Quick hits from NC State's win over Maryland Eastern Shore
Quick hits and notes from NC State’s easy 95-49 win over Maryland Eastern Shore in front of an announced crowd of 13,586 fans Saturday at PNC Arena in Raleigh.
Play of the game
NC State’s should not be tested in its first few games of the season. Maryland Eastern Shore is, on paper, one of the weakest opponents on the Pack’s schedule. What you want to see from NC State in a game like this is consistent effort and hustle.
In that regard, second-year NC State head coach Kevin Keatts had to be pleased with what he saw. A good example was when freshman forward Jericole Hellems dove on the floor for a loose ball, sophomore guard Braxton Beverly then saved it inbounds and a hustling Hellems got off the floor to got himself open for a transition three-pointer with an assist from sophomore guard Blake Harris.
Highlight of the game
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Player of the game
In naming Torin Dorn the player of the game for NC State’s 50-point win over Mount St. Mary’s in the opener, we noted that the only nitpicking on his performance was that the fifth-year senior wing missed getting a double-double in his 29-points, 9-rebound stat line.
This time Dorn got his double-double.
He finished with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including 3 of 4 three-pointers, and added 10 rebounds in just 22 minutes of action. That was Dorn’s ninth career double-double, and the eighth in his three years of action at NC State.
This is just the second time in Dorn’s career he has had back-to-back 20-point games. He had 20 points in an overtime win at UNC and 21 points in a lopsided home victory over Notre Dame last season, but he struggled in scoring just four points at Virginia Tech the game after that.
He’ll look to get his first stretch of three straight 20-point games when the Pack hosts UNC Asheville on Tuesday. Most promising about Dorn’s fast start is he is 7 of 11 on three-pointers. He entered this season a career 33.8 percent shooter from long range and shot a career-worst 31.1 percent a year ago.
Does DJ Fundeburk miss?
The answer is of course yes, but not often. In the exhibition game against Chowan, Funderburk was 7 of 7 from the field and 5 of 5 at the line. In the season opener, Funderburk made all four of his shot attempts. On Saturday, he was 5-of-5 shooting, including draining a three-pointer. He also had a three in the exhibition.
Funderburk, a redshirt sophomore forward, finished with 13 points, five rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot in 19 minutes.
But he has missed. He was 1 of 2 at the line against Mount Saint Mary's and 2 of 4 Saturday.
A dominating 40 minutes
NC State finished it’s 50-point win over Mount St. Mary’s in the opener on a 49-9 run and outscored the Mountaineers 65-25 in the second half. At halftime of its 46-point win Saturday, the Pack was up 51-15. In fact, Dorn (17 points) outscored the Hawks by himself.
Between the final 20 minutes of Mount St. Mary’s and first 20 against Maryland Eastern Shore, NC State played a full 40 minutes outscoring its opponents 116-40.
Big margins of victory
A bit of an offensive drought from the 8:43 mark when redshirt junior wing C.J. Bryce made a pair of free throws to make it 80-33 until 3:07 left in the game probably cost the Pack a chance of a second straight 100-point effort. During that 4:36 stretch, NC State had only four points.
Nevertheless, NC State is averaging a margin of victory of 48.0 points for its first two games of the season. That is the most dominant start to a campaign since the 1990-91 squad led by the legendary “Fire and Ice” combination of Chris Corchiani and Rodney Monroe also opened up the year with a pair of wins by an average of 48.0 points, beating Florida International on the road by 41 points and then crushing Charleston Southern at home by 55. That team went on to finish 20-11 overall and 8-6 in the ACC, and reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Spotted at the game
Beverly beat the Keatts’ expecations of when he would return, but freshman post player Ian Steere was not on the bench. Details of that can be found here.
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
20:00-15:46: NC State 6, Maryland Eastern Shore 0
15:46-12:24: NC State 12, Maryland Eastern Shore 4
12:24-7:22: NC State 14, Maryland Eastern Shore 5
7:22-3:42: NC State 10, Maryland Eastern Shore 0
3:42-Halftime: NC State 10, Maryland Eastern Shore 6
Second half
20:00-15:44: Maryland Eastern Shore 9, NC State 7
15:44-11:21: NC State 12, Maryland Eastern Shore 4
11:21-7:53: NC State 10, Maryland Eastern Shore 7
7:53-3:40: NC State 4, Maryland Eastern Shore 4
3:40-Final: NC State 11, Maryland Eastern Shore 10
Plus/minus
Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU. Interestingly the five bench players had above +20 while the five starters were below that.
• Beverly +38 (21 minutes played)
• Lockett +29 (18)
• Funderburk +27 (19)
• Hellems +27 (18)
• Harris +24
• Johnson +19 (23)
• Walker +19 (21)
• Bryce +17 (22)
• Dorn +17 (22)
• Daniels +11 (19)
What the win means
NC State is 32-1 all-time against teams from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, including 4-0 versus the Hawks. This was the most lopsided win of the series, but none of the previous contests were decided by fewer than 21 points.
Keatts is on the “100 wins” watch with a career record of 95-40.
The game was broadcast on the Regional Sports Network. During the season, we’ll keep track of how NC State does on the various networks.
- ACC Network Extra: 1-0
- RSN: 1-0
We will also track NC State’s records by month:
- November: 2-0
- December: 0-0
- January: 0-0
- February: 0-0
- March: 0-0
Other stats of note
• NC State dominated the paint, outscoring the visitors 42-20.
• The Wolfpack won the turnover margin, barely, 15-14, but had a decisive 23-13 edge in points off turnovers.
• NCSU had a 16-4 advantage in fastbreak points.
• Defensively, NC State had three blocks and four steals. The Hawks had nine steals and four rejections.
• NCSU had a 47-24 edge on the boards, including 15-9 on the offensive glass. The Pack had a 21-6 advantage in second-chance points.
• The Wolfpack bench outscored the Maryland Eastern Shore reserves by a shocking 50-7.
• NC State led for 38:46, and the game was tied for 1:14.
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