The NC State men’s basketball team returned to its usual home of PNC Arena Thursday night and picked up its first 30-plus point blowout of the season, 97-64, against Appalachian State.
The Wolfpack (8-2) put together a well-balanced offensive performance with six different players scoring in double figures, led by freshman guard Dennis Smith Jr, who picked up 22 points, six assists and two steals in just 26 minutes of action. Freshman forward Omer Yurtseven had a successful debut, after missing the first nine games of the season due to an NCAA suspension involving eligibility concerns, scoring 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting and grabbing four boards.
“I thought Omer did really well,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “Like every player, I like to go home and watch the tape and dissect it, like a frog. He did good; he could rebound a little bit better, I liked the fact that he had the three. He just needs to get comfortable. The more he plays, the more he gets comfortable and learns how to defend here in the United States, I think the sky’s the limit.”
On top of the team’s impressive shooting, 52 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range, NC State had perhaps its best defensive performance of the season, holding the Mountaineers (3-6) to 32 percent shooting and just 4 of 29 from three.
Junior forward Abdul-Malik Abu and redshirt senior guard Terry Henderson each had 11 points, three rebounds and two assists. Freshman forward Ted Kapita scored 10 points on 3 of 5 shooting and pulled down five boards while sophomore Maverick Rowan added 13 points.
Following a lackluster performance Saturday against Tennessee State in Reynolds Coliseum, the Wolfpack opened against Appalachian with more energy and a better sense of urgency, jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the game’s first four minutes and change.
The NC State defense held Appalachian to 0 for 6 from the field and forced three turnovers before Mountaineers sophomore forward Tyrell Johnson put his team on the board with a jumper.
Still holding an 8-point lead with less than 12 minutes remaining in the first half, the Pack went on a run that excited the PNC Arena crowd and doubled the lead. A three-pointer from sophomore Maverick Rowan was followed up by a block on the other end by redshirt sophomore guard Torin Dorn, who then ran the length of the court and hit a three of his own. Shortly after that sequence, Yurtseven scored the first points of his collegiate year to give NC State a 24-8 lead.
“Probably the cheers, after you’ve scored your first point,” Yurtseven said. “That was the best part of this game.”
In the later stages of the first, NC State went on yet another run, this time outscoring Appalachian State 14-3 over a 3:39 period. The run was led by two freshman, Yurtseven, who hit his first collegiate three and added a jumper, and forward Ted Kapita, who added six points of his own over the stretch.
The Mountaineers closed out the final 45 seconds scoring four points to bring the halftime score to 48-28, the Wolfpack’s largest lead at the break this season.
NC State headed to the locker room shooting an impressive 54 percent from the field, including a perfect 4 of 4 from behind the arc, while Appalachian State shot just 32 percent and made only 2 of 12 from 3-point range.
The Pack picked up where it left off to begin the second half, starting with a 15-4 run over the first 4:11 to extend the NC State lead to 63-32. Smith Jr. was unstoppable during the stretch, scoring 11 of those 15 points.
“I got to the free throw line,” Smith Jr. said of his game. “Like I said, it starts with defense. We had a lot of energy on defense, so I was able to get out in transition. Our bigs made some great outlet passes; the refs were blowing the whistle pretty well tonight.”
The Mountaineers responded with a 17-7 run of their own over the next five-plus minutes to get them as close as within 21 points at the midway point of the half, but the Pack answered with an 11-1 run highlighted by an Abu and-1 dunk that electrified the crowd and made it 81-50.
The two teams battled back and forth the remainder of the game with the lead always hovering around 30 points, eventually allowing the Wolfpack walk ons to enter the game. The Pack continues its out of conference schedule Sunday at 2 p.m. against Fairfield inside PNC Arena.
