Quick hits and notes from NC State’s crushing 63-61 loss to Georgia Tech in front of 15,803 fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh Wednesday evening.
Play of the game
Highlight of the game
or
Player of the game
He made the game-winner, and it was fitting. Georgia Tech junior center James Banks III did not miss a single one of his eight shot attempts and finished with a huge stat line of 19 points, nine rebounds, five blocks, three assists and a steal in 36 minutes of action.
Over his last two games, Banks has made 16 of 17 shots and is averaging 18.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per contest. Georgia Tech won both games.
No sugar-coating the impact of the loss
NC State suffers a huge loss at a most inopportune time. The Pack now has a second quad three defeat and puts itself in a position where it may need a win or two in the ACC Tournament to have a fully secure chance of an at-large bid at the NCAA Tournament.
NCSU’s two best selling points to the selection committee both took blows: a strong NET rating (its No. 31 ranking is sure to fall) and its lack of bad losses.
The setback also means the Pack is locked into playing in the 8-9 game against Clemson, a team that NC State defeated at the buzzer in Raleigh. That contest will be a noon tipoff on Wednesday.
First though, NC State must pick itself off the floor and find a way to win at Boston College, whom NCSU needed overtime to beat at home.
Shooting touch not there
It’s hard to decipher what is worse: shooting 8 of 35 on three-pointers or attempting 35 of 69 shots from beyond the arc on a night where the shot is not falling.
For the second time this season at home, sophomore guard Braxton Beverly threw in an 0-fer, missing all eight of his shot attempts and all seven of his three-point tries. Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce also struggled, making just 1 of 8 shots and missing all four of his threes.
The duo of redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels and junior guard Markell Johnson combined to make 7 of 18 threes. The rest of the team was 1 of 17, collectively. That lone three came from fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn with 6.1 seconds left
The only two times NC State shot worse from three-point range was the loss at Wake Forest and the defeat at home to Virginia Tech. On the season, NC State is just 2-5 when it shoots less than 30.0 percent on threes, with one of the two victories coming against Mercer. The other six contests were all ACC games, and the lone win was at home over Syracuse.
The current ACC Tournament field
NC State’s opponent is locked in. What is not known is who the Pack/Clemson winner would play in the quarterfinals. As of today, this is what the tournament seeding would look like:
1. Virginia (15-2)
2. North Carolina (15-2)
3. Duke (14-3)
4. Georgia Tech (12-5)
5. Virginia Tech (11-6)
6. Syracuse (10-7)
7. Louisville (10-7)
8. NC State (8-9)
9. Clemson (8-9)
10. Georgia Tech (6-12)
11. Boston College (5-12)
12. Miami (5-12)
13. Wake Forest (4-13)
14. Notre Dame (3-14)
15. Pittsburgh (2-15)
If Virginia wins at home over Louisville Saturday it will be the top seed in the tournament. If it loses, then the winner of the UNC-Duke contest takes the No. 1 seed.
Spotted at the game
NC State outgoing Director of Athletics Debbie Yow was honored during the first media timeout, took a moment to emotionally thank the crowd for its appreciation.
Former players Ernie Myers and Jordan Vandenberg were in attendance.
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
20:00-13:02: Georgia Tech 14, NC State 8
13:02-10:50: NC State 4, Georgia Tech 4
10:50-6:59: NC State 9, Georgia Tech 4
6:59-3:45: NC State 2, Georgia Tech 2
3:45-Halftime: NC State 10, Georgia Tech 4
Second half
20:00-15:51: Georgia Tech 6, NC State 2
15:51-11:39: Georgia Tech 6, NC State 5
11:39-7:36: Georgia Tech 12, NC State 4
7:36-2:53: NC State 11, Georgia Tech 7
2:53-Final: NC State 6, Georgia Tech 4
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk: 14.2
Johnson: 13.1
Daniels: 9.8
Dorn: 6.0
Sophomore guard Blake Harris: 1.0
Redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker: 2.2
Bryce: -1.1
Freshman forward Jericole Hellems: -1.9
Beverly: -5.7
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.
• Hellems +12 (8 minutes played)
• Harris +4 (4)
• Daniels +2 (31)
• Walker 0 (14)
• Johnson -2 (36)
• Beverly -5 (32)
• Bryce -5 (18)
• Funderburk -6 (26)
• Dorn -10 (32)
What the loss means
The Pack is 20-10 overall on the season and 8-9 in the ACC. Georgia Tech improves to 14-17 and 6-12. The Pack leads the all-time series 57-41, and NC State is 11-5 in games played in PNC Arena but have lost three in a row in Raleigh to the Jackets.
NC State falls to 15-4 at home. It is 11-8 in night games (tips after 6 p.m.) and 9-7 on weeknight contests. NC State, which led by five at the half, is now 19-2 when ahead at the break. Its other loss was to Wisconsin.
The game was broadcast on RSN. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- ESPNU: 3-0
- RSN: 4-1
- Raycom: 5-4
- ESPN2: 2-3
- ESPN: 0-2
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 4-4
- February: 4-3
- March: 0-2
Other stats of note
• Georgia Tech had a crushing 44-24 edge in points in the paint.
• NC State outrebounded Georgia Tech 36-35, including 16-3 on the offensive glass. It outscored the Jackets in second chance points 20-2.
• GT had a 12-9 win in fast break points.
• Defensively, NC State had five blocks and five steals. Tech had five steals to go with seven rejections.
• NCSU won the turnover margin 16-8, but both teams had nine points off turnovers.
• Georgia Tech led for 30:44, NC State for 8:07 and the game was tied for 1:09. The Jackets largest lead was eight and the Pack’s was five.
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