DJ Burns’ last-second layup propels NC State to road win at Notre Dame

When in doubt, get the ball to graduate forward DJ Burns. At least, that was NC State’s strategy at Notre Dame in a tight game in the final 15 seconds, and it paid off for the visitors. 

Burns received the in-bounds pass from junior guard Jayden Taylor with three seconds left in the paint. He flipped his hips, made a pivot and had a wide-open step through layup to put the Pack ahead with 0.6 seconds left. 

That basket, which may have been one of the easiest NC State had on the night, gave NC State its first lead of the contest and it held on to beat the Irish 54-52 at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, Ind. on Wednesday night. 

“I wanted, the entire time, to get the ball to DJ Burns,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said on the postgame radio broadcast. “We got what we wanted. He played right behind [Burns], he threw the ball, and man, he just made a great play.”

Burns, who scored the Wolfpack’s last two baskets to tie and take the lead, led the way with 13 points, while Taylor had 12 points and DJ Horne chipped in with 8. 

While NC State ended up with the victory, it did not shoot the ball well. The Pack shot 28.8% from the field, including 22.9% in the second half, but it was able to gut out the win to earn its second straight ACC road victory in league play. 

The Pack was able to get 17 offensive rebounds, but it only had 8 second-chance points and just 6 fast-break points in the victory. Despite the off shooting night, NC State was able to chip away at Notre Dame’s lead, and it eventually paid off. 

“We talked about just hanging around, just hang around, give us the opportunity to win the game,” Keatts said. “We just hung in there and found a way to win.”

But before the Pack finished the game in highlight-reel fashion, the first 39 minutes were not pretty on the offensive end.

NC State’s offense was all out of sorts for the first 12 minutes of the contest. The Pack struggled to knock down shots from the field, which resulted in a 5-of-19 start from the field for the red and white. 

The Wolfpack’s offensive struggles appeared to be caused by a lack of ball movement, it appeared, and it did not allow NC State to find the shots it wanted to. That led to 7 points in the first 10 minutes for the red and white. But eventually, the Pack started to find a rhythm on the offensive end. 

NC State trailed by as many as 12 in the first 20 minutes before it went on an 8-0 run in a two-minute stretch late in the opening period to make the deficit 4 points. NC State struggled to hit 3-pointers in the half, 2-of-11, so it went inside the arc with mid-range jumpers to spark the run. 

As the Pack went on a scoring advantage, its defense clamped down. NC State held Notre Dame without a point for more than four minutes to claw its way back into the game. 

NC State’s offensive stumbles in the first half were not pretty. The Pack was 11-of-31 from the field in the first 20 minutes, including 2-for-11 from beyond the arc. That, compared to Notre Dame’s 12-of-24 from the field and 6-for-13 from three, was not a recipe for success for the Wolfpack.

“Give credit to Notre Dame, they came out and punched us in the face a little bit,” Keatts said. “We didn’t do a great job of following the scouting report in the first half.”

But despite the fact Notre Dame was hot from distance, NC State’s defense clamped down on that in the second half. It only allowed one made triple in the final 20 minutes, which helped the Wolfpack continue to hang around even though it struggled to make shots.

NC State made just three field goals in its first 20 attempts of the last 20 minutes, but the Wolfpack’s defense came through time and time again. The Pack went on an 8-0 run to close out the game, while it held the Irish scoreless for the final 2:10 to skate past Notre Dame. 

“I thought everybody came in and gave everything that they had,” Keatts said. “We didn’t have it offensively, but we found a way to win defensively.”

NC State returns to PNC Arena to host Virginia on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.