Quick hits from NC State's win at Miami

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 83-72 win over Miami in front of 5,164 fans at Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Fla., Wednesday evening.

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In a game where both teams received a fortunate bounce or two, NC State got the last break. Twice in the late stages of the second half, a Miami player either tapped an offensive rebound or threw a loose ball back into play only to see a Wolfpacker break loose for an uncontested layup.

The second time came when Hurricane freshman forward Anthony Walker was trying to save a missed three-pointer by his classmate and guard Harlond Beverly. Miami redshirt junior forward Sam Waardenburg tapped Walker’s heave back towards NC State’s basket. Wolfpack fifth-year senior C.J. Bryce was in perfect position to break free for an easy two that gave the Pack a 73-68 lead with 3:46 left. The game was never closer than that again.

Earlier, NCSU junior guard Braxton Beverly had a similar layup when Miami senior guard Dejan Vasiljevic missed a three-pointer and the tap-out by Walker led to Beverly’s bucket. Ironically, Beverly’s basket came just after Miami had cut what had been an 18-point Wolfpack lead down to three at 67-64.

On a fast break, senior guard Markell Johnson’s lob pass to Bryce was both low and late, and it forced Bryce to have to adjust mid-air. Bryce, with his back to the basket, caught the low pass and then scooped an underhand shot off the glass for two points, giving State a 40-30 lead with 1:25 left in the first half.

Johnson did not settle for jump shots in this game. Instead he aggressively drove to the basket when the opportunity was there, and he finished making 6 of 12 shots en route to 19 points. This was the first game this season Johnson did not attempt a three.

The 54.1-percent free throw shooter entering the game was also clutch at the line, going 7 of 8 for the game and 6 of 6 in the final minute. It was a season-high in made free throws for Johnson.

Johnson added a season-high 12 assists for his third double-double of the season and ninth of his career.

Since the new calendar year started, NC State has played 10 ACC games, including two wins over Miami. In those two contests against the Hurricanes, NC State has shot 48.8 percent from the field and made 18 of 42 three-pointers, or 42.9 percent.

On Wednesday, NC State made 50.0 of its shots (31 of 62), the first time it has shot that high since it shot 56.6 percent in a win at UNC Greensboro, and it went 9 of 22 from long range from Coral Gables.

In the other eight ACC games starting Jan. 4 at Clemson, NC State has shot 38.5 percent from the field overall and 23.8 percent on three-pointers.

NC State missed its first five shots and was 1 of 9 to start the game, with five of those misses belonging to redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels. That led to the Wolfpack falling behind quickly 9-2 and then 15-7, but Daniels and NC State eventually roared back.

NC State went on a 15-1 run starting with a three-pointer from Bryce with 8:22 to go in the first half that resulted in the Wolfpack taking a 33-24 advantage before Miami called a timeout with 4:54 on the clock.

Daniels played a huge role in that stretch, scoring the last five points. He made 5 of 6 shots, including three three-pointers, after his cold start and had 14 points at the break.

Bryce did even better. He finished the first half with 18 points, making 6 of 9 shots from the field, including 2 of 4 three-pointers. Bryce also went 3 for 4 at the line when Miami was hit with a pair of technical fouls with 51.3 seconds left before the break.

Daniels would not score in the second half and Bryce only added four, but their combined 32 first-half points sparked NC State to a 44-32 lead at the break, tying for its largest advantage at halftime in an ACC game this year.

Bryce added 11 rebounds, a career high, to join Johnson with a double-double.

NC State had a 63-45 lead with less than 13 minutes to go and nearly let it slip away. The Hurricanes went on a 16-2 run to cut the lead to 67-64 and had a shot to tie when Vasiljevic’s aforementioned missed three led to the Beverly fast-break layup.

Part of the problem for NC State was 17 turnovers, the second highest in a game for the Pack this year (18 at Auburn). This came against a Miami team that entered Wednesday 12th in the ACC in turnovers forced per game in conference action.

NC State sophomore forward Jericole Hellems did not play after sustaining an injury in practice Monday, but he was on the bench.

Redshirt junior forward D.J. Funderburk went to the locker room twice, the second coming after he took an accidental elbow to the head from redshirt freshman Manny Bates. Funderburk returned to the bench but not the game after that and finished with just two points and two rebounds in 14 minutes.

That led to Bates playing 29 minutes and notching his first double-digit scoring game in ACC action with 10 points to go with seven rebounds and four blocks.

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

First half

20:00-15:58: Miami 9, NC State 2

15:58-11:48: NC State 8, Miami 6

11:48-6:42: NC State 16, Miami 9

6:42-4:29: NC State 7, Miami 0

4:29-Halftime: NC State 11, Miami 8

Second half

20:00-15:47: NC State 9, Miami 4

15:47-11:55: Miami 14, NC State 10

11:55-7:39: Miami 11, NC State 2

7:39-3:13: NC State 10, Miami 7

3:13-Final: NC State 8, Miami 4

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

Johnson: 18.5

Redshirt freshman center Manny Bates: 14.7

Bryce: 13.4

Beverly: 10.2

Daniels: 5.0

Freshman guard Chase Graham: 1.0

Funderburk: 0.1

Fifth-year senior center Danny Dixon: 0.1

Senior forward Pat Andree: -1.9

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

• Beverly +14 (29 minutes played)

• Bryce +12 (39)

• Bates +11 (29)

• Johnson +10 (36)

• Daniels +8 (36)

• Andree +8 (13)

• Graham 0 (1)

• Funderburk -5 (14)

• Dixon -5 (3)

NC State is 15-8 overall and 6-6 in the ACC, and Miami is 11-11 and 3-9. The Wolfpack lead the all-time series 14-11, and NC State is 13-11 against them since the Canes joined the ACC for the 2004-05 season. The Pack now has a winning record (6-5) in Coral Gables.

The Pack is 4-5 away from home this year, including 4-4 in true road games. NC State is 8-3 in night games (played after 6 p.m.), 7-4 in weekday games (including 5-0 on Wednesdays) and 13-2 when trailing at halftime.

The game was broadcast on ACC Network. 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: 4-2

- ESPN2: 2-2

- ESPN: 1-2

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

- November: 5-2

- December: 5-1

- January: 4-4

- February: 1-1

• NC State won the battle in the paint, 42-32.

• The Pack had the edge in fast-break points, 13-8.

• NC State’s bench outscored Miami’s reserves, 16-12.

• The Hurricanes had the edge in turnover margin, 17-14, and points off turnovers, 16-10.

• Miami won the battle on the boards, 40-35 overall and 15-9 on the offensive glass. That led to the Hurricanes having a 16-11 advantage on second-chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had five blocks and nabbed eight steals. The Canes had two blocks and 10 steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was 18 points, while Miami’s was eight. NC State led for 27:10 compared to 11:02 for Miami. The game was tied for 1:48.

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