11/24/2018 basketball Edit

Quick hits from NC State's 78-74 win over Mercer

Jacey Zembal • TheWolfpackCentral

Writer

Quick hits and notes from NC State’s sixth straight win, a harder than anticipated 78-74 victory over Mercer in front of an announced crowd of 12,828 on Saturday at PNC Arena in Raleigh.

Play of the game

Fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett entered the contest shooting 56.7 percent from the free-throw line in his Division I career. He shot just 27 of 48 at the line last year at Florida International, which is also surprising by his lack of attempts. NCSU fifth-year senior Torin Dorn shot 108 free throw attempts last year.

Lockett found himself fouled with 5.5 seconds left and NC State up by two points. One free throw would ensure Mercer would have to hit a three-pointer, but two would most likely win it. Lockett calmly sank both free throws to seal the victory.

Highlight of the game

This wasn’t a flashy game and only a few nice dunks. Markell Johnson was able to get one, but perhaps the highlight of the game was when sophomore point guard Blake Harris slickly delivered an assist to redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker for a big power slam.

Player of the game

The previously mentioned Dorn led NC State in scoring with 19 points to go along with nine rebounds in 30 minutes of action. It wasn’t just that he led the team but how he did it. Dorn has that ability to force his will against an overmatched opponent, which helped him score at least 12 points in each game this season.

Some early trends

NC State is six games into the season. Here are some the noteworthy statistical trends, granted the numbers were all accumulated against weak competition:

• NC State is shooting 57 of 134 on three-pointers, or 42.5 percent. At the conclusion of Saturday’s contest, that was good enough to be 26th best in the NCAA.

• The Wolfpack has had assists on 116 of its 197 made shots. The average of 19.3 assists per game will likely keep NC State in the top 20 nationally. NCSU entered Saturday’s game ranked seventh.

• Keatts’ defensive philosophy is built around getting steals and turnovers and he got both Saturday. Mercer committed 23 turnovers and the Wolfpack recorded eight steals. NCSU is averaging 18.8 forced turnovers per game.

• NC State entered the game tied for third in the country with a 18.2 rebounding margin, but Mercer actually won the battle of the boards 35-30 on Saturday.

NC State finally challenged

NCSU entered the game outscoring opponents by an average of victory with 41.5 points, but could only win by four against Mercer. NCSU didn’t have a quick start either, leading just 37-32 at halftime.

Here though partially explains why NC State has not been challenged. These are the KenPom.com ratings of the first five opponents in order (out of 353 teams):

No. 175 — Mercer (Nov. 24)

No. 232 — Saint Peter’s (W, 82-57)

No. 326 — UNC Asheville (W, 100-49)

No. 334 — Maine (W, 82-63)

No. 338 — Mount St. Mary’s (W, 105-55)

No. 348 — Maryland Eastern Shore (W, 95-49)

For those wondering, here are the ratings of the future non-conference opponents:

No. 9 — Auburn (Dec. 19)

No. 13 — at Wisconsin (Nov. 27)

No. 38 — Penn State in Atlantic City, N.J. (Dec. 15)

No. 65 — Vanderbilt in Miami (Dec. 1)

No. 298 — Loyola-Maryland (Dec. 28)

No. 324 — Western Carolina (Dec. 5)

No. 330 — USC Upstate (Dec. 22)

NC State itself was rated No. 35 following the win over Mercer.

Spotted at the game

Former NC State power forward C.J. Leslie of Holly Springs, N.C., attended his first game of the season. The decorated prep player at Raleigh Word of God, averaged 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds in 99 career games played for NC State from 2010-2013.

Scoring between official timeouts

This year we have kept track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:05: Mercer 12, NC State 11

15:05-11:43: Mercer 7, NC State 1

11:43-7:37: NC State 11, Mercer 4

7:37-3:54: NC State 6, Mercer 5

3:54-Halftime: NC State 8, Mercer 4

Second half

20:00-14:57: NC State 15, Mercer 2

14:57-11:26: NC State 4, Mercer 3

11:26-7:54: Mercer 11, NC State 5

7:54-3:55: Mercer 13, NC State 6

3:55-Final: Mercer 13, NC State 11

Plus/minus

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.

• Walker +14 (16 minutes played)

• Dorn +12 (30)

• Bryce +9 (34)

• Beverly +4 (23)

• Daniels +4 (23)

• Johnson 0 (30)

• Hellems 0 (8)

• Lockett -5 (12)

• Harris -9 (5)

• Funderburk -9 (19)

What the win means

Mercer is 3-2 all-time against NC State, with three wins coming in the 1920s.

Keatts is one win shy of 100 for his college coaching career (99-40), and NC State has now won 27 of its last 28 games at PNC Arena against non-conference opponents.

The game was broadcast on the ACC Network Extra. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks:

- ACC Network Extra: 4-0

- RSN: 2-0

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

- November: 6-0

- December: 0-0

- January: 0-0

- February: 0-0

- March: 0-0

Other stats of note

• NC State and Mercer tied in the battle of the paint, 34-34.

• The Wolfpack won the turnover margin 23-11 and had a 19-13 edge in points off turnovers.

• NCSU had a 17-11 advantage in fastbreak points.

• Defensively, NC State had two blocks and eight steals. The Bears had five steals and zero rejections.

• Mercer held a 35-30 edge on the boards, but NC State out-rebounded the Bears 14-7 on the offensive glass. NC State had an 11-9 advantage in second-chance points.

• The Wolfpack bench outscored the Mercer’s reserves 21-9

• NC State led for 24:15, Mercer’s was for 10:16 and the game was tied for 5:06. NC State’s largest lead was 21 points and Mercer’s was seven.