The NC State men’s basketball team lost to Seton Hall 94-83 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon in Wichita, Kansas.
Seton Hall (22-11) led the entire game, and the Pack (21-12) never got closer than 3 points in the second half. NC State finishes the season having lost three of its final four games, and appeared to run out of gas down the stretch.
Graduate guard Al Freeman had the best game of his career in his final college basketball game. He scored 36 points and had seven rebounds. He nearly broke David Thompson’s school record of 40 points in one NCAA Tournament game. Freeman hit 12 of his 19 shots, including 6 of 8 from the 3-point line.
Redshirt senior forward Lennard Freeman had his best game since the calendar turned to 2018 in his final appearance in a Wolfpack uniform. He finished with 13 points and six rebounds on 4-of-4 shooting from the field, but went 5 of 11 from the free-throw line.
Redshirt junior guard Torin Dorn played well, with 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Seton Hall had five players in double figures, led by guard Khadeen Carrington with 26 points. The Pirates got 20 points from forward Dezi Rodriguez and 19 from guard Myles Powell.
Seton Hall came out firing from long range, and hit 7 of 13 3-pointers in the first half. The Pirates came back to earth and didn’t hit a 3 in the second half. The Pack shot 11 of 30 from behind the 3-point line in the game.
Rebounding looked to be a big advantage that the Pirates would have coming into this game, but Seton Hall only won the advantage on the boards 40-34. Both teams had 11 offensive rebounds.
There were 53 total fouls in the game. Seton Hall shot 69 percent from the free-throw line this season, but shot 31 of 39, good for 79 percent, Thursday.
On the other hand, the Wolfpack shot 70 percent from the line this season, but shot 16 of 27, 59 percent, against the Pirates. That was the difference in the game.
Sophomore center Omer Yurtseven, sophomore point guard Markell Johnson and freshman point guard Braxton Beverly all fouled out in the game. Yurtseven finished with 2 points while Beverly finished with none and Johnson scored 12.
Seton Hall advances to face Kansas in the second round of the tournament on Saturday.
The Wolfpack finish its first season under Kevin Keatts at 21-12.
