Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 73-58 win over Pittsburgh Wednesday afternoon in front of a mostly Wolfpack crowd at the half-filled (perhaps being generous) Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum.

It came with 15:24 left in the contest. Pittsburgh sophomore guard Xavier Johnson had led the Panthers with 15 points and was driving to try to cut NC State’s 44-40 lead down to two. However, in the process, Johnson fouled Wolfpack redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels.

After a review, the officials upgraded the infraction to a flagrant foul. More importantly, that was Johnson’s fourth foul. The Wolfpack took advantage by promptly scoring six straight points, and it never really looked back.

It can be tricky playing a team that played the day before while you were off on a bye. The opponent has some familiarity and comfort playing in the venue, and Pitt in particular had shot very well in a nine-point win over Wake Forest on Tuesday afternoon. The Panthers made 52.3 percent of its shots, including going 6 of 16 on three-pointers.

Yet NC State answered the bell at the start, and Daniels was a huge reason why. He scored five of NC State’s first nine points, and then he scored 10 straight points for the Wolfpack during a stretch when NC State took its first double-digit advantage at 31-21.

Daniels would finish with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting. He was two points off his career-high set against Duke earlier this season.

Daniels scored the game’s first point when he made 1 of 2 free throws 36 seconds into the contest. After Wolfpack senior guard Markell Johnson had a steal and dunk 17 seconds later, and the lead was never relinquished.

Officially, NC State is credited with having led 38:59 (we are not sure how that statisticians came up with that math). There are only two games in which NC State led for more: the 22-point win over Duke (39:36) and a 20-point triumph over The Citadel (39:39).

This game is not a resume enhancer for NC State’s NCAA Tournament chances, but the win avoided bursting the Pack's bubble.

NC State is now 6-2 in quad three games, since Pittsburgh’s 107 NET ranking fell just outside the top 100 status for a neutral court contest to be at least a quad two.

NC State will have nothing but opportunities ahead of it now however, starting with a rubber match against Duke, who is No. 6 in the NET. A win over the Blue Devils could make NC State a very safe bet to make the NCAA Tournament.

But a loss will lead to a lot of sweating on Selection Sunday.

The unfolding story is what will happen with the remainder of the ACC Tournament. The NCAA announced Wednesday afternoon that the Big Dance will be held, but without fans.

The ACC released a statement that would not commit to holding the remainder of the tournament with fans in attendance. It did say that Wednesday evening’s games will proceed as normal.

NC State is scheduled to tip-off at 2:30, but realistically it must wait until the 12:30 game between Clemson and Florida State concludes.

Redshirt freshman center Manny Bates scored three points and had five rebounds and a blocked shot in 10:59 after missing the regular season finale win over Wake Forest with a knee injury.

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

First half

20:00-15:16: NC State 9, Pittsburgh 7

15:16-11:41: NC State 8, Pittsburgh 5

11:41-7:52: NC State 10, Pittsburgh 9

7:52-3:48: Pittsburgh 6, NC State 4

3:48-Halftime: Pittsburgh 5, NC State 4

Second half

20:00-15:24: NC State 9, Pittsburgh 8

15:24-11:59: NC State 9, Pittsburgh 4

11:59-7:51: NC State 8, Pittsburgh 5

7:51-2:37: NC State 9, Pittsburgh 4

2:37-Final: Pittsburgh 5, NC State 3

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

Daniels: 19.5

Fifth-year senior guard C.J. Bryce: 11.9

Johnson: 8.7

Redshirt junior forward D.J. Funderburk: 7.4

Junior guard Braxton Beverly: 7.2

Bates: 4.5

Sophomore forward Jericole Hellems: 4.3

Senior center Danny Dixon: 2.7

Freshman forward Max Farthing: 0.0

Senior forward Pat Andree: -0.1

Freshman guard Chase Graham: -1.7

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

• Daniels +26 (30:32 minutes played)

• Bryce +19 (35:37)

• Johnson +17 (35:04)

• Beverly +10 (27:03)

• Funderburk +9 (29:39)

• Hellems +8 (17:50)

• Bates +6 (10:59)

• Dixon -2 (2:38)

• Graham -4 (2:12)

• Farthing -4 (2:12)

• Andree -10 (6:14)

NC State is 20-12 overall and is 73-56 all-time in the ACC Tournament. The Pack is 27-24 in conference tourney games in Greensboro.

NC State also improves to 8-8 as a five seed, and 2-0 when playing Pittsburgh in the event.

Overall, NC State is 19-2 against Pitt.

The Pack is 6-8 away from home this year, including 1-1 on neutral courts. NC State is 9-6 in day games (played before 6 p.m.), 11-6 in weekday games (that includes 7-0 on Wednesdays) and 17-3 when leading at halftime.

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

- ACC Network Extra: 3-0

- ESPN+: 1-0

- RSN: 4-2

- ACC Network: 6-4

- ESPN2: 3-2

- ESPN: 3-4

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

- November: 5-2

- December: 5-1

- January: 4-4

- February: 4-4

- March: 2-1

• NC State won the battle in the paint, 42-30.

• The Wolfpack had the edge in fast break points, 17-12.

• NC State’s bench beat Pittsburgh’s reserves, 16-12.

• NC State won the turnover margin 14-11, and it had a big advantage in points off turnovers, 24-11.

• Both teams had 38 overall rebounds, with Pitt having a slight 13-10 edge on the offensive glass and 14-9 advantage on second chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had four blocks, altered four shots and nabbed 11 steals (one off a season-high). Pittsburgh had four block, four alters and added seven steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was 20 points.

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