Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 89-80 overtime win against Boston College in front of 14,435 fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh Wednesday evening.
Play of the game
NC State set the tone in overtime on its opening possession. Redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce was able to score on a reverse layup off a nice pass from redshirt sophomore wing Devon Daniels while being fouled, and his three-point play started a run of seven straight points that quickly established control in NC State’s favor.
Highlight of the game
It was a play that was emblematic of the type of night that Daniels enjoyed for NC State. In the full court press, Daniels was able to jump the pass deep in the Boston College backcourt and steal it. He then turned towards the basket and lofted up a perfect lob pass to fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn for a dunk.
That gave the Pack a 19-12 lead with 11:54 left in the first half.
Player of the game
Unquestionably this was Daniels best all-around performance in a Wolfpack uniform. In recent games he has established himself as NC State’s best defensive player, and he finished with five steals. But he did far more to playing good D against the Eagles.
Daniels finished with a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds, and he added four assists with just one turnover in 25 minutes. He was 8-of-18 shooting from the field, including 2 of 4 three-pointers. It is his first double-double in a Wolfpack uniform and the second of his career.
The 11 boards tied his career high set when he was a freshman at Utah against UC-Riverside. The five steals and 18 field goal attempts were both new personal bests.
A balanced effort
Daniels was not the only NC State player that shined:
• Dorn finished with 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and added eight rebounds. After only making 50.0 percent or better of his shots once in the first 10 ACC games, he has shot at least that in his past four contests.
Dorn moved past Ben McCauley into 44th all-time at NC State in career points with 1,140.
• Bryce continues his rock solid ACC play with 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting and added two steals himself. Bryce leads the Pack in conference-only scoring at 13.3 points a contest.
• Sophomore guard Braxton Beverly was hot from three early before cooling off, but he still made 4 of 12 from long range and finished with 15 points. He has 64 made three-pointers this year, surpassing his total of 60 from a year ago. The school record for made threes by a sophomore is 85 by Rodney Monroe 1988-89.
• Redshirt sophomore center DJ Funderburk came off the bench and had 11 points and five rebounds in 35 minutes, as once against redshirt junior Wyatt Walker was in foul trouble and limited to 10 minutes. Funderburk only made 1 of 5 shots, but he connected on all nine of his free throws. Funderburk is now shooting 79.5 percent at the line (70 of 88) this season.
Walker finished with four fouls for the third time in five games.
Solidifying standing in ACC
With Clemson having lost three straight games, the Pack is solidly by itself in eighth place in the ACC. Here’s a full look at the standings with tiebreakers factored in going into this weekend:
1. Duke (11-2)
2. North Carolina (11-2)
3. Virginia (11-2)
4. Florida State (9-4)
5. Syracuse (9-4)
6. Louisville (9-5)
7. Virginia Tech (9-5)
8. NC State (7-7)
9. Clemson (5-8)
10. Boston College (4-9)
11. Georgia Tech (4-10)
12. Miami (3-10)
13. Wake Forest (3-10)
14. Notre Dame (3-10)
15. Pittsburgh (2-12)
That means if the ACC Tournament was held today that the Pack would play Clemson in the second round, with the winner playing Duke.
Blake Harris sighting
For the first time since playing nine minutes in the second half at UNC Feb. 5, sophomore reserve guard Blake Harris saw action for NC State. He did not play at Pitt, missed the Syracuse win with the flu and was back on the bench but did not get into the game at Duke.
Harris made his one shot attempt, a three-pointer. That was first three he had made since Dec. 22 against USC Upstate. Harris had only even attempted one three-pointer, in that loss at UNC, since then. Harris is now 7 of 16 on threes this year, and as News and Observer reporter Joe Giglio noted the Pack is 6-0 in games in which he had made one.
Spotted at the game
A couple of intriguing sophomores in the state of North Carolina were behind the Wolfpack bench. Sophomore wing Jalen McDonald from Knightdale was there. The Wolfpacker had a scouting report on McDonald from seeing him in action recently.
Also in attendance was Louisburg (N.C.) High guard Elijah Jamison, who is averaging nearly 29 points per game this season. The Wolfpacker will have a story on Jamison in the near future.
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
20:00-15:47: Boston College 9, NC State 6
15:47-12:04: NC State 11, Boston College 3
12:04-7:11: NC State 12, Boston College 11
7:11-3:58: Boston College 9, NC State 5
3:58-Halftime: NC State 12, Boston College 5
Second half
20:00-15:37: Boston College 7, NC State 5
15:37-10:45: NC State 13, Boston College 9
10:45-6:24: Boston College 13, NC State 0
6:24-3:47: NC State 2, Boston College 1
3:47-Regulation: NC State 6, Boston College 6
Overtime
NC State 16, Boston College 7
Game scores
Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.
Daniels: 20.5
Bryce: 16.3
Dorn: 11.7
Beverly: 10.1
Funderburk: 7.4
Junior guard Markell Johnson: 4.6
Harris: 2.3
Freshman forward Jericole Hellems: 0.2
Walker: -3.6
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU. Notably, the five starters were all in the negatives.
• Beverly +14 (42 minutes played)
• Dorn +12 (36)
• Funderburk +12 (35)
• Daniels +11 (25)
• Harris +4 (5)
• Bryce +1 (34)
• Johnson -3 (31)
• Walker -3 (10)
• Hellems -3 (7)
What the win means
The Pack is 19-8 overall on the season and 7-7 in the ACC. BC falls to 13-12 and 4-9. The Pack leads the all-time series 12-11, and NC State is 8-3 in games played at PNC Arena between the two teams.
For head coach Kevin Keatts, it is his 40th win at NC State. His overall record for the Pack is 40-20, and counting his UNC Wilmington days his head coaching record is 112-48.
NC State improves to 14-3 at home. It is 10-7 in night games (tips after 6 p.m.) and 9-6 on weeknight contests. NC State is to 18-1 when leading at halftime, and is 1-1 in overtime games this year.
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
- RSN: 4-0
- ESPNU: 2-0
- Raycom: 5-4
- ESPN2: 2-2
- ESPN: 0-2
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 6-1
- December: 6-0
- January: 4-4
- February: 3-3
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• Both teams grabbed 39 rebounds. NC State had a 17-15 edge in offensive rebounds, which led to a slight 21-20 advantage in second chance points.
• NC State won the points in the paint, 38-26.
• The Pack had a huge 24-6 win in fast break points. That was NC State’s second largest margin in fast break points in a game this season and best in ACC play.
• Defensively, NC State had no blocks and 11 steals. BC had four steals and four rejections.
• NC State’s bench outscored the Eagles’ reserves 35-11.
• The Pack led for 34:42, Boston College for 5:34 and the game was tied for 4:44. NC State’s largest lead was 14 and for BC it was three.
——
• 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
