Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 98-71 win over USC Upstate in front of 14,877 fans at PNC Arena Saturday afternoon.
Play of the game
A 12-2 run by USC Upstate had cut NC State’s lead to 69-57 with 10:48 left and head coach Kevin Keatts called timeout. Keatts then went back to his bench, which proved to be the difference throughout the game. He subbed out all five starters out for all five reserves, and it proved to be the smart move.
Fifth-year senior wing Eric Lockett made a three-pointer with 9:25 left, the first of five consecutive threes made by the Wolfpack. Lockett made another followed by treys from sophomore guard Blake Harris, freshman forward Jericole Hellems and finally redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels.
The end result was NC State going on a 21-4 run to lead 90-61 with 4:29 left.
Highlight of the game
There were two pretty passes by Harris that ended up in dunks. One was a no-look pass to redshirt sophomore post player DJ Funderburk for a two-handed dunk with 17:45 left to put NC State up 57-38. The other was a bounce pass to a cutting Hellems with 3:07 remaining, putting NCSU up 92-63.
Player of the game
Keatts jokingly said after the game that Lockett did a good job of making him look like a bad coach for not playing Lockett in the seven-point win over No. 7 Auburn Wednesday evening. It was the first healthy “DNP-coach’s decision” for a Pack player this season.
Lockett responded with authority, scoring a new Wolfpack-high for the Florida International grad transfer of 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, including making all three of his three-pointers, and nearly notching a double-double by grabbing eight rebounds to go with it. Lockett matched his season-high with 26 minutes.
The rest of the bench
NC State ended up with 62 points from its bench, which may have been a Pack record (school officials confirmed it was the most since at least the 1999-00 season).
In addition to Lockett, the rest of the bench:
• Funderburk: 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 at the line.
• Hellems: 13 points on 6-of-14 shooting, and six rebounds, not far off his career highs of 16 points and seven boards.
• Daniels: 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting, including 2 of 5 three-pointers, eight rebounds and two blocks. Daniels has now scored in double figures in three of his past four games.
• Harris: The lone member of the bench not to reach double digits in scoring finished with eight points on 3-of-4 shooting, including making his a three-pointer, and a team-high eight assists, which was just one off his career-high set last season at Missouri.
Starting backcourt woes
Fresh off outshining Auburn’s heralded backcourt with a combined 42 points, junior Markell Johnson and sophomore Braxton Beverly finished with a combined five points against USC Upstate, and the two totaled between them just 34 minutes, with Johnson logging only 12.
Beverly and Johnson combined to shoot 1 of 5 from the field, missing all three of their three-pointers.
Beverly and redshirt junior Wyatt Walker, a post player, were the only starters to get more than 20 minutes of playing time. Beverly finished with 22 minutes and Walker with 21. Walker had nine points and eight rebounds.
Fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn went 6 of 9 from the field and made 1 of 2 threes to finish with 13 points in 14 minutes, and redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce had nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, making his one three-pointer, and also played 14 minutes. Dorn and Bryce however were not as effective as Lockett and Hellems were off the bench.
Strong shooting continues
Some NC State fans were not happy that NC State elected to take a shot clock violation instead of going for what would have been a fourth game of at least 100 points this season, which would have been the most since the 1990-91 team did it seven times.
Still, the Wolfpack shot 53.7 percent from the field, making 36 of 67 shots. It was 9 of 21 on three-pointers, or 42.9 percent. It marked the fourth straight contest where NC State made at least half of its shots from the field and also shot over 40 percent on its three-pointers.
Overall, NC State has shot at least 50.0 from the field in 8 of 12 games. The Pack entered Saturday leading the conference in shooting and one of just two teams in the ACC making at least 50.0 percent (Virginia Tech is the other).
Spotted at the game
Some of the familiar faces were in attendance, like former players Ernie Myers and Chucky Brown. Also seen was former Pack player and current Ole Miss assistant coach Levi Watkins.
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
20:00-15:23: NC State 15, USC Upstate 7
15:23-11:50: NC State 5, USC Upstate 3
11:50-7:12: USC Upstate 8, NC State 6
7:12-3:49: NC State 6, USC Upstate 4
3:49-Halftime: NC State 17, USC Upstate 10
Second half
20:00-15:20: NC State 13, USC Upstate 10
15:20-10:48: USC Upstate 15, NC State 6
10:48-7:24: NC State 13, USC Upstate 4
7:24-3:31: NC State 8, USC Upstate 2
3:31-Final: NC State 8, USC Upstate 8
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU. The five bench players had above +20 while the five starters were all in the negatives.
• Daniels +39 (28 minutes played)
• Lockett +34 (26)
• Hellems +34 (26)
• Funderburk +28 (19)
• Harris +26 (18)
• Beverly +1 (22)
• Walker -1 (21)
• Dorn -7 (14)
• Johnson -12 (12)
• Bryce -7 (14)
What the win means
The Pack is 11-1 overall on the season and leads the all-time series against USC Upstate, 2-0. The last time NC State started 11-1 was 2005-06 when it was 12-1. That team rose to No. 13 in the Associated Press poll at one point and was 17-5 before a late-season swoon included five losses in its final six contests, icapped by a 21-point loss to Texas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament that preceded head coach Herb Sendek’s departure to Arizona State.
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: 5-0
- RSN: 3-0
- ESPN2: 2-1
- ESPNU: 1-0
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 5-0
- January: 0-0
- February: 0-0
- March: 0-0
The last time NC State went undefeated in December was 2012.
Other stats of note
• NC State won the battle in the paint, outscoring USC Upstate, 53-36.
• The Wolfpack won the turnover margin 21-16, and NC State outscored the Spartans in points off turnovers, 28-13.
• The Wolfpack had a 19-16 win in fast-break points, for the second game in a row.
• Defensively, NC State had four blocks and eight steals. USC Upstate had eight steals and three rejections.
• The Wolfpack had a 42-26 edge on the boards, including 18-10 on the offensive glass. State had a 15-11 advantage in second-chance points.
• The Pack bench outscored the Spartans’ reserves 62-37.
• NC State led for 37:14 compared to just 1:59 seconds for USC Upstate, and the game was tied for 47 seconds. USC Upstate never led by more than three points, while NC State led by as much as 31.
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