As 17.5-point favorites with a 93.7% chance to win on its home court, a victory for NC State men’s basketball against Georgia Tech seemed nearly inevitable.

But nothing is that simple.

Instead of handling business as it was supposed to, the Wolfpack (12-6, 3-2 ACC) floundered under the bright lights and fell 78-74 to the Yellow Jackets (11-8, 2-4 ACC) as they got their first road win of the season.

“They played harder than us,” said senior guard Quadir Copeland. “We couldn’t match the energy since the beginning of the game, so we tried to come out with fake energy, and they outpowered us. Simple as that.”

NC State came out of the gates hot in its last win against Florida State, scoring the first 11 points of the game. But on Saturday, the Wolfpack lost its spark and ferocity that it had just a week prior. Though it shot out to an early six-point lead and forced four turnovers on Georgia Tech’s first four possessions, the Pack quickly surrendered a 12-0 run and put itself in a hole.

“We did the start of the [practice] game and had to restart the game on Tuesday because we couldn’t start well against the scout team,” said head coach Will Wade. “So that’s problematic, and that carries over.”

But it wasn’t just its early game intensity that was missing; the intensity on the glass was nowhere to be found. NC State lost the rebound margin 34-43, simply unable to match the effort from the Yellow Jackets.

“They have toughness, they have grit,” said Georgia Tech head coach Damon Stoudamire. “But we talked about finishing plays, and that’s what we did. We boxed out, we rebounded with two hands and we had five guys rebounding.”

The lack of effort on the boards translated poorly on offense, where the Wolfpack shot just 11-for-29 from inside the arc. Missing open looks and finishes that it usually converts, NC State looked lost anytime it had the ball on offense. Points were already hard to come by, and the Pack’s misses on open looks were simply the final nails in the coffin.

“We struggled rebounding, but we also struggled finishing,” Wade said. “We missed a ton of layups at the rim. Now, their length had something to do with that, but in the second half alone, we missed five basically point-blank layups. They made it difficult for us and they were very physical with us.”

Just when it seemed like senior forward Darrion Williams — the Pack’s presumed No. 1 option — was out of his shooting slump, he fell right back into old patterns. Williams shot just 2-for-11 from the field, and while he provided in other ways with four rebounds, five assists and just one turnover, you look for more from your go-to guy.

“I thought Jaeden Mustaf did about as good a job as I’ve seen on Darrion Williams,” Stoudamire said. “He was physical, he was tough, he didn’t back down, he didn’t go for pump fakes. The biggest thing, he didn’t put him at the line, and that was big for us.”

Williams wasn’t the only one who struggled. Sharpshooting sophomore guard Paul McNeil Jr. couldn’t consistently find the mark, finishing with 12 points on 3-of-11 from the field, and although senior guard Quadir Copeland finished with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, his 11 missed shots and three turnovers helped sway the game in favor of Georgia Tech.

“We just haven’t been able to hit our stride and have any consistency,” Wade said. “That’s been a real, real challenge. Usually, we’ve had teams that’ll reel off eight, 10, 12 straight [wins] almost every year, and that ain’t gonna be this group.”

The upset goes down as a Quad 4 loss, a detrimental stamp on a resume that already didn’t have much going for it in the first place. No statement wins, just squandered ranked losses.

“Our resume wasn’t great to begin with, but the best part of our resume is we didn’t have any bad stuff on it,” Wade said. “It was pretty clean. We didn’t have any Quad 1 wins, but we didn’t have any Quad 3 or 4 losses either. We had a bunch of Quad 2 wins. Now, the best part of our resume is blemished.”

The road ahead doesn’t get any easier as the Wolfpack travels south to take on No. 22 Clemson on Tuesday, Jan. 20. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ACC Network.