David Tracey
Junior guard Markell Johnson drives to the basket against Maine on Saturday, Nov. 17 at PNC Arena. Johnson recorded 13 points and five assists as the Wolfpack won 82-63.
It was slightly more unconvincing than its first three wins, but the NC State men’s basketball team took care of business in PNC Arena Saturday afternoon, beating Maine 82-63 despite a lackluster second half.
The Wolfpack (4-0) exploded out of the gate and played a great all-around first half, but was outscored by the Black Bears (0-4) in the second 20 minutes. NC State shot over 50 percent from the field and 3-point range in the opening frame but shot just 36.4 percent in a somewhat flat second half.
“I thought we really controlled the tempo in the first half,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “I thought they did a great job of, you know, moving the ball around, burning some clock in the second half and kind of limiting our possessions.”
Maine’s Andrew Fleming led all scorers with 19 points, followed by Wolfpack redshirt senior Torin Dorn with 15. Junior guard Markell Johnson also had a strong outing for the Pack, scoring 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, all from 3-point range, to go along with a team-high five assists. Redshirt junior C.J. Bryce was the Pack’s other double-digit scorer, scoring 14 points.
NC State is now 4-0 on the season for the second year in a row, the first time the Pack has accomplished that since 2008-09, but the wins have all come against much lesser opponents. After three blow-out wins where the average margin of victory was 49 points to start the season, NC State looked a step slower Saturday.
“It’s a real-game situation, playing against real offenses,” Bryce said. “It’s hard to tell right now, but we’re not really playing against our opponent right now. We’re looking at it as ‘we’re playing against Duke, we’re playing against Carolina.’ We’re not really playing down to our competition.”
The Wolfpack wasted no time in jumping all over the Black Bears, starting the game on a 15-0 run that saw the Pack shoot a perfect 6 of 6 from the field including three 3-pointers. The Pack came out fast and aggressive, and spread the ball well to open the game. On the 15-0 run, six different guys scored for NC State.
“Getting it going early is always an emphasis for us,” Bryce said. “Playing really hard on the defensive end. Our offense will always come, so we did a really good job of that today.”
Maine never really found a rhythm in the first half, as NC State continued to pull away. The Pack took a 48-24 lead into the break, with Johnson leading the team with 10 points on a perfect 3-for-3 shooting, all from beyond the arc.
The Pack as a whole shot lights out in the opening 20 minutes, entering the break shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from long distance. All 10 of NC State’s players had points and at least one made field goal in the opening half.
The Black Bears also struggled with the Pack’s chaotic defense as NC State forced 13 turnovers, leading to 21 points, in the opening frame.
“I think we showed people when we share the ball offensively, we can put up a lot of points,” graduate forward Wyatt Walker said. “We got some people defensively, when we’re up, everybody knows his assignment, heat ‘em up, and we can go in spurts and string along a lot of baskets and shoot a lot of times. We just want to continue to be that high-pressure, up-tempo team.”
The second half started out slow for the Pack as the Black Bears offense seemed to gain a second wind. Maine outscored the Pack in the second period 39-34, capitalizing on some poor shooting from NC State and a more dynamic offensive approach.
The Black Bears flipped the script from the first half, as Maine shot lights out from the field in the final frame. The Black Bears went 16 for 25 from the field, good for 64 percent, as NC State’s defense looked as bad as it has all year down the stretch. In fact, Saturday’s second frame was the first time the Pack had been outscored in a half all season.
“I feel like we can get better in all aspects,” graduate guard Eric Lockett said. “Defense today gave up a lot of backdoors and we weren’t as active on the ball, so we can definitely get better.
The Wolfpack will be home again Tuesday night for another matchup against a much lesser opponent in Saint Peter’s. The game will start at 7 p.m.