What they're saying about NC State basketball's win at Boston College
Here are some the thoughts from those who covered NC State Wolfpack basketball's 81-65 win at Boston College on Saturday afternoon.
• Matt Carter, TheWolfpacker.com — Quick hits from NC State's win at Boston College
The elephant in the room is that this was an Eagles' squad devastated by COVID-19 and emerging from a three-week pause clearly not ready to be playing ACC basketball. BC head coach Jim Christian was using eight players in the rotation prior to things being shut down in his program. Two starters and two reserves from the eight that played against NC State in Raleigh did not suit up this time:
• Second-leading scorer and guard Wynston Tabbs
• Guard Maka Ashton-Langford, who had started every game he's played this year and was their fifth-year leading scorer at 9.3 points per game and also led the team in steals.
• Guard DeMarr Langford Jr., who had started five of the 13 games he has played and was averaging 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds.
• Key reserve James Karnik, who was contributing 6.6 points per game and was third on the team in rebounding at 5.2 a contest. Karnik (6-foot-9) was the tallest player that Christian used regularly in his rotation.
For some perspective, the four that were out combined for, in the first loss to NC State, 38 points, nine rebounds, seven assists, four steals and a blocked shot. The four from that previous game that were available for the rematch combined for, the first time around, 38 points, 24 rebounds, four assists and one steal.
NC State claimed its first road win of the season Saturday, marking the time the Wolfpack has come out victorious in an away game since Feb. 11, 2020 when the Pack defeated Syracuse 79-74 in the Carrier Dome.
Keatts has a tradition of treating his players to post-game ice cream after pulling off a road win. In a normal season, the Pack would pull the team bus up to a local ice cream joint and enjoy a sweet treat after a hard-earned victory.
Considering programs around the country have changed most of their normal routines in an effort to minimize potential exposure to COVID-19, the tradition may be a little different this season.
Nonetheless, Keatts assured that the Wolfpack would get its ice cream Saturday, one way or another.
“You know what, we are going to get ice cream,” Keatts said. “We are going to get ice cream, even if it's got to be delivered to us, but we will have ice cream today.”
Boston College was woefully undermanned, and N.C. State basketball was searching for its first win since the loss of senior guard Devon Daniels to an ACL injury.
The result? A lopsided 81-65 win for the Wolfpack on Saturday, as North Carolina State used a massive 37-3 run in the first half to bury the Eagles, who were playing their first game in three weeks and had just six scholarship players available.
“It was a great game, because we needed to win, especially because I wanted these guys to be to able to feel good about themselves,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts told reporters. “And then obviously, it was great because we got the big lead and I was able to get some of those younger guys some playing time at the end.”
BC was actually the team that seized the early lead, jumping out to a 5-0 advantage as the Wolfpack missed their first three shot attempts. But redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen got State going with a jumper nearly three minutes in, and from there, the Wolfpack seized complete control, a reversal from the teams’ first meeting that went down to the final minutes before N.C. State pulled out the 3-point win.
On Saturday, Boston College needed more than 12 minutes to score another six points after that 5-0 start and missed 10 consecutive 3-point attempts. And on the inside, the Eagles had no answer for N.C. State’s frontcourt of redshirt senior D.J. Funderburk, junior Jericole Hellems and redshirt sophomore Manny Bates. The Wolfpack fed them inside, and they consistently drew fouls or finished layups and dunks.
“Leading up to the game, I think coach Keatts did a good job about just burning it into our guards’ heads that we need to look in the post,” Funderburk said. “We looked at film probably like five or six times in two days to just figure out where we can get the ball to me (Jericole) and Manny, and just kind of put the team on our back as far as us three. It was just better for us to get the ball inside just because it was a size difference.”
Even a late surge from Boston College wasn’t enough to cut the State’s lead below 20 points before halftime, and the Wolfpack came back from the break and immediately went back to work, ripping off a 9-0 run to help ensure the team’s biggest ACC win of the year.
As a whole, N.C. State outscored Boston College in the paint 42-22, led by 14 points and seven rebounds each from Funderburk and Bates, as well as 11 points from Hellems.
