Injury mars NC State basketball win over Coppin State
Historic Reynolds Coliseum is known to get loud enough to hear by the nearby railroad tracks on campus, but at the building stood silent during the second half of the NC State basketball 94-72 win over Coppin State. The only sounds that could be heard were the concerned murmurs and were an emotional super senior forward Dusan Mahorcic.
With NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts there to console Mahorcic, doctors worked on his apparent and potentially significant knee injury. The crowd rose to give Mahorcic a standing ovation as he spurned the use of a wheelchair in favor of walking off, with heavy assistance, the Kay Yow Court at Valvano Arena.
But after that, the energy in the Old Barn waned for a stretch while Coppin State chipped down what had been a 25-point NC State lead at one point down in the first half to 10 points on two occasions.
Eventually, the partisan crowd got back to the highlight feature of the night, the Jarkel Joiner–Terquavion Smith show.
“I thought we were playing a lot better in the second half,” Keatts, who did not like how the Pack closed the first half after letting Coppin State close on a 9-2 run, stated. “Unfortunately, with Dusan’s situation it kind of took the air out a little bit, and then I think we closed the game.”
Smith finished with a game-high 33 points. Joiner was not far behind with 29. No other NC State basketball player reached double digits. Together, Smith and Joiner shot 11 of 19 on three-pointers, while the rest of the team was 2 of 16 beyond the arc.
Smith and Joiner were also a combined 23 of 38 overall from the field, while their teammates were collectively 13 of 31.
On the other end of the floor, Coppin State star super senior guard Sam Sessoms did what he could to keep the Eagles, who fell to 4-7 overall, in the game, making 8 of 17 shots, including 3 of 4 threes, to finish with 24 points and 9 assists with just 3 turnovers.
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“I thought our guards were really special tonight,” Keatts confirmed. “I thought there were three good guards on the floor.”
The performance from the NC State guards was the type that reminded why some Wolfpack fans could dream of having one of the best backcourts in the conference.
When asked if they believed they were the top guard duo in the ACC, Joiner initially hesitated before Smith, smiling, said, “Tell the truth.”
“Most definitely,” Joiner admitted. “We feel like we are hard to stop.”
“I feel like we are the best backcourt in the ACC,” Smith lated added. “It’s going to be hard to stop us especially when we get going.”
“Tonight they were electric. They were really good,” Keatts conceded.
Before NC State, who improved to 8-2 overall with the victory, heads to Miami for an ACC showdown at 2 p.m. Saturday, the attention shifts to how long Mahorcic may be out. Keatts did not have an immediate update after the game, but he reflected back to that moment when he was consoling Mahorcic on the floor.
“I just wanted to keep him calm,” Keatts noted. “A lot of people look at them like my players. I look at them like my kids. … I was there just to calm him down, let him know we were with him.”
