tuesday.
The No. 2-seeded Wolfpack advanced to play the winner of the Harvard-Georgetown matchup at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Reynolds Coliseum. The No. 3-seeded Hoyas (19-13 overall) and No. 6-seeded Crimson (18-11) play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
Junior point guard Markell Johnson, fifth-year senior forward Torin Dorn and redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce combined for 63 of the Pack’s 84 points, with Johnson leading the way with 26. Dorn added 19 points and nine rebounds, while Bryce had 18 points and 11 boards.
Dorn and Johnson played in the NCAA Tournament for NC State last year, and Bryce has two years of experience in the Big Dance when he was at UNC Wilmington. The other returning player, sophomore guard Braxton Beverly, chipped in nine points and four assists.
Head coach Kevin Keatts, who was proud of his veterans carrying the squad, knew that a champion from the Colonial Athletic Association would come in primed to create an upset, simply because he lived that life for three years at UNC Wilmington.
“I told our guys that this would be as tough a game as we are going to play,” said Keatts, who won his first postseason tournament game. “That was my teams two years ago [at UNCW]. My second year at UNCW, we played a Duke team with Brandon Ingram and had a chance to beat him in the NCAA.
“Then obviously my last year [at UNCW] with UVA, we were up 15 or 20 and had a shot to beat those guys.”
It’s only human nature to be incredibly disappointed to not make the NCAA Tournament after having that as a team goal since workouts began last July. NC State’s play didn’t reflect a broken spirit against the Pride.
“When you don’t make it, that’s a tough thing when you are talking about 19-, 20-, 21-year-old guys,” Keatts said. “These guys came out and responded. They gave me an honest, hard work yesterday in practice and it paid off.”
The departure of worrying about the ACC regular season and tournament has now shifted to a new goal.
“We are playing for a championship and that is what we want,” Keatts said.
NC State shuts down second-leading Hofstra scorer
Hofstra senior shooting guard Justin Wright-Foreman was averaging 27.0 points per game, which ranks second in the country behind Campbell senior guard Chris Clemons. Keatts had squared off against Wright-Foreman and Hofstra two years ago when he was the head coach at UNC Wilmington, so he wasn’t surprised at how good he had become.
Wright-Foreman finished with 29 points and five assists, including a big six-point spurt that cut NCSU’s lead to 78-76 with 2:24 left in the game.
“He’s tremendous,” Keatts said. “He’s an elite scorer. He’s a tough guard because he can step behind the three-point line and shoot it. He’s shifty enough to get to the rim.
“When you think about that league, there are always one or two really good players that come out of the league. He’s another one that has a chance to play for money one day.”
NC State likely knew that Wright-Foreman was going to get his numbers, but shut down junior wing Eli Pemberton, who was saddled with foul trouble. Pemberton entered the contest averaging 15.4 points per game, and he was held to just two points on 1-of-4 shooting. Shutting down Pemberton and outrebounding Hofstra 49-32 proved crucial to the outcome.
Johnson scored NC State’s final six points to close out the win, and he finished with 26 points and five assists. The Wolfpack always feed off whatever tone Johnson sets, and he proved to be in rare form in the NIT victory.
“Markell was feeling it and I wanted him to play,” Keatts said. “I thought he made some great plays down the stretch.”
Johnson did joke about his technical foul for slapping the backboard, which was one of his rare miscues. Keatts said Johnson apologized after the game, but he was looking for an apology during the game.
“I wasn’t surprised, I knew it was coming,” Johnson said.
Reynolds Coliseum magic boosts Wolfpack
Having the game at Reynolds could prove to be a difference-maker for the Wolfpack, who had 5,500 in attendance Tuesday. Keatts said the crowd's energy played a key role in what could have been a deflating situation for the squad.
The Wolfpack played at Reynolds Coliseum instead of PNC Arena due to the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins. NC State athletics director Debbie Yow quipped that due to financial reasons that Keatts’ hopes of having more games at Reynolds Coliseum in the future won’t be happening.
“You look at the excitement in this building today … our fan base is incredible,” Keatts said. “Without them, I don’t know we get the win. This is an electric building.”
Dorn cited the Wolfpack crowd for giving the team a nice boost.
“We have some of the best fans in the country,” Dorn said. “Any time we get to play in front of them, is big for us, big for our team and big for the city of Raleigh and big for our fan base.”
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