The Wolfpack men’s basketball team wasn’t necessarily in the position it expected itself to be. It came into the tournament as a five-seed after dropping its last regular season matchup to Florida State and Virginia’s win against Maryland. But the Pack was able to make the most of its misfortune of not receiving a first-round bye in the ACC Tournament. It opened the postseason by defeating Virginia Tech handily, 80-63.
In their previous meeting, the Hokies took the Pack to the edge of a loss. State edged out a slim victory, 90-86, in overtime.
The game remained close for the majority of the first half. The two teams exchanged the lead a total of 10 times, but State was able to break away late in the half. An alley-oop from junior guard Lorenzo Brown to freshman forward T.J. Warren gave the Wolfpack momentum going into the halftime break with the score at 38-32.
State started the second half on a 9-0 run and pushed its lead to 15 points with 12 minutes remaining in the game. The Wolfpack’s largest lead of the game was 21 points.
Brown played stifling defense on Hokie guard Erick Green, the nation’s leading scorer, in his final game of the season. Green was held to 15 points in the game and only six in the second half.
“I basically fed off the energy of my teammates, they did a great job of helping me off the screen and driving,” Brown said.
“I thought we did a much better job of helping him than we did the first game we played Virginia Tech, but Lorenzo Brown made up his mind he was going to do a good job and I thought he did,” head coach Mark Gottfried said.
Brown also had 12 assists, which is the most by an N.C. State player in the ACC Tournament. It also tied the sixth-best mark in an ACC Tournament game.
Senior forward Richard Howell was a man on a mission in Greensboro Coliseum. He posted a double-double of 22 points and 12 rebounds. He led the charge in what was a dominating performance by the Pack on the glass. State outrebounded the Hokies, 40-25. “I thought Richard was, as he always is for us, he’s Mr. Reliable, dependable, he’s there every night,” Gottfried said.
With the win, State advances to take on the fourth-seeded Virginia Cavaliers in the quarterfinal round of the tournament. The ‘Hoos defeated the Pack, 58-55, in the teams’ only meeting on January 29.
However, State was shorthanded in the previous game in Charlottesville, Va., as Brown sustained an ankle injury early in the game,. Coach Gottfried also said junior forward Calvin Leslie was sick before the game. Despite the illness, Leslie scored 20 points and added 14 rebounds.
Leslie said the Pack didn’t get it done defensively in Charlottesville. “I’m looking at it that game is in the past, we’re no longer focused on that game. We’re on to the next one, so we have to do what we have to do against Virginia,” Leslie said.
