N.C. State senior guard Tony Bethel couldn’t catch Texas guard Kenton Paulino late in Sunday’s game on Paulino’s breakaway layup to give the Longhorns a 60-42 lead.
Such was the battle Bethel and the Wolfpack faced all day after dropping into a 20-5 hole early in Texas’ 75-54 second-round NCAA Tournament victory at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Much like in last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament matchup against second-seeded Connecticut in Worcester, Mass., tenth-seeded State was in its opponent’s backyard with a trip to the second weekend of the tournament on the line.
But unlike last year, the Pack could not knock off the overwhelming favorite as it did in its 65-62 victory against the Huskies last year.
“I think maybe we took some tough shots,” Bennerman said of his team’s inability to hit shots in the second half. “That can always limit your chances of making it. I don’t know. We got some open shots late in the second half, some shots we’re used to taking. They just didn’t fall for us.”
For most of the afternoon, they could not track down Longhorn freshman point guard A.J. Abrams, who scored 16 points after averaging only 6.2 per game coming into the tournament.
“We knew coming in he was a good shooter — he knocked down some tough ones,” Bethel said of Abrams.
State got off to a rocky start, allowing the No. 2 seed Longhorns four three-pointers in the game’s first six minutes to fall behind 16-5 and bring the Texas faithfuls to their feet by the time Pack coach Herb Sendek called a timeout with 14:09 remaining in the opening half.
Senior forward Ilian Evtimov and sophomore forward Andrew Brackman each picked up two early fouls. Meanwhile, the Longhorns pounded the ball inside, and built a 27-13 lead.
The Pack did get started, though, exploding for a 17-5 run, capped by fastbreak layups by freshman guard Courtney Fells and senior guard Cameron Bennerman.
Fells’ score prompted a timeout by Texas coach Rick Barnes, but Bennerman’s brought State to 32-30 just moments after the timeout with 2:09 left in the first half.
On the very next play, Longhorn freshman point guard A.J. Abrams, who Bethel had stolen the ball from on the play before to set up Bennerman’s score, made a three-point basket and was fouled on the play by Bethel.
“I think maybe we got a little bit spread out at times, and they were able to penetrate and then kick out.” Bennerman said. “The game is very simple. I’m sure it was a minor adjustment that needed to be made. We just weren’t able to do it.”
After a television timeout, Abrams made the free throw before Bethel answered with a three-pointer of his own from the corner on an out-of-bounds play with 1:30 left before the break to cut State’s deficit to 36-33.
Abrams would score once more before the half as Texas took a 38-33 lead going into the locker room.
That opening stanza saw the Pack outscore usually high-octane Texas 10-0 on fastbreak points to get back in the game after a 20-5 deficit at the 12:31 mark.
The two teams remained close for the opening minutes of the second half until sophomore center Cedric Simmons’ dunk to pull State back to within five at 42-37.
The Longhorns responded with a quick 7-0 spurt courtesy of two free throws each from P.J. Tucker and LaMarcus Aldridge and a three-pointer by Abrams.
Bethel bounced a three-pointer in to end that run and cut the deficit to 49-40.
Sendek said the inability to hit more shots like that was the difference in the game.
“As for us, the single most important factor was we just had a hard time making some shots,” he said.
Seven more points by Abrams briskly pushed things back in Texas’ direction and helped the Longhorns up their lead to 56-40.
Things kept heading that direction as Texas never looked back in the lopsided victory.
Sendek praised his seniors and their contributions to the program.
“It’s been a real privilege to coach them as well as to coach this entire team,” Sendek said.
