The NC State men’s basketball team dropped its fourth straight home game on Wednesday, Jan. 19, a close 62-59 loss against Virginia Tech.
A slow start to the game for the Wolfpack (9-10, 2-6 ACC) offense proved to be too much for it to come back from during NC State’s second matchup against the Hokies (10-7, 2-4 ACC) this season.
“This team is fighting their ass off, and it’s about four or five plays in that game that we could get back [and] it’s probably a different outcome,” said head coach Kevin Keatts.
Senior forward Jericole Hellems led the Wolfpack with 15 points, while freshman guard Terquavion Smith scored 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
NC State started off cold from the field, missing its first nine shots and going down 15 points early. It was not until over seven minutes into the game, when sophomore forward Jaylon Gibson made a layup, that the Wolfpack put the ball in the basket.
“We came out and wasn’t hitting our shots,” said redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron. “On the defensive end we were blowing too many assignments, giving guys open looks and even just letting them drive to the paint and get easy scores at the basket.”
From that point on, it was just damage control until the Wolfpack could make adjustments at the intermission. Thanks to some much-needed offensive help off the bench from junior guard Casey Morsell, who had eight points at the break, NC State found itself only down 35-21 at halftime.
“One of the bright spots … Casey Morsell, I thought played really well on both ends of the floor,” Keatts said. “He gave us a different dimension. Our guys are fighting.”
In the first 20 minutes, NC State was abysmal from behind the arc, shooting 2 of 13. Luckily for it, Virginia Tech was not much better as it shot 3 of 13 from downtown. Unsurprisingly, the Hokies dominated the glass, out-rebounding NC State 20-11 in the first half.
Thankfully for Wolfpack fans, NC State started the second half looking like a completely different team than at tip-off to give itself a chance to make a comeback. Making seven of its first 11 field goals in the half, including three 3-pointers, NC State found itself down just seven points with 13:37 remaining in the game.
Smith and Hellems became more assertive offensively to keep NC State close and keep PNC Arena invested in the game.
Smith made his fourth 3-pointer to cut the lead to six points, but right after, sophomore guard Cam Hayes picked up a technical foul. A made free throw followed by a layup for the Hokies pushed the lead back to nine.
NC State kept up the intensity on both sides of the ball and went on a 7-0 run to get within two points with 5:31 remaining, forcing a Virginia Tech timeout.
Unfortunately for the Wolfpack, it went nearly four minutes without a score, allowing the Hokies to extend their lead back to seven points. However, six straight points from Seabron, including a breakaway dunk, put NC State back to within one point of Virginia Tech with 20 seconds left.
With the Wolfpack forced to foul to get the ball back, Hokie guard Sean Pedulla drained two bonus free throws to give his team a three-point lead with 12 seconds left.
On the Wolfpack’s final possession Smith attempted a 3-pointer from the top of the key, but it drew iron as time expired.
“When you play a team a second time, it is always tougher to beat them,” Morsell said. “You could tell [Virginia Tech] had been watching film, really locked in on scouting and had learned from their mistakes the first game. At the end of the day, we are in positions to win these games, we just have to close them out.”
NC State is back in action Saturday, Jan. 22 against Virginia at PNC Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. with the game being televised on the ACC Network.
