Here are some the thoughts from those who covered NC State Wolfpack basketball's 74-73 win at Pittsburgh on Wednesday afternoon.
• Matt Carter, TheWolfpacker.com — Quick hits from NC State's win at Pittsburgh
One thing that stood out about this game: just about every player could point towards a big contribution. In addition to the already noted numbers from Seabron, Funderburk and Beverly, here are some examples:
• Bates had a modest line of eight points, six rebounds and a blocked shot, but he also had a career-high three assists. And it was Bates that made a crucial hook shot in the lane to put the Wolfpack up 69-68 with 2:30 left.
• Hellems fouled out for the fourth time in a game this season, in part thanks to a silly technical foul when he slapped the ball out of the hands of Pitt star forward Justin Champagnie following a whistle. But when he was in the game, Hellems went 6 of 9 from the field and finished with a team-high 17 points in just 25 minutes.
Hellems has now scored in double digits in nine straight games, and in the six contests since the injury to fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels, Hellems is averaging 16.2 points and shooting 37 of 72 from the field (51.4 percent). He's also made 7 of 16 three-pointers (43.8 percent) in that span, including making his only try on Wednesday.
• Freshman guard Cam Hayes nearly had his first career double-double with 11 points and nine assists and was one off his personal best with three steals. It is the first time Hayes has scored in double digits in an ACC game, and he played a career-high 33 minutes.
Overall, NC State shot a season-best 56.9 percent from the field (29 of 51) and was one off its season high with 19 assists.
NC State has had its struggles closing out games this season, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday night.
Despite being handed a number of opportunities to hang its head, the Wolfpack (9-9, 5-8 ACC) found a way to win 74-73 in a down to the wire road contest against Pittsburgh (9-8, 5-7 ACC).
The Pack led for over 36 minutes in the Petersen Events Complex, but the Panthers clawed their way back to take a two-point lead with 1:49 remaining.
NC State responded with a 5-0 run of its own to reclaim the lead and held on for its second-straight road victory in conference play.
“I think our guys took a big step forward,” Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts said. “We didn't do everything right. There's a bunch of plays that I look back and say, 'I wish we could have done something different.' But at the end of the day, I'm proud of our guys. It's tough to win on the road, even without fans.
“If you do the research, it's still tough to win on the road. This is a great road win for us. This is a good team. They've beaten a lot of teams on this floor. For us to come in and get out of here with a win, I'm happy with that.”
The final sequence of the N.C. State-Pittsburgh game and the way it turned out almost makes one believe the Wolfpack finally found some good fortune in 2021.
In a season when more has gone wrong than right for Kevin Keatts and his team, N.C. State caught multiple breaks, leaving the Steel City with a 74-73 win over the Panthers.
Freshman guard Cam Hayes hit two free throws to put the Pack up by three with 23 seconds remaining. Moments earlier, Pitt’s best player, sophomore forward Justin Champagnie, mishandled the basketball with a chance to put the Panthers back in front. D.J. Funderburk scored an old-fashioned three-point play to put N.C. State up one.
After Hayes calmly knocked down his two from the line, Champagnie, the leading scorer in the ACC, attacked the basket, drawing a foul from sophomore forward Manny Bates. Champagnie hit both to make it a one-point game, but Hayes turned the ball over with 9.3 seconds remaining.
The Panthers got a couple of attempts at a game-winner, but Au’Diese Toney and Champagnie both missed shots at a win in the final seconds. Hayes walked off the court surrounded by teammates who encouraged the rookie after his late turnover. But the victory made them forget about that play and Keatts told the media after the game that his team took a step in the right direction Wednesday night.
“Give my guys a lot of credit,” Keatts said. “I’m proud of my young dudes, they grew up today.”
Yes, the young dudes took a step in the right direction, but it was the older dudes who put the Wolfpack (9-9, 5-8 ACC) in a position to pick up its 11th consecutive win over the Panthers (9-8, 5-7).
Junior Jericole Hellems led the team with 17 points and senior D.J. Funderburk finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. An unexpected spark came from senior guard Braxton Beverly. After leaving the Duke game with an injury last weekend, Beverly didn’t practice at all the rest of the week, but came off the bench to score 12 points.
