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Notebook: NC State poised to get ranked in top 25

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NC State redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels (No. 24) had 15 second-half points in the Wolfpack's 78-71 win over Auburn on Wednesday in Raleigh.
NC State redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels (No. 24) had 15 second-half points in the Wolfpack's 78-71 win over Auburn on Wednesday in Raleigh. (Ken Martin/TheWolfpacker.com)
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NC State junior point guard Markell Johnson poured in a game-high 27 points to lead the Wolfpack to a 78-71 victory over No. 7-ranked Auburn on Wednesday, giving the program a much-needed signature victory.

NC State was able to make up for its disappointing 79-75 loss against current No. 16-ranked Wisconsin on Nov. 27, where the Wolfpack out-played the Badgers for the majority of the game. The combination of defeating Auburn, 7-2 Vanderbilt and 5-5 Penn State could be enough for 10-1 NC State to get ranked when The Associated Press top 25 poll is announced Monday.

“Definitely [a statement], and we were just at Wisconsin and let it slip away,” said Johnson, who had 19 second-half points. “If we had gotten that one and this one, it would have built our character up a lot.”

The last time NC State was ranked going into a men’s basketball game was against Miami on Feb. 2, 2013. The Wolfpack were No. 19 in the country at the time, but lost at the last second on a Reggie Johnson tip-in at the buzzer.

NC State still plays 4-8 South Carolina-Upstate at 12 p.m. Saturday, but the Wolfpack players are looking forward to seeing a number next to school's name in the near future.

Keatts, however, claims he doesn’t worry if the Wolfpack are ranked during the regular season.

“You sure we are going to get national exposure?” Keatts half-joked after the game. “I don’t think that yet. I think we’ll be fine. We are going to stay in the moment.

“I am going to take their phones away, so they can’t pull up Twitter or Instagram, and some of you guys that use Facebook. If it [getting ranked] happens, it happens.”

Keatts said before and reiterated after the game that Auburn has Elite Eight or Final Four talent, and if the Tigers bounce back and have a strong SEC slate, that will only help out NC State.

“I thought we fought for 40 minutes and that is what I asked them to do,” Keatts said. “It was a great program win for us, and we want to continue to build on this.

“I love my team and I’ve said it all along. I think we have a very good team.”

NC State backcourt wins battle against Auburn

Auburn entered the game with the hyped-up backcourt, but it was Johnson and sophomore point guard Braxton Beverly who ended up stealing the show.

The NC State duo combined for 42 points, five assists and shot 9 of 13 on three-pointers to propel the Wolfpack to the win.

Auburn junior point guard Jared Harper and senior shooting guard Bryce Brown both entered the contest averaging a little over 16 points per game, but neither played well Thursday. Harper was fresh off of scoring 31 points against UAB on Saturday, and Brown had scored 34 points in a win over Dayton on Dec. 8.

The Auburn duo combined for 1-of-9 shooting on three-pointers, 10 turnovers and had just 14 points, 11 of which came from Harper. The poor three-point shooting permeated throughout the entire squad, with Auburn going 5 of 25 from beyond the arc.

“It was just ball pressure and not helping out strong,” Johnson said about the Pack’s perimeter defense. “We were getting over ball screens and all those kind of things.”

NCSU redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels, who had all 15 of his points after halftime, said the Wolfpack emphasized three-point defense all week. Auburn entered the game shooting 35.6 percent from behind the arc.

“We emphasized running them off the line at all costs and making them drivers, and we did that tonight,” Daniels said. “They [Brown and Harper] are great players, but maybe they had an off night or we did something [to them].”

NCSU still has room for improvement

NC State managed to have the lead for 37:47 of the game, and didn’t even have its “A game” against No. 7-ranked Auburn.

The Wolfpack struggled with 22 turnovers and managed just 12-of-23 shooting from the free-throw line. NCSU redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce had just one point, and the center duo of Wyatt Walker, a redshirt junior, and redshirt sophomore DJ Funderburk combined for only eight points and six rebounds.

Defeating Auburn with some areas that could use improvement bodes well for NC State’s future.

“We turned the ball over 22 times and that is uncharacteristic of us,” Keatts said.

Beverly said despite the win over a top-10 opponent, the Wolfpack aren’t close to peaking yet.

“There is definitely another level that we can reach,” he said. “I think we are just tapping into it, and it’s still early.”

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