Postgame notebook: NC State's first half woes leads to big deficit
It’s a first half that will live in infamy this year for NC State.
The Pack made just 11 of 37 shots from the field, or 29.7 percent, including only 1 of 14 three-pointers. After starting the game with a quick 8-2 lead, NC State found itself down 42-27 at the break and eventually 51-29 with 17:31 to go before commencing a huge rally that at one point tied the game.
NC State eventually came up short though in a stunning 71-67 loss at Wake Forest, which won for the first time in four ACC games and evened its overall season mark at 8-8.
“We played on the back of our heels in the fist half,” head coach Kevin Keatts said following the loss. “We didn’t make shots. … Our defense tends to struggle a little bit when the ball is not going on the hole.”
Indeed, the Deacons shot 55.6 percent from the field, 15 of 27, in the first half and was 14 of 22 inside the arc. The Wolfpack players after the game insisted that the shot not falling did not affect its defense, but rather there were simply breakdowns on their part.
“We let them get fast break points and wide open shots … we got to clean it up on defense,” redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce noted.
Keatts also did not think Wake Forest’s zone defense played a factor in the Pack’s shooting woes.
“We didn’t make shots. There’s no reason behind it,” Keatts said.
The bottom line, as fifth-year senior wing Torin Down noted, is you cannot fall behind that much in ACC play and expect to come out with a win.
“You can’t spot them 22 points,” he said.
Rally stalled late in the game
Yet NC State nearly pulled off the epic rally. When Wake Forest grad transfer guard Torry Johnson made a pair of free throws with 17:31 remaining to give the Deacs its largest lead, NC State then commenced a dramatic run.
It started with fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett making an old-fashioned three-point play. Then sophomore guard Braxton Beverly began to warm up and make some threes. Bryce, Lockett and redshirt sophomore guard Devon Daniels found room to penetrate in Wake Forest’s zone defense.
When Daniels hit a runner with 7:44 left, NC State had gone on an amazing 29-7 run in less than 10 minutes to tie the game. Then another drought hit at the worst time as NC State missed eight straight shots from the field.
“I thought some individual guys at times, when we got back into the game, took some shots that certainly hurt us,” Keatts said. “If you look at that 10-minute stretch in the first half to get back in it, we shared the basketball.”
“Towards the end once we tied it up I thought a couple of guys played hero basketball,” he later added.
Bryce allowed that there might have been some fatigue that played into the final minutes after expending a lot of energy to get back into the game, but the bottom line was that it was an unhappy Keatts in the post game locker room addressing his players.
“[Keatts is] disappointed,” Dorn confirmed. “We fought so back hard and not pull that out in the end is disappointing. If we had a couple of plays go our way we’re smiling going into the locker room.”
No Markell Johnson on the floor
Even before the game tipped off NC State was not receiving good news. Junior point guard Markell Johnson did not make the trip to Winston-Salem after injuring his left hip in a fall during the first half of the Pack’s home win over Pittsburgh Saturday.
Without Johnson, sophomore Braxton Beverly played most of the game at point guard, logging nearly 36 minutes of action. Sophomore Blake Harris played nearly three minutes off the bench.
Both struggled however. Combined, the two shot 3 of 11 from the field (all taken by Beverly, who was also 3 of 10 on threes), had just three assists and turned it over three times.
Keatts however was not prepared to use that as justification for NC State’s loss at Wake Forest.
“I think more than anything his presence having been there … as a guy who has played in the league three years,” Keatts said of the impact of not having Johnson. “But I am not going to take away from Wake Forest’s performance because we didn’t have Markell Johnson.”
Dorn noted that the team prides itself on being able to handle adversity.
“We’ve always had an identity of next man up, and we are a pretty deep team. Everybody has to step up,” Dorn said.
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