Quick hits from NC State's win over Alcorn State

Quick hits and notes from NC State’s 95-64 win over Alcorn State in front of 4,624 fans at historic Reynolds Coliseum Tuesday evening in Raleigh.

After a slow start, NC State used a pair of transition three-pointers to get jumpstarted. First, senior forward Pat Andree hit one to give NCSU a 6-0 lead with 16:01. Then after a senior guard Markell Johnson stole the ball, he found redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels for another three-pointer.

In a game that was a mismatch, NC State never really looked back from that point.

It didn’t count because the officials called a foul, but there was a pretty fast break dunk near the end of the contest when Johnson tipped an outlet pass that was thrown to him forward to fifth-year senior guard C.J. Bryce for a dunk.

However, Johnson was fouled and the refs didn’t let the fast break continue.

From start to finish, Daniels was feeling it Tuesday night. He made 9 of 13 shots from the field, including 2 of 3 three-pointers, and finished with 23 points. It was a personal best for him in a Wolfpack uniform and led all scorers in the game. That was one point off his career-high he set when he was a freshman at Utah against Washington.

Daniels also added five rebounds, two assists and two steals with just one turnover while playing 31:19.

After shooting just 9 of 26 combined in his first two games, Daniels has made 22 of 36 shots over the past three contests. He has scored in double digits in all five Wolfpack outings this year.

Following the game, NC State head coach Kevin Keatts said he thought his team was tired after playing its third game in less than a week, and he ordered his players to take a break from basketball Wednesday.

NC State raced out to a 38-18 lead with 6:14 to go in the first half against a team that was beaten by 46 points at Memphis three days prior. Alcorn State though outscored the Pack 14-4 the rest of the half.

Over the final 23:46 of the game, NC State only outscored the Braves by three points, 49-46. Part of that was due to Alcorn State shooting a season-best for the Braves 53.3 percent on three-pointers (8 of 15). It was the first team to make more than half their long-range attempts against NC State this season.

After missing the season-opening, overtime loss to Georgia Tech, Johnson has struggled through three games to shoot the ball. He was just 8 of 35 from the field (22.9 percent) and 2 of 17 on threes (11.8 percent) coming into Tuesday.

It was not vintage Johnson, but he was better against Alcorn State. He made 7 of 14 shots, including 2 of 8 threes, and finished with 16 points to go with eight assists and two steals and only turned it over three times in a game-high 32:25 of action. Johnson helped NC State match its season-high in three-pointers with 10.

For the fourth consecutive game, Keatts started a lineup that included Johnson, Bryce, sophomore forward Jericole Hellems, redshirt freshman center Manny Bates and junior guard Braxton Beverly.

Keatts also continued to use an eight-man rotation, and his three players off the bench, fueled primarily by Daniels, managed to nearly outscore the starters.

Redshirt junior center D.J. Funderburk had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field, while Andree added nine points, making 3 of 5 three-pointers. The starters would score 45 points while the bench had 42.

As you would expect for a game at Reynolds Coliseum, there were quite a few former players seen: Alvin Battle, Dereck Whittenburg, Tommy Burleson and Ernie Myers to name a few. Also seen was Wolfpack Club director Bobby Purcell sporting one of former NCSU coach Norm Sloan’s old jackets.

The rifle team also took their turn in being recognized at a basketball game.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:38: NC State 9, Alcorn State 0

15:38-11:52: NC State 10, Alcorn State 8

11:52-7:31: NC State 13, Alcorn State 10

7:31-3:23: Alcorn State 8, NC State 7

3:23-Halftime: Alcorn State 6, NC State 5

Second half

20:00-15:56: NC State 11, Alcorn State 4

15:56-10:50: NC State 11, Alcorn State 6

10:50-7:45: Alcorn State 7, NC State 5

7:45-2:45: Alcorn State 11, NC State 10

2:45-Final: NC State 6, Alcorn State 4

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average.

Daniels: 21.0

Johnson: 15.5

Bryce: 9.4

Hellems: 9.2

Funderburk: 7.9

Beverly: 4.5

Bates: 4.2

Andree: 4.0

Freshman Max Farthing: 0.0

Freshman Chase Graham: 0.0

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.

• Beverly +18 (27:48 minutes played)

• Johnson +17 (32:35)

• Bryce +17 (31:16)

• Hellems +15 (30:28)

• Daniels +14 (31:19)

• Bates +13 (14:45)

• Funderburk +12 (18:46)

• Andree +9 (11:13)

• Farthing - (0:55)

• Graham - (0:55)

NC State is 4-1 while Alcorn State is 1-4. It was the first time the two teams had ever met, but NC State is now 7-0 all-time against programs from the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The game was broadcast on ACC Network Extra. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.

- RSN: 2-0

- ACC Network Extra: 2-0

- ACC Network: 0-1

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

- November: 4-1

• The Pack had a huge 42-20 edge in points in the paint.

• NCSU outscored Alcorn State 25-18 in fast break points.

• The Wolfpack had a slight edge in turnover margin 14-12, but a more decisive advantage in points off turnovers, 23-11.

• NC State won the battle on the boards overall 36-30 and offensively 9-6. That led to the Pack winning second-chance points 11-5.

• Defensively, NC State had five blocks, altered three shots and nabbed nine steals. The Braves had three blocks, five altered shots and six steals.

• NC State led for 39:40 and the game was tied for 20 seconds. The Pack’s largest lead was 25.

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