What they're saying about NC State basketball's loss to Florida State
Here are some the thoughts from those who covered NC State Wolfpack basketball's 105-73 loss at Florida State on Wednesday evening.
• Justin H. Williams, TheWolfpacker.com — Ugly loss, but it’s still early for NC State basketball
There was nothing good to take away from NC State’s 105-73 road loss to Florida State Wednesday night. That was ugly.
When it rains, it pours in basketball. It’s a game of runs. Points come in bunches, as do wins and losses.
While it’s understandable to become a victim of the moment after a game where absolutely nothing went the Wolfpack’s way, the 32-point loss will count exactly the same as the overtime defeat to No. 12 Clemson nine days ago.
For the third time in four years under head coach Kevin Keatts, the Pack has started 2-3 in ACC play. In both instances before this season, State went on to earn double-digit conference victories.
"We talked about the last few years and how we started the season,” Keatts said. “You look at my first year, we were 2-3 in the conference, and we went on to win 11 games to finish 11-7.”
• Matt Carter, TheWolfpacker.com — Quick hits from NC State's loss to Florida State
It was the sixth different starting lineup combination in 10 games this season for the Wolfpack.
Moore scored six points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field. Hayes was 3 of 11 from the field for nine points and added a game-high five assists with just two turnovers.
Ironically, for a second straight game, redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen scored well as a reserve after starting the first eight contests. Allen made 6 of 8 shots from the field, including 4 of 5 three-pointers, for 16 points, which was two points off his career-high. In the loss to Miami, Allen also made 4 of 5 threes and had 14 points.
Most of the time there are positives to be found in a loss. That was not the case for NC State in a 105-73 drubbing to Florida State Wednesday.
The Seminoles (6-2, 2-1 ACC) shot 71 percent from the field and 67 percent on three-point attempts against the Wolfpack (6-4, 2-3 ACC).
While the Pack was able to shoot an impressive 42 percent from the perimeter on 11-of-26 attempts, it wasn’t enough to overcome Florida State’s historic offensive performance in the Tucker Center.
“We just ran into a buzzsaw today,” head coach Kevin Keatts said.
At halftime, the Seminoles were shooting 71.4 percent from the field (20-of-28), 70 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-10) and 100 percent from the free-throw line, making all 10 of their attempts, a seemingly unsustainable rate for 40 minutes
But FSU picked right back up where it left off in the second half. The Noles shot 70 percent from the field, making 21 of 30 attempts, including a 5-of-8 mark from behind the three-point line.
“On this given night, I think they would have beaten most teams in the country,” Keatts said. “Obviously, I don't like the outcome of the game and the score of the game, but I thought they played tremendously. I thought they played out of their mind, making 12 three-pointers. They made them long, they made them in transition, got to the free-throw line, going 11 for 11 from the free-throw line. Probably the best team that we have played in our early season so far.”
• C.L. Brown, Raleigh News & Observer —Analysis: N.C. State examining its warts from losing streak
Many coaches would want their team to forget a game like N.C. State’s 105-73 loss at Florida State on Wednesday. They wouldn’t show the video clips for review. They wouldn’t reference it because they don’t want it affecting their confidence.
N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts is taking the opposite approach concerning the worst loss of his four-year tenure in Raleigh.
“I want them to remember the loss, we’re all going to take ownership and we understand that we got to do some soul-searching,” Keatts said in his postgame video conference. “We got to get better in certain situations. I certainly don’t want those guys to forget what happened tonight.”
What happened was a good team who hadn’t played in two weeks took out all their frustrations on the Wolfpack. The Seminoles (6-2, 2-1 ACC) had three games postponed while the program paused activities due to positive COVID-19 tests.
It was like they found a basket to practice shooting despite having to spend a lot of time away from their basketball practice facility. The Seminoles shot 70.7 percent from the field against the Pack, which is the third-most allowed in program history.
• C.L. Brown, Raleigh News & Observer — NC State blown out on the road by Florida State basketball
N.C. State looked like the team who hadn’t played a game in 2021. Florida State, who had three games postponed while working through COVID-19 protocols and having to pause team activities, shot a blistering 71 percent from the floor in the first half and defeated the Wolfpack 105-73 Wednesday in Tallahassee.
The Seminoles never cooled off in second half, shooting 70 percent, which needless to say is the highest for an N.C. State opponent this season. The previous high was 47.7 percent by Charleston Southern.
“I thought our guys fought to the end, we just ran into a buzzsaw today,” said NCSU coach Kevin Keatts, who added the Noles just “shot the hell out of the basketball.”
The Seminoles (6-2, 2-1 ACC) had not played since a 77-67 loss to Clemson on Dec. 29. They had games postponed against Duke, at Syracuse and at Pittsburgh. But it was the Pack (6-4, 2-3) that seemed out of sync at times in the game.
N.C. State played without forward Manny Bates, who leads the ACC with three blocked shots per game and ranks seventh nationally. Maybe the Pack has been overly reliant on depending on Bates to clean up mistakes when opponents get to the basket. Because without him, FSU got in the lane and scored with relative ease.
Wednesday night on the road, NC State was blown away from start to finish against Florida State, losing 105-73. The Wolfpack only led for 32 seconds during the game in what was its third straight loss.
The 32-point loss was the largest in the four years that NC State head coach Kevin Keatts has been in Raleigh. What makes the loss worse is the fact that the Seminoles had not played in 15 days due to COVID-19 contact tracing within the program.
“Give Florida State a lot of credit, I thought they were incredible tonight,” Keatts said. “Probably the best team we have played in our early season so far.”
The whole night NC State struggled defensively, especially against RayQuan Evans and M.J. Walker, who had 24 and 19 points, respectively. On the boards, NC State was outrebounded 32-19.
Early on, it was all junior forward Jericole Hellems for NC State, scoring eight of its first nine points. However, the Seminoles started off hot from downtown by making their first three shots from the 3-point line, giving them a slight edge. It was only a small lead, but it grew exponentially as the first half progressed.
It was hard to know what kind of performance the Florida State men's basketball team was going to have on Wednesday night.
Going through half a month without actually playing a game is an obstacle college basketball teams have never faced until this season. But it wasn't just that the Seminoles had 15 days in between contests; they weren't even able to practice for nearly half of that time.
As head coach Leonard Hamilton said on Wednesday night, "we were looking out the window for seven or eight of those days."
And yet all FSU did, upon returning to the court, was have its best offensive performance of the Hamilton Era in a 105-73 victory over N.C. State.
• Ira Schoffel, WarChant.com — Rested and ready, Seminoles blister nets in 105-73 win over NC State
"That was one of the nights that we showed that we were hungry to get out and play. I was real impressed with the unselfish spirit and energy," FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said, noting that the Wolfpack were without injured forward Manny Bates, who ranks in the top 10 nationally for blocked shots. "They were short-handed a little bit tonight. They didn't have their shot-blocker in there, and obviously that gave us the opportunity to drive the ball in there. ...
"We had one of those exceptional nights where the ball was falling. I think it was because we were moving the ball."
With the win, the Seminoles improved to 6-2 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, while the Wolfpack fell to 6-4 and 2-3.
The performance was impressive not only because FSU was coming off of a layoff but because the Seminoles had lost two of their last three games before the break.
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