The NC State men’s basketball team used a dominant second half to pick up its first Power Five win of the season Wednesday night at PNC Arena, defeating Wisconsin 69-54 in the ACC-Big 10 challenge.
Sophomore forward Jericole Hellems had a career night with 23 points, including four made 3-pointers as the Wolfpack (6-2, 0-1 ACC) ran past the Badgers (4-4) in the second half to enact its revenge after last season’s heartbreaking, and possibly NCAA Tournament-deciding loss in Madison.
“I thought our guys competed for 40 minutes,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “I do think that we did some good things.”
Both teams started out slow on the offensive end, with NC State making two of its first seven field goals and Wisconsin starting 1 for 8 from the field.
The Wolfpack fired up the already raucous crowd with aggressive defense that turned into easy offense. Redshirt freshman center Manny Bates recorded two blocks on one possession that led to a fast-break layup by Hellems, and then two possessions later, a steal by redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels led to a wide-open two-handed slam in his first start of the season.
Wisconsin guard Brad Davison, public enemy No. 1 of NC State fans for his five charges taken during the game in Madison last season, silenced the crowd at PNC Arena with a 3-pointer at the top of the key for his only points of the game. This was the start of an 8-0 run from the Badgers in the middle of the first half. Hellems would answer with a 3-pointer of his own to give NC State a 19-17 lead at the under-eight media timeout.
The always electric Bates was inserted back into the game and made an instant impact with a put-back layup while getting fouled. The Fayetteville native was his typical self inside, affecting Wisconsin shots all night long.
“We just had to come out and fight,” Bates said. “Wisconsin is a great basketball team, and it’s just our mentality; we’ve just got to fight every time we’re on the court, and it showed today.”
After Nate Reuvers slammed home a dunk for Wisconsin with a few seconds left in the first half, Johnson dribbled the ball to half court and banked home a prayer shot to give the Wolfpack a small two-point edge at halftime, 32-30.
“I did a great job [right before] halftime,” Keatts deadpanned sarcastically. “I drew up an unbelievable play for Markell to hit that 3 to go into halftime. That was probably the best one that I drew up in a few years, and he did a tremendous job making that shot.”
Hellems found his touch quickly, scoring a team-high 11 points in the first half on 4-of-6 shooting, including two 3-pointers. He was the only NC State scorer in double digits at the intermission.
“I’m proud of Jericole,” Keatts said. “He’s been the guy for the last three games who has played with a lot of energy and done a lot of good things.”
Redshirt senior C.J. Bryce, who came off the bench for the first time this season, made all three field-goal attempts for six points in 16 minutes of action in the first half.
Hellems right out of halftime was still the go-to man for NC State, scoring the Wolfpack’s first eight points by knocking down two 3-pointers and nailing a turnaround jumper from the wing.
Junior guard Braxton Beverly got in on the action with six straight points to give NC State a 48-39 lead, its biggest of the game. It was Beverly’s first points since early in the first half.
“Cole was on fire,” Daniels said. “When a guy’s got it going like that, you try to get him the ball as much as possible. He was locked in and helped us win, so it’s good.”
NC State pushed its lead to 14 points late into the second half, but Wisconsin did not give up, as it picked up its defensive pressure and scored five straight points to bring the Wolfpack lead back down to single digits.
For the next five minutes, the two teams traded buckets, but made free throws by Daniels and another bucket from Hellems pushed the lead back up to 13 at the last media timeout.
Wisconsin had its chances to make the game closer, but missed free throws haunted the Badgers in the second half, as they were only 4 of 12 from the charity strike in the second period.
Johnson became the third NC State double-digit scorer by drilling his second 3-pointer of the game and ending any threat of a Wisconsin comeback, pushing the lead to 16. Johnson finished with 12 points and four rebounds but struggled from the field again, hitting just five of his 15 shots.
The Wolfpack will be back in action Saturday for an ACC matchup on the road at Wake Forest. The game will be streamed live on the ACC Network, with tip-off scheduled for 2 p.m. Follow @TechSports on Twitter for live updates.
Redshirt freshman forward Manny Bates attacks the Wisconsin defense on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at PNC Arena. The Wolfpack won 69-54.
