The Wolfpack followed up a conference-opening win over Maryland with an 82-71 loss to Georgia Tech Wednesday night at the RBC Center. The loss snapped the Pack’s six-game winning streak and drops the team’s record to 12-5, 1-1 in the ACC. Tech improved to 8-8 and 1-1 in conference play.

The Jackets took advantage of lights-out shooting and never looked back after a 14-1 run to close out the first half gave them a 40-29 lead. Led by Glen Rice,  Jr ., who scored 13 first-half points and finished with 22, GT shot better than 50 percent from the floor on the night, including 60 percent three-point shooting.

“I think we came out a little soft in the beginning,” junior forward Scott Wood said. “I think we tried to pick it back up, but by then they were already in their groove and already playing well.”

State cut into the double-digit deficit after halftime, briefly cutting the lead to 45-40 with 14 minutes to play before fading down the stretch. Georgia Tech responded with 11 unanswered points during a burst highlighted by sophomore forward C.J. Leslie’s fourth foul of the night. The jacket came off and a technical foul was called on Coach Mark Gottfried after the Pack’s coach voiced his disagreement with a no-call by the referees on a drive by Williams.

“Referees are going to make their calls, coaches are going to talk, you just got to keep your composure and brush it off your shoulder,” Wood said while responding to Gottfried’s technical.

“We didn’t play our best,” senior forward C.J. Williams said. “They played well and we didn’t. You have to give them credit. They made a couple of tough shots. They made contested shots, and that’s all you can ask for, is to make them uncomfortable, but they were able to hit shots and they were able to win the game. We have to get better on the defensive end as a whole.”

Alex Johnson finally stopped the bleeding with a three to make it 56-43, but State was unable to come up with enough stops down the stretch to cut the lead to single digits. 

The next ACC game is on the road against Wake Forest and tipoff is at 8 p.m. on Saturday. Gottfried looks to surpass the disappointment of Wednesday night’s game and to keep the ball rolling, hoping to leave this game behind.

“We didn’t do very many things well; offensively, loose with the basketball and turning it over,” Gottfried said. “I think we can play a lot better than we played tonight so that was disappointing for our side. We can be better; we need to be better.”