Quick hits from NC State's win over The Citadel

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 83-63 win over The Citadel on Sunday at PNC Arena.

Some leads just seem insurmountable and when NC State sophomore forward Jericole Hellems hit a badly needed three-pointer for his confidence. The three-pointer gave the Wolfpack a 20-5 lead with 11:13 left in the first half, and The Citadel never truly challenged.

NC State redshirt freshman center Manny Bates sprinted out to the three-point line to block Rudy Fitzgibbons’ shot from beyond the arc, which then led to redshirt junior wing Devon Daniels to dish to fifth-year senior wing C.J. Bryce for a layup and 29-13 lead with 7:06 left in the first half.

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It would be easy to go with senior point guard Markell Johnson because triple-double are rare on the college level — 11 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. However, redshirt junior wing Devon Daniels hit a pair of three-pointers and a layup to stretch NC State’s lead to 50-27 with 17:41 left in the game. Daniels finished with a team-high 18 points, plus six rebounds, three assists and two assists to lead the Wolfpack in the Hollinger statistics category.

NC State coach Kevin Keatts said one of the hardest games is the one right before Christmas due to the players thinking ahead to the break and spending time with their loved ones.

NC State has only suffered three losses since 2006 in the game before Christmas, all to high major squads. Most of the games haven't been close against low major squads like The Citadel, with the lone exception the 72-70 win over Delaware State in 2010.

NC State officials had been working to get former men’s basketball coach and athletic director Les Robinson to attend a home game, and it seemed fitting that it happened against The Citadel.

Robinson was the head coach at The Citadel from 1974-85, and then athletic director 2000-08. He went 132-162 overall and 63-97 in the SoCon during his stint at The Citadel. He then went to East Tennessee State from 1985-90 before arriving at NC State.

Robinson went 78-98 overall and 28-66 in the ACC at NC State, with one NCAA Tournament berth. He also was NCSU’s athletic director following his coaching stint, from 1996-2000. Former NC State player Chris Corchiani was also in attendance to join his former coach.

NC State redshirt junior center D.J. Funderburk grabbed an offensive rebound and made the layup to give the Wolfpack a 15-5 lead with 12:53 left in the first half.

NCSU junior guard Braxton Beverly then was going for a loose ball and got banged up. At first it appears his thigh was the problem spot, but instead he got hit near his back and ribs.

Keatts said he expects Beverly to be ready to go when NC State hosts Appalachian State on Dec. 29. Beverly missed his lone shot and had zero points in 6:34 of action.

NC State started a new group of five for the first time this season.

Johnson, Beverly, Daniels, senior power forward Pat Andree and Bates started together for the first time Sunday. Daniels replaced Bryce and Andree replaced Hellems following the loss to Auburn.

Keatts said after the game to not look too much into the moves. Bryce half-joked that he was doing "load management" but Keatts said he wanted to get Daniels going, and that did occur.

Hellems' conditioning hasn't been the same since his collision with Wake Forest junior center Olivier Sarr on Dec. 7, which caused a concussion. Hellems went a combined 2 of 11 from the field for five points in the win over UNCG and loss at Auburn. He bounced back against The Citadel and went 5 of 10 for 13 points plus five rebounds.

NCSU also subbed four players at once for possibly the first time this season. Keatts had made it a habit in the non-conference schedule last year of subbing five-for-five, but unless he wants to include a walk-on, he doesn't have that kind of depth. Instead, he took Bryce, Hellems, Funderburk and fifth-year senior center Danny Dixon and sent them in with 14:32 left in the first half.

Dixon, who has been battling a foot issue, had two points and a rebound in 5:48 for the Wolfpack.

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

First half

20:00-14:32: NC State 11, The Citadel 5

14:32-11:54: NC State 6, The Citadel 0

11:54-5:34: NC State 12, The Citadel 11

5:34-3:57: NC State 2, The Citadel 0

3:57-Halftime: NC State 9, The Citadel 6

Second half

20:00-15:41: The Citadel 14, NC State 10

15:41-11:34: NC State 13, The Citadel 4

11:34-6:26: The Citadel 14, NC State 9

6:26-3:56: The Citadel 6, NC State 0

3:56-Final: NC State 9, The Citadel 3

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

Daniels: 16.5

Johnson: 13.9

Hellems: 12.3

Funderburk: 11.6

Bryce: 6.9

Bates: 6.0

Andree: 2.3

Chase Graham: 2.3

Dixon: 1.6

Beverly: 1.3

Max Farthing: -1.8

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

• Funderburk +26 (14 minutes played)

• Hellems -25 (22)

• Daniels +15 (30)

• Johnson +13 (35)

• Beverly +12 (7)

• Andree +10 (26)

• Dixon +10 (6)

• Bryce +6 (29)

• Graham +3 (3)

• Farthing -7 (4)

• Bates -12 (22)

NC State is 9-3 overall and The Citadel fell to 6-6. The Wolfpack now leads the all-time series 17-1, with the previous last meeting a 91-59 NCSU win on Nov. 19, 2005. NC State improved to 99-20 against current members of the Southern Conference.

The Pack is 4-2 in night games (played after 6 p.m.) and improved to 10-1 when leading at halftime. NCSU improved to 9-2 when leading with five minutes left.

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

- RSN: 2-0

- ESPN+: 1-0

- ACC Network: 2-1

- ESPN2: 1-2

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

- November: 5-2

- December: 4-1

• NC State won the battle in the paint, 42-18

• NCSU outscored The Citadel 19-11 on fast-break points.

• NC State’s bench crushed The Citadel 45-21.

• The Bulldogs had the edge in turnover margin 13-10, but the Wolfpack won points off turnovers 16-9.

• NC State had its second strong game on the boards, winning 50-38 overall and 10-9 on offensive rebounds. NCSU won second-chance points 13-11.

• Defensively, NC State had four blocks and nabbed eight steals. The Bulldogs had zero blocks and seven steals.

• NC State led for 39:17, and The Citadel never led once. The Pack’s largest lead was 23 with 19:18 left in the second half.

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