Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 78-73 loss at Florida State in front of 9,988 fans at the Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla. Saturday afternoon.
Play of the game
In a game where NC State never led nor trailed by double digits, it never was able to get over the hump either. Its last best chance was when down 64-63 with the ball, but a turnover led to a steal by FSU senior guard David Nichols, and he was able to go the length of the court for a fast break layup to put FSU up by three with 6:01 left.
Highlight of the game
Truth be told they all belong to Florida State. You could take your pick of a nifty no-look pass from senior forward Terance Mann or Mann’s dunk going down the lane uncontested. FSU senior forward Phil Cofer also had a nice throw down with authority.
Player of the game
FSU sophomore guard M.J. Walker got the Noles going in the first half with a personal 7-0 to break open what had been a 14-13 lead for tFSU. Walker would finish with a team-high 15 points on an efficient 4-of-6 shooting from the field. He also made all six of his free throws.
That was just Walker’s fifth double-digit scoring game in ACC action and his second highest output behind a 22-point performance vs. Miami Jan. 27.
Never could get over the hump
This game was filled with opportunities where NC State would tie or get with one or two points only to have FSU put a tad bit of distance between the two teams.
• NC State battled back from being down 21-13 after Walker’s 7-0 run to tie the score at 23-23 and again at 25 all, but then FSU scored five straight to lead 35-30.
• After the Noles took its largest lead of the game at 41-32 early in the second half, NC State went on a 11-4 run to cut the lead to 45-43. FSU then scored four straight points, all at the free throw line.
• After a three-point play from sophomore guard Blake Harris cut the deficit to 49-48, FSU got a runner from Walker. NC State responded with two free throws from freshman forward Jericole Hellems to cut the margin to one again, and FSU scored the next four points to extend its lead to five.
• After redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk made a rare three to cut FSU’s lead to 55-53, the Noles scored five straight.
• Once sophomore guard Braxton Beverly’s three tied the game at 63-63 with 6:55 left, the Noles scored the next five points.
• After junior guard Markell Johnson cut the lead to 72-70 on a three-pointer with 3:00 left, FSU scored four straight, all on free throws.
Another close quad one loss
Much will be made of NC State’s 2-8 record against quad one teams, if it stays that way Sunday. There’s a chance that Penn State, who is ranked No. 50 in the NET rankings, could fall after a close loss at Wisconsin Saturday afternoon. If it fell one spot it would become a quad two win for NCSU.
But it’s not like NC State has not had opportunities either:
• Down three at 76-73 with the ball with less than 15 seconds left at Florida State.
• Going to overtime before losing by one at home to Virginia.
• Down four with the ball with one minute left at home to UNC.
• Leading almost the entire second half at Wisconsin before the Badgers broke a tie with a free throw with 1:06 left, taking the lead for good at that point in a four-point win.
• Down two with the ball with a minute left at Louisville.
Ultimately though NC State is now in a position where it probably needs to win out to feel somewhat good about its chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament going into the ACC Tournament. The Pack hosts Georgia Tech Wednesday and is at Boston College Saturday.
Reserves step up for Pack
Funderburk matched his career-high with both 18 points and nine rebounds before fouling out in 26 minutes. Funderburk showed his soft touch, making 9 of 10 free throws and connecting on his sixth three-pointer (in 20 tries) of the season. Funderburk is now shooting 79.4 percent from the charity stripe on the year.
Funderburk has scored in double-digits in five of the last seven games.
Hellems also got to the line frequently, making 5 of 6 and also hitting a three-pointer to finish with eight points and adding four rebounds. After scoring more than four points in an ACC game just once in the first 12 league contests, he has scored at least eight in three of the past four, averaging 8.3 points in that stretch overall.
Harris also gave the Pack a solid 10 minutes. He made 2 of 4 shots, including his one three-point attempt, to finish with six points. That is a personal-high for Harris in ACC action, topping the five he scored last time out against Wake Forest.
Overall in a battle against arguably the two deepest benches in the ACC, NC State’s reserves outscored Florida State’s 34-25.
Lost in the paint
In the end the height of Florida State was too much for NC State.
The Noles outscored NC State 36-28 in the lane, but it was more than that. FSU had nine blocks, the most shots NC State has had rejected in a game this year.
The Florida State combination of Mfiondu Kabengele and Christ Koumadje had seven of those rejections.
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: Florida State 8, NC State 4
15:56-11:57: NC State 9, Florida State 6
11:57-8:06: Florida State 7, NC State 0
8:06-3:49: NC State 10, Florida State 2
3:49-Halftime: Florida State 12, NC State 7
Second half
20:00-15:45: NC State 9, Florida State 8
15:45-11:08: NC State 8, Florida State 6
11:08-6:44: NC State 16, Florida State 14
6:44-3:21: Florida State 7, NC State 4
3:21-Regulation: Florida State 8, NC State 6
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Johnson: 5.9
Fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn: 6.1
Hellems: 7.5
Redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels: -0.9
Harris: 6.1
Funderburk: 16.2
Beverly: 3.2
Redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker: 0.8
Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce: -1.7
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.
• Funderburk +5 (26 minutes played)
• Daniels +1 (12)
• Harris +1 (10)
• Hellems -1 (17)
• Beverly -2 (34)
• Dorn -3 (26)
• Bryce -6 (34)
• Walker -9 (12)
• Johnson -11 (29)
What the loss means
The Pack is 20-9 overall on the season and 8-8 in the ACC. Florida State improves to 23-6 and 11-5. The Pack leads the all-time series 31-26, and NC State is 8-15 in games played in Tallahassee.
NC State falls to 5-6 away from home and 3-6 in true road games. It is 9-2 in day games (tips before 6 p.m.) and 11-3 on weekend contests. NC State, which trailed by five at the half, is now 1-8 when behind at halftime.
The game was broadcast on ESPN2. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- RSN: 4-0
- ESPNU: 3-0
- 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: 0-1
Other stats of note
• The Seminoles had a 14-5 win in fast break points.
• Defensively, NC State had one block and nine steals. FSU had four steals to go with its already noted nine rejections.
• NCSU won the turnover margin 16-12 and had a small 13-12 edge in points off turnovers.
• Florida State led for 37:02 and the game was tied for 2:57.
——
• Talk about it inside The State of Basketball
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker
• Like us on Facebook