“It’s not easy,” Beverly said about not practicing this week, then playing 22 minutes. “I’ve been trying to do what I can the past two or three days to keep my legs under me, keep my conditioning. It helps that I have my teammates staying positive for me. That plays a bigger role than you think.”
• Will Thornhill, Technician — Men’s basketball rebounds from back-to-back losses, beats Pitt 74-73
As it did in the first half, Pittsburgh hung in there and battled back to get within one point at the under-eight media timeout. In what was a very physical and chippy game, it was all to play for down the stretch.
“It ended up being a toughness game,” Keatts said. “It was a game of who wanted it the most, not that those guys didn’t want it, but both teams had come off losing two in a row. We needed a good win to make us feel better and obviously get a road win. So I am excited that we finished the way we did.”
The momentum went back in the favor of NC State with five minutes left in the game when redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates dunked on a Pittsburgh defender to give it a 67-61 lead. Five straight points from the Panthers made it a 67-66 game with 3:42 left at the last media timeout.
With 23 seconds left in the game, Hayes hit two clutch free throws to give the Wolfpack a 74-71 lead. On the ensuing Pittsburgh possession, Champagnie got fouled while going in for a layup then made both free throws. After NC State inbounded the ball, Hayes was called for a travel, giving the Panthers a chance to win the game. One last defensive stop as time expired clinched the 74-73 win for NC State.
“This win was extremely important for us,” Funderburk said. “This game we put a big emphasis on personnel and not beating ourselves down the stretch.”
• Jim Hammett, PantherLair.com — Pitt losing streak extends to three with 74-73 setback to NC State
It was a physical, grind-it-out type of game, but in the end North Carolina State made a couple of more winning plays than Pitt down the stretch to come up with a 74-73 win on Wednesday afternoon at the Petersen Events Center. The Panthers have now lost three straight games since upsetting Virginia Tech on February 3rd.
Coming out of the timeout trailing 74-73 with 9 seconds remaining, Pitt got Au'Diese Toney on an isolation look. His shot was off, Champagnie's second attempt from the corner fell short and the Panthers dropped to 9-8 on the season.
With the win today, North Carolina State continued its dominance of Pitt in the all-time series. The Wolfpack now own a 20-2 overall record against Pitt, and have won 11 straight games over the Panthers.
Pitt played a sloppy game reminiscent of Sunday's defeat to Georgia Tech. The Panthers were hit with three technicals with Xavier Johnson, Femi Odukale, and Jeff Capel all being whistled. The team also showed some struggles with foul shooting going 19-28 from the free-throw line.
It was a physical game with 39 fouls called between the two teams, and four technicals overall called with an NC State player being hit with one later in the game as well.
N.C. State entered the game wounded, metaphorically and literally. Its leading scorer, Devon Daniels, is out for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL in a Jan. 27 win against Wake Forest. On Wednesday against the Panthers, it was without starting guard Thomas Allen, who is third on the team in minutes per game. Those injuries had taken their toll. The Wolfpack had dropped eight of its past 10 games and since Daniels’ injury, it had lost four of its five games, with the lone victory coming against last-place Boston College. Four days before it traveled to Oakland, it lost by 16 to what was then a sub-.500 Duke team.
For Pitt, N.C. State existed more as an opportunity than an opponent, a chance to temporarily break out of a rut. But what could have been an escape for the Panthers turned out to be something that only worsened their recent woes.
Despite shooting 50 percent from the field, including 60% inside the 3-point arc, and getting 18 points and 10 rebounds from Champagnie, giving him his 10th double-double of the season, Pitt was woeful defensively, allowing the Wolfpack to shoot 56.9% and score 74 points on 64 possessions without two of its top five scorers.
“There wasn’t anything that was good about our defense when a team shoots 57%,” Capel said. “We played a lot of zone because we were in foul trouble in man. They were getting the ball and pounding the basketball inside against us and getting us in a little bit of foul trouble. We knew they were going to ball screen a lot. They were doing that, so we went zone, trying to get a little bit of relief from that, so we wouldn’t hopefully be in foul trouble and keep some of our better guys out there. Again, they were able to get the ball inside and get easy baskets. There was nothing. When a team shoots 57%, you haven’t done anything well defensively.”
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