But it was true freshman guard Shakeel Moore who led the way — in the first alone he had 11 points shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the field. He extended that to 19 points on 75% shooting in the second half, both career highs, while adding six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“Shak did a tremendous job. I asked him today to be a paint touch guy,” Keatts said. “We lost our guard who could get to the rim in Devon Daniels, and really the next guy in line who can really get to the rim and make something happen is Shakeel Moore and he went out there and he tried to execute what I wanted him to do.”
The bar has been raised for Manny Bates.
With Devon Daniels and DJ Funderburk out of the lineup for NC State ahead of its game against Syracuse on Sunday, Bates knew he would need to step up for the shorthanded Wolfpack.
Despite a 76-73 loss to the Orange, who used a 12-point advantage in the second half to complete the comeback victory at the Carrier Dome, the Fayetteville native put together a big-time performance with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds for the Wolfpack.
“There really was no pressure,” said Bates, who recorded the second double-double of his career.
“I just try to take every game with the same approach. I know what Coach (Kevin Keatts) needs me to do.”
The scoring wasn’t much of a surprise for Keatts.
“I’ve seen that. I know that he can do that,” the coach said of Bates, who had five dunks and a pair of layups to go with three free throws against the Orange.
“The next step of his development is to be an outstanding rebounder and I thought he took a big step (against Syracuse). That’s a career high and I’ve bragged the whole time about this young man getting better — and he is getting better.”
Bates delivered the most rebounds for an NC State player since Torin Dorn pulled down 17 boards against UKMC in 2017.
• Tristan Tucker, Technician — Men’s basketball blows out shorthanded Boston College 81-65
The NC State men’s basketball team won handily against a depleted Boston College rotation, winning 81-65 at the Conte Forum in Boston, Massachusetts on Saturday, Feb. 6.
NC State played its best game of ACC play against the Eagles, clicking all around on offense and riding a 33-3 run in the first half to take a huge lead while never looking back. Freshman guard Shakeel Moore and redshirt senior forward D.J. Funderburk were the catalysts of the first-half explosion, combining for 21 points. Moore finished the game with a career-high 19 points, six rebounds, two steals and an emphatic block on 66.7% shooting from the field, after shooting a perfect 5 for 5 in the first half.
“[Moore] did a tremendous job,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “I asked him today to be a paint-touch guy. We lost our guy who could get to the rim in [redshirt senior guard Devon Daniels], and really the next guy in line who can really get to the rim and make something happen is Shakeel Moore. He went out there, and he tried to execute what I wanted him to do.”
Funderburk had something to prove to the coaching staff after being pulled late during a close game with No. 14 Virginia and responded well to the adversity. Funderburk finished with 14 points and seven rebounds, with 10 of his points coming in the first half to help the Pack cruise to victory.
• Joe Giglio, WRALSportsFan.com — NC State blitzes short-handed Boston College
A trip to Boston College typically gives NC State fits.
This wasn’t a typical road trip for the Wolfpack who blasted the short-handed Eagles 81-65 on Saturday for an ACC road win.
The Eagles went into the game with five healthy scholarship players and coming off of a three-week break for COVID-19 protocols. They played Saturday's game without guards Wynston Tabbs, Makai Ashton-Langford and Demarr Langford and forward James Karnik. Guard Jay Heath led the Eagles with 20 points.
NC State used an elongated, 12-plus minute run in the first half to subdue the normally pesky Eagles early.
"It was a great game because we needed to win and because I wanted our guys to feel good about themselves," NC State coach Kevin Keatts said.
• Rich Thompson, Boston Herald — Shorthanded Eagles fall to North Carolina State
“Guys didn’t all have their legs under them and you kind of watch the way they are running up and down the floor,” said Christian, who had four starters log at least 30 minutes. “We were trying to get the ball to our ball-handlers and it is just preparing guys to play a game.”
BC scored the game’s first five points, but NC State (8-7, 4-6) dominated the rest of the way. The Wolfpack countered with a 37-3 run en route to a 44-24 halftime lead.
“When you don’t make shots than obviously you are going to be on defense a lot longer and the energy level is not going to be as high,” said Christian, whose team will host Wake Forest on Wednesday. “When the ball goes in the basket guys tend to play a little bit harder and that’s just basketball. Outside of transition in the first half, we got hurt by transition matchup and some of their interior players went at us.”
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