Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 84-77 loss at Louisville in front of 16,322 fans at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville on Thursday.
Play of the game
NC State had a chance late in the game. Redshirt junior C.J. Bryce executed an effective clear-out to take advantage of a mismatch against Louisville junior center Steven Enoch and nailed a three-pointer with 1:26 left, cutting the Cardinals lead to 77-75.
On Louisville’s next possession, Wolfpack redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk stole an errant pass from Louisville grad transfer guard Christen Cunningham. The Pack could not tie or take the lead. That’s because Louisville redshirt junior guard Ryan McMahon slid in front of a driving Wolfpack sophomore guard Braxton Beverly to draw a charge with 46 seconds left.
That would end up being the Pack’s last real opportunity in the game.
Highlight of the game
Funderburk had a nice alley-oop dunk with 7:28 left to tie the game at 65. Funderburk had a quiet overall game with just four points and three rebounds in 20 minutes while making his first start of the season.
Player of the game
Sophomore center Malik Williams’ face-up game gave the Cardinals a nice boost in this game. He made 4 of 6 shots, including 2 of 3 three-pointers, and nailed all four of his free throws en route to 14 points.
That was Williams’ third highest scoring output of the year, and its just the sixth time he has made multiple threes in a game. He came into the contest shooting 31.7 percent from beyond the arc and 61.8 percent at the charity stripe, but showed why he was ranked No. 30 in the class of 2017.
When NC State tied the game at 61 and then at 65, it was Williams who quickly broke the tie for Louisville both times. He made a jumper and then connected on two free throws.
Williams combined with Enoch to provide 24 points and eight rebounds at the center position. NC State’s duo of Funderburk and redshirt junior Wyatt Walker had a combined eight points and seven boards.
Turnovers
Two major storylines explain why and how NC State lost this game. The first is simple: turnovers. A stunning 23 turnovers in one game — 14 in the first half and nine in the second. It was almost fitting that Beverly’s charge and then errant pass to Bryce on the following possession were the final nails in the coffin.
Louisville’s defense played a role, but many of the Pack’s turnovers were also unforced and careless. Five different players had at least two turnovers, and four of them had at least four. Redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels led the way with six, while Beverly, Bryce and Dorn each had four.
That was the most turnovers in a game this year by Bryce, Daniels and Dorn and tied the season-high for Beverly. The team total was one more than the 22 it had against Auburn for a new season-worst mark by the Pack.
At least against the Tigers, Auburn also turned it over a ton — 25 times. Louisville turned it over 15 times, quite a few but relative to NC State not near as much as the Pack. That led to a whopping 37-13 edge in points off turnovers.
Free-throw line
If turnovers weren’t enough of a reason to lose the game, the Pack also had to overcome a huge disparity at the free-throw line. NC State was whistled for 23 personal fouls compared to just 12 for UL, and the result was the Cards shooting 22 more free throws and gaining a 19-point advantage at the line.
That’s not new for NC State this year in a trend that has been a significant problem in ACC play. Here are the point-disparities in league games only:
• At Miami: plus-2 Miami (Hurricanes shot 11 more attempts)
• Vs. UNC: plus-10 UNC (Heels shot nine more attempts)
• Vs. Pitt: plus-5 Pitt (Panthers shot three more attempts)
• At Wake Forest: plus-16 Wake (Deacons shot 19 more attempts)
• At Notre Dame: plus-8 Notre Dame (Irish shot nine more attempts)
• At Louisville: plus-19 Louisville (Cards shot 22 more attempts)
NC State’s opponents have attempted and made more free throws in all six ACC games thus far, and in the three losses the difference in points reached double digits.
How was NC State competitive
Massive production advantage at the center position, massive disadvantage in points off turnovers and huge free throw disparity, and yet NC State almost pulled off what would have been a significant road win.
One reason the Pack hung around and even had a six-point lead at 38-32 after falling behind 20-10 to start the game was its three-point shooting. The Pack made 12 of 27 in the game, with Beverly breaking out of his slump and making 5 of 8. In his last three games, Beverly had made 6 of 24 three-point attempts.
NC State also used its ability to go on spurts to have two significant runs. It went on a 17-4 run after falling behind 20-10, and then used a 12-2 run in the second half to erase a 61-51 deficit and tie the game.
Spotted at the game
Former NC State guards Anthony Grundy and walk-on Brian Keeter, who is paralyzed after a car accident, were at the game. Also there was legendary former Louisville coach Denny Crum.
In addition, as part of Coaches vs. Cancer week, Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts wore these shoes:
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
20:00-15:38: Louisville 10, NC State 6
15:38-11:04: Louisville 10, NC State 4
11:04-7:57: NC State 12, Louisville 4
7:57-3:49: NC State 16, Louisville 8
3:49-Halftime: Louisville 10, NC State 3
Second half
20:00-15:10: Louisville 10, NC State 5
15:10-11:30: Louisville 9, NC State 5
11:30-7:45: NC State 12, Louisville 2
7:45-4:06: Louisville 12, NC State 6
4:06-Final: Louisville 9, NC State 8
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.
• Walker +8 (15 minutes played)
• Freshman forward Jericole Hellems 0 (12)
• Beverly -2 (39)
• Bryce -3 (33)
• Fifth-year senior guard Eric Lockett -3 (22)
• Sophomore guard Blake Harris -6 (1)
• Daniels -7 (25)
• Dorn -10 (33)
• Funderburk -12 (20)
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Beverly: 11.9
Bryce: 9.1
Dorn: 8.1
Lockett: 5
Walker: 4.7
Daniels: 3.7
Funderburk: 2.8
Hellems: 0.1
Harris: -1.7
What the loss means
The Pack is 15-4 overall on the season and 3-3 in the ACC. Louisville is 14-5 and 5-1. The Cards leads the all-time series 12-10, including 7-2 in Louisville.
NC State falls to 2-3 on the road, 8-4 in night games (tips after 6 p.m.), including 1-3 in the ACC. It is 7-4 on weeknight contests and falls to 1-3 when trailing at halftime.
The game was broadcast on Raycom. This is the fourth of five straight games broadcast by Raycom. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 6-0
- RSN: 3-0
- ESPNU: 2-0
- ESPN2: 2-1
- Raycom: 2-2
- ESPN: 0-1
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 3-3
- February: 0-0
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• NC State won the battle in the paint, outscoring the Cards, 30-28.
• Louisville had a 9-5 win in fast-break points.
• Defensively, NC State had two blocks and six steals. Louisville had five steals and three rejections.
• NC State’s overall rebound advantage was 38-28, including 15-7 on the offensive glass. Despite that Louisville had a 10-7 edge in second chance points.
• Louisville’s bench outscored the Pack’s reserves 21-11.
• NC State led for 5:37, Louisville for 28:55 and the game was tied for 5:28. The largest lead for State was six and for the Cards it was 10.
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