The NC State men’s basketball team dropped to 0-4 in ACC conference play, as it fell to the Florida State University Seminoles Wednesday night 85-78 at PNC Arena.
The Seminoles (11-6, 1-3 ACC) were red-hot offensively, shooting 50 percent and leaving NC State defenders looking lost at times, while the Wolfpack’s (10-7, 0-4 ACC) top shooters struggled to find the bottom of the net.
Though the Wolfpack scored 78 points, head coach Mark Gottfried said there were some things that still need improvement.
“It was a tough night,” he said. “I certainly thought we could’ve played better.”
The Seminoles and the Wolfpack traded shots to open the game, with sophomore guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes hitting a two for the Noles, followed by a three-pointer from junior Anthony “Cat” Barber. Going into the first media break, the Wolfpack trailed 9-6.
After the media timeout, the Wolfpack started slowing down. The Wolfpack hit only one of its next eight shots from the field. After two free throws from sophomore forward Abdul-Malik Abu, the Pack trailed 15-10 following an official time out with 11:35 left in the first.
With momentum swaying toward the Seminoles following a Bojanovsky layup, Abu drove down the lane and put Bojanovsky on a poster for a slam, followed by Barber draining a three and hitting a layup to tie the game at 22 with 6:45 left in the first.
Despite tying the game up, the Seminoles went on a 14-6 run to take a steady 36-28 lead. The Wolfpack had plenty of opportunities to score but went 1-6 from the field during the Seminole run. The Seminoles tacked on two more points and closed out the first half with a 38-28 lead.
The Wolfpack closed the half shooting an abysmal 30 percent from the floor. Despite Barber putting up 10 points for NC State, junior Beejay Anya and sophomore Caleb Martin both put up zero points in the first half, with Martin going 0-7 from the field. Gottfried highlighted the inconsistent play from the team as a whole for the recent struggles.
“I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball for 40 minutes in this league yet,” Gottfried said. “You’ll see it in spurts, you’ll see it in glimpses but certainly it’s not there over a 40-minute period, and we gotta figure out how to do that.”
At the start of the second half, the duo of Barber and Abu combined for NC State’s next eight points. Despite the hot start for the two, the Pack trailed 45-36 with 15:32 left to play. Freshman guard Maverick Rowan later hit three-straight free throws in order to make it a two possession game, 49-43.
After going scoreless in the first half, Martin finally got his first bucket of the game on a three-pointer, followed by a layup from Barber to bring the game within five points, 55-50, with 8:30 left in the game.
Following the run by the Wolfpack, the Seminoles went on an offensive surge, going on an 11-2 run over the course of two minutes to extend the lead to 66-52 with 5:56 left in the game.
The Wolfpack followed the Seminole run with a run of its own. The Wolfpack went on a 14-4 run, with Rowan and Martin scoring a combined nine points during the stretch, to cut into the deficit 70-64 with just under three minutes remaining in the game.
After getting behind 79-70 with less than a minute remaining, Rowan hit two-straight threes to get the game within one possession for the first time since early in the first half, but the team failed to bring it any closer, falling 85-78.
Abu was the main offensive force for the Wolfpack Wednesday night, registering a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds to go along with six assists. Despite Abu’s stellar night, Gottfried reminded reporters that it takes more than one guy.
“I thought Malik was terrific, played with a lot of competitive spirit,” Gottfried said, “But our team needs to get better, and I think we can get better.”
The Wolfpack’s next chance to get its first conference win of the year will be against the UNC Tar Heels Saturday at the Dean Smith Center.
Junior guard Anthony 'Cat' Barber gets his shot blocked while going up the basket for a layup in the Wolfpack's 85-78 loss to Florida State on January 13, 2016. Barber made 6 of 14 field goals, 2 of 5 three three-pointers and had a total of 16 points in the loss at PNC Arena.
