In another must-win matchup for NC State men’s basketball to keep its season alive, the Wolfpack stepped up and did its job, sending Syracuse packing in a dominant win.
After coming up short against Syracuse (20-12, 11-9 ACC) a month ago, the Pack (19-14, 9-11 ACC) didn’t repeat the same mistakes in the postseason. The red-and-white exited the first half with a three-point lead and proceeded to go on an absolute heater early in the second half, going on a 19-2 run.
Compared to previous matchups, the Wolfpack and Orange struggled offensively in the first half; each team barely eclipsed the 30-point mark by halftime. Leading points in the first half — and the overall game — was junior guard Jayden Taylor, who finished the contest with 18 points and nine rebounds. Taylor is pacing the Pack in scoring in the ACC tournament so far.
Taylor has stepped up for the Pack while graduate guard DJ Horne has been suffering from an injury that kept him out of the Wolfpack’s first tournament game against Louisville. Horne came off the bench tonight with questions over whether he would play, logging 20 minutes and 16 points.
What enabled NC State to go on a run and outscore Syracuse by such a wide margin was its tight defense. The Wolfpack scored 30 points off 19 turnovers as it capitalized on every mistake the Orange made. A big part of these turnovers came from steals, where Horne contributed four to the team’s 11.
Arguably the Pack’s most dominant player on the floor was junior forward Mohamed Diarra. The big man battled for rebounds all game and came away with 14, the highest by an NC State player in the ACC tournament since 2014.
Quickly after grabbing rebounds, Diarra got the ball into the hands of scorers like Casey Morsell, giving the dynamic forward a game-leading six assists. Although only scoring 6 points in the game, Morsell tallied his 1,000th point in Wolfpack uniform and became the 57th player in program history to do so.
Seventeen of the Pack’s 40 rebounds came off the offensive glass and gave NC State numerous second-chance points. When the red-and-white can get rebounds and take advantage of second chances, it can mask times when not every shot is going in.
Graduate guard Michael O’Connell finished with 16 points and went a perfect 3-3 from beyond the arc. O’Connell facilitated plays at the point whenever the Wolfpack needed to set themselves up on offensive possessions but also wasn’t afraid to drive to the basket, where he drew fouls on multiple occasions.
With Diarra active on the boards and drawing multiple defenders inside the paint, he could kick the ball outside the paint where graduate forward DJ Burns took advantage. Burns continued to set up in the post on the left side of the basket and draw favorable matchups. Burns was the fourth Pack player to finish with over 15 points in an all-around team effort to move to the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.
NC State will face the two-seeded Duke Blue Devils on Thursday, March 14, at 7 p.m. in another must-win, not just for the players, but potentially head coach Kevin Keatts.
