GREENSBORO — NC State senior point guard Markell Johnson had no doubts when he let it fly from halfcourt that it was going in.
Johnson dug in defensively against fellow second-half standout junior guard Isaiah Miller of UNC Greensboro, but Miller drove in to tie the game 77-77 with 2.1 seconds left. Johnson took the in-bounds pass dribbled a few steps and let it go, and it was nothing but net to propel the Wolfpack to a crucial non-conference victory Sunday at the Greensboro Coliseum.
UNCG lost in similar halfcourt buzzer-beating fashion against Montana State on Nov. 16.
“I was trying to get a stop on the other end, but the guy scored, so I was trying to get it back,” said Johnson, who practices halfcourt shots. “I do shoot them every day after practice. I hadn’t made it in practice since the Wisconsin game.”
Johnson had previously made a halfcourt heave with his eyes somewhat closed that banked in against Wisconsin to end the first half. He knew the shot against UNCG was pure when it left his right hand.
“My eyes were open, and I was locked in on that shot,” Johnson said.
Johnson finished with 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half, and that helped counter act Miller, who had 21 of his game-high 26 points after halftime.
“It was definitely fun playing against a guy like that who can do a little bit of everything,” Johnson said. “He was one of the top guards in the country.”
NCSU senior forward Pat Andree was on the bench and he and his teammates all thought the same thing when Johnson shot it.
“Two, three of the guys sitting next to me, everybody at the time it went up, we were like, ‘It’s going in,’” Andree said. “We’ve seen him do it.”
UNCG went on two crucial runs when Johnson was on the bench, in the first half after he picked up two fouls, and then had a surge sparked when NC State redshirt junior wing Devon Daniels picked up a technical after he made a big blocked shot. NCSU was leading 65-54 and likely to score when Daniels got the technical with 9:33 left in the game.
Miller later scored five straight points to cut the gap to 72-71 with 5:15 remaining, to help set up the intense finish.
“That isn’t who we are,” said Keatts, who didn’t know what Daniels had said. “They got going after that and made some plays.”
Getting a road win over what appears to be a quality UNCG squad, which fell to 8-3 overall, should look good for NC State in March. NC State gets another big opportunity at Auburn on Dec. 19.
“I thought we had a great road win here,” Keatts said. “I thought our guys responded and there were ups and downs in the game. We made a way to make some plays.
“I thought this would be a great game for us overall.”
Johnson said he had been settling for too many jumpers at times and wanted to get to the rim more.
“He was having a good night and he was feeling it,” said Keatts on Johnson. “Markell is a kid that never really asks for the basketball. He was telling me to run a couple of plays for me and he was feeling it at the time.”
UNCG Goes Cold On Second Half 3-Point Shooting
UNCG entered the game shooting 30.5 percent from three-point land, but the scouting report went out the window when the Spartans shot 8 of 14 from beyond the arc in the first half.
“They were hitting a lot of three-pointers,” Johnson said. “We just went into the locker room, and Coach Keatts got on us and made the adjustment.”
The hot shooting started at the beginning of the second half with Miller and Kyrin Galloway both making three-pointers, and the Wolfpack were staring down a 43-38 Spartans lead.
“I thought we did a poor job of defending the three-point line,” Keatts said. “We knew coming into the game that UNCG was averaging making nine three-pointers a game. They had eight in the first half.”
The law of percentages and some NC State adjustments helped the Spartans to finally cool off. UNCG went 1 of 10 on three-pointers over the final 18:56 of the game to finish 11 of 26 from beyond the arc for 42.3 percent.
“That certainly helped us win the game,” Keatts said.
The Spartans shot much better from beyond the arc than within it. UNCG finished shooting 41.8 percent from the field.
Senior Pat Andree Provides Boost
NC State sophomore forward Jericole Hellems was a game-time decision after colliding with Wake Forest sophomore center Olivier Sarr, who is 7-foot and 250 pounds, on Dec. 7 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Hellems did play against UNCG but came off the bench, and Andree got his second start of the season. He previously started in the season-opening loss against Georgia Tech.
Andree helped set the tone at the beginning of both halves, with a combined five three-pointers in the first 30 minutes of the game.
Andree entered the game with 15 of his 17 made field goals from beyond the arc, but the five made three-pointers eclipsed his previous NCSU high of four three-pointers against Florida International on Nov. 13. Andree finished with a season-high 15 points.
“It was my job to come and be a senior and bring some leadership,” Andree said.
Andree’s hot three-point shooting helped NC State keep pace with UNCG’s surprising shooting. It also made up for the fact that Hellems probably wasn’t in the same rhythm from a week ago.
Hellems entered the UNCG game with a combined 53 points against Memphis, Wisconsin and Wake Forest. He had two points in 19 minutes against the Spartans, but his assist on a corner three-pointer by C.J. Bryce proved large in giving NCSU 75-71 lead with 3:45 left in the contest.
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