The NC State men’s basketball team took on the No. 6 Louisville Cardinals in a matchup that the Wolfpack entered as 4.5-point underdogs against an upper-echelon ACC team. The Pack lost the game 77-57 in a scrappy contest despite only trailing by five at one point in the second half.
Louisville guard Ryan McMahon killed the Wolfpack (14-8, 5-6 ACC) all afternoon, knocking down seven 3-pointers, including six in the first half. The guard finished with a game-high 23 points off the bench. The Cardinals (19-3, 10-1 ACC) outscored the Wolfpack 43-5 in bench points despite the return of graduate forward Pat Andree off the bench.
“Certainly Ryan McMahon had a tremendous night,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “He shot the heck out of the basketball. We knew coming into the game that he could make shots, but some of the shots he made in the first half were pretty doggone good.”
NC State had three players score in double digits, led by redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce, who had his best game since coming back from injury with 15 points. Redshirt juniors guard Devon Daniels and forward D.J. Funderburk were the other double-digit scorers for the Wolfpack, finishing with 12 points and 11 points, respectively.
After being the leading scorer for a good portion of the season, Bryce went two games without scoring. He finally got a shot to fall with just over eight minutes left in the first half to give NC State a two-point lead. The jump shot falling heard a big sigh of relief from the PNC Arena crowd.
NC State came out aggressive, attacking Louisville and getting them to commit five fouls in the first five minutes of the half, as well as five turnovers.
Despite lots of turnovers in the half, Louisville found its hot hand as McMahon hit six 3-pointers in the first half. The Cardinals were able to slow down their tempo, taking better care of the ball and going on a 14-0 scoring run.
It wasn’t until senior guard Markell Johnson hit a pull-up jumper with 2:30 left in the half that NC State ended the Louisville scoring run. Johnson played strong defense in the game, grabbing four steals by the end of the half.
All in all, after a few more made shots from the Cardinals, they ended the first half on a 22-5 run to push their lead to 41-26 at halftime despite committing 11 fouls and 11 turnovers in the half. NC State shot 8 of 28 from the floor in the half, while Louisville shot 54% on field goals and 6 of 9 from deep. The Pack shot 1 of 10 from the same distance.
“Basketball is not that complicated,” Keatts said. “I’ve got to figure out how to get my best players playing better offensively, and they’re not right now.”
Funderburk was the lone bright spot for NC State in the first half, as the Cleveland native scored nine points, seven of which came from the charity strike, and brought down seven rebounds as well as a block and a steal.
The Wolfpack went on an 8-0 run to open the second half, with Bryce hitting a running jumper as he continued to regain his confidence. Louisville’s Lamarr Kimble hit a 3-pointer to stop the run. After a Louisville timeout, Bryce banged back-to-back 3-pointers, the latter while being fouled, to cut the lead to five points.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from this game is the re-emergence of Bryce as a scoring threat. Bryce had not scored in over 90 minutes, but went on a tear with 15 points, leading the Pack. For the Pack to make a push to the NCAA Tournament, Bryce is going to need to continue to display the level of confidence he played with in this game.
“I never lost any confidence in my game,” Bryce said. “I am a guy that works on my game every single day with my teammates. We get in the gym and work on our game offensively and defensively. Coming off of a slump, it was good to see the ball go in the hole, but we still lost tonight, and we just have to get back to practice and get better.”
The two teams traded buckets for a few minutes, but a layup from Dwayne Sutton pushed the Louisville lead back to six points with 10:57 left, leading to a Louisville timeout. This break gave each team a chance to reset after a hectic five minutes of action. NC State was also able to match its first-half point total in the first nine minutes of the second half.
A layup from Sutton and another 3-pointer from McMahon, his seventh of the game, pushed the Louisville lead back to double digits. The Wolfpack responded immediately, however, with Johnson hitting a 3-pointer to cut the lead back to eight points as NC State continued to stand up to the Cardinals.
Despite the fight from the Wolfpack, the Cardinals used a 7-0 run to push their lead back up to 15 and ultimately end any thought of an NC State upset.
“I like our grit, I like how we fought,” Keatts said. “But obviously, if we don’t score, it’s going to be tough on us, and I want to be able to score the basketball a little bit more than we have been doing the last few games.”
NC State did not score a single point in the last 5:46 of the game, ultimately dragging its way to a 77-57 loss.
“Details down the stretch, we have to get better,” Bryce said. “We will be better, so we’re not worried. We’re just going to build off of this loss.”
NC State will be back in action and look to end its three-game losing streak Wednesday night at Miami. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m., and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.
Redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels drives to the basket during the game versus the Louisville Cardinals on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020 in PNC Arena. Daniels scored 12 points and had 5 rebounds against Louisville. The Wolfpack lost to the Cardinals 77-57.
