Quick hits from NC State's 105-55 win over Mount St. Mary's
Quick hits and notes from NC State’s season-opening 105-55 win over Mount St. Mary’s in front of an announced crowd of 13,632 fans Tuesday at PNC Arena in Raleigh.
Play of the game
Mount St. Mary’s was proving peskier than expected, trailing 51-43 with 14:31 left in the game when NC State redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels starting driving from near the top of the key. Standing on the left wing was junior point guard Markell Johnson, holding both hands in the air to signal he was wide open for a three-pointer.
Daniels flicked him a no-look to Johnson who promptly nailed the three. Mount St. Mary’s would never be within single digits again.
Highlight of the game
With 16:38 left in the contest, Johnson was just across half court when he threw up a perfect alley-oop pass to fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn for a two-handed dunk, putting the Wolfpack up 47-36.
Player of the game
Dorn seemed like a lock to get a double-double early in the second half but ended up falling one rebound short. That would have been a second straight double-double carrying over from last season when Dorn ended the year with 18 points and 12 rebounds in the first round NCAA Tournament loss to Seton Hall.
He finished with a career-high 28 points, topping the 26 he had last year in a win over Bryant and as a freshman at Charlotte against Western Kentucky.
Dorn made 4 of 7 three-pointers along the way, one off his personal best of five threes against St. Joseph’s in 2016. He also tied his career-high with three steals.
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Meet the newcomers
There are a lot of them. Here is a rundown of how they all did in their first ever action for the Wolfpack.
• UNC Wilmington transfer and redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce started and scored the first points of the season for the Wolfpack. He finished with 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, pulled down seven rebounds and matched his career-high with four steals.
• Utah transfer and redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels started but struggled with his shot, making just 4 of 12 overall and 1 of 6 three-pointers, en route to 10 points and six rebounds.
• Samford graduate transfer and redshirt junior post Wyatt Walker joined the starting lineup that also included Dorn and Johnson. Quickly proving to be a fan favorite, he had five points, six rebounds and four assists.
• Missouri transfer and sophomore point guard Blake Harris was the first player off the bench and had eight points, four rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes. He also made his first collegiate three-pointer, shooting 1 for 3 from long range. Harris was 0 for 7 on threes in 14 games for Missouri last season.
• Redshirt sophomore post DJ Funderburk, a junior college import who started his career at Ohio State, joined Harris in playing the most minutes off the bench (20). He made all four of his shot attempts and finished with nine points, six rebounds and two blocks. Funderburk was 7-for-7 shooting in the exhibition last week against Chowan.
• Florida International graduate transfer and fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett played 14 minutes and finished with five points and two rebounds. He also blocked a shot and had a steal on defense.
• Freshman forward Jericole Helems played nine minutes and made his one three-point attempt for his first career points. He also had two rebounds.
• Freshman post player Ian Steere was the last player to come off the bench and played the final five minutes of the game. He made both of his shots and had four points and four boards.
Tale of two halves
With so many new parts trying to gel together, head coach Kevin Keatts said after the game he was not surprised that the Pack started slow and finished strong. The differences between first and second half were pretty dramatic.
| Stat | First Half | Second Half |
|---|---|---|
|
Points |
NC State 40, Mount St. Mary's 30 |
NC State 65, Mount St. Mary's 25 |
|
FG% |
NC State 45.9, Mount St. Mary's 35.5 |
NC State 64.9, Mount St. Mary's 39.9 |
|
3FG% |
NC State 22.2, Mount St. Mary's 42.9 |
NC State 61.5, Mount St. Mary's 14.3 |
|
Rebounding |
NC State 23, Mount St. Mary's 21 |
NC State 29, Mount St. Mary's 9 |
Big margin of victory
Prior to scoring 104 points against Virginia Tech in 2017 during Mark Gottfried’s final season at NC State, the Pack had not reached the century mark since hitting 100 against East Carolina in 2004 when Herb Sendek was coaching and Julius Hodge was in his senior year.
In his first season at NC State, Keatts’ team did it three times, including in the season opening, 102-67 win against VMI. This year’s 50-point margin was even greater.
The 105 points in the opener is the most since the “Fire and Ice” combination of Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe led the Pack to 120 points in the 1990 opener at Florida International.
The 50-point margin of victory Tuesday is the largest since NC State defeated Columbia by 56 points (110-54) in 1988, Jim Valvano’s next-to-last season as the head coach at NC State.
Spotted at the game
Corchiani was on the call for the television crew, and one of his former teammates, Chucky Brown, was helping with the radio broadcast of the game.
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
20:00-15:56: NC State 6, Mount St. Mary’s 4
15:56-11:54: Mount St. Mary’s 7, NC State 6
11:54-7:07: NC State 12, Mount St. Mary’s 7
7:07-3:31: NC State 8, Mount St. Mary’s 5
3:31-Halftime: NC State 8, Mount St. Mary’s 7
Second half
20:00-16:38: NC State 7, Mount St. Mary’s 6
16:38-11:44: NC State 12, Mount St. Mary’s 10
11:44-6:55: NC State 18, Mount St. Mary’s 2
6:55-3:09: NC State 15, Mount St. Mary’s 7
3:09-Final: NC State 13, Mount St. Mary’s 0
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU:
• Harris +48 (20 minutes played)
• Bryce +28 (27)
• Johnson +27 (28)
• Daniels +26 (30)
* Walker +26 (22)
• Dorn +25 (25)
• Funderburk +24 (20)
• Lockett +18 (14)
• Steere +15 (5)
• Hellems +3 (9)
What the win means
NC State is 4-0 all-time against Mount St. Mary's. Keatts is on the “100 wins” watch with a career record of 94-40.
The game was broadcast on the ACC Network. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 1-0
We will also track NC State’s records by month::
- November: 1-0
- December: 0-0
- January: 0-0
- February: 0-0
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• NC State dominated the paint, outscoring the visitors 52-26.
• The Wolfpack won the turnover margin 18-8 and had a decisive 25-6 edge in points off turnovers.
• Mount St. Mary’s had a 12-11 edge in fast-break points.
• Defensively, NC State had six blocks and 12 steals. Mount St. Mary’s had four steals and three rejections.
• NCSU had a 52-30 edge on the boards, including 19-11 on the offensive glass. The Pack had a 25-11 advantage in second-chance points.
• The Wolfpack bench outscored the Mount St. Mary’s reserves, 29-11.
• NC State led for 37:01, and the game was tied for 2:50. Mount St. Mary’s had the edge for just nine seconds.
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