NC State basketball’s defensive identity shines through in recent wins 

Just moments after NC State took its first lead of the contest with a little more than two minutes left in the game against Wake Forest on Tuesday night, the Pack needed a stop — desperately. 

The red and white surged back to jump in front of the Demon Deacons for the first time in the game after trailing for the first 35-plus minutes thanks to its defense. And it needed one more play from its back court to send the Wolfpack over the top. 

Well, luckily for NC State, the Pack’s identity has become a blue-collar defensive team. So with one of the biggest possessions of the night in front of the Wolfpack defense, its lockdown specialist rose to the challenge to win the ball back for the home squad. 

Junior guard Jayden Taylor, a Butler transfer, usually guards the team’s best scorer. He was matched up with Wake Forest’s Kevin “Boopie” Miller, who has shot the ball at a 47.7% clip this season. Miller dribbled to the left wing and tried to look for someone to pass to, but Taylor pounced and knocked the ball loose. 

From there, it was a fight to the hardwood to corral the loose ball. Taylor came up with it and he called a timeout. NC State was able to turn that into a 12-6 run to seal the contest and give the Pack its fifth ACC victory in six tries this season. 

“It’s hard to explain, man,” Taylor said in the locker room afterwards. “We just play with energy. That’s all it really was. The momentum, you could feel it really shift to our end. … That’s how we’re supposed to play defense: we pressure, we get after you — we make it hard.”

Taylor’s highlight reel steal was just one piece of the Wolfpack’s defensive intensity against Wake Forest, and it signaled a piece of growth from the squad. 

NC State did not make a single 3-pointer against the Demon Deacons, but that did not appear to impact the team’s defensive intensity. That was a similar case in the Wolfpack’s gritty 54-52 win at Notre Dame on Jan. 3, but the team’s offensive struggles seemed to affect its defense in the 67-54 loss to North Carolina on Jan. 10. 

But that is behind the Wolfpack, and the red and white’s defense has become the team’s calling card. 

“If you shoot the ball better, you give yourself a chance to win,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “But where we’re growing at is that we’re not relying so much on our offense. On nights where our offense doesn’t go, we’re trying to find some ways to get something off our defense and get some easy baskets. I think that’s where we’re maturing at.”

NC State was able to force 16 Wake Forest turnovers, which the Pack turned into 14 points. In a game that was decided by seven points, that is a key swing that the red and white have been able to take advantage of throughout the season, but it has been up and down in ACC play. 

Not anymore. It has scored 14 points off opposing teams’ errors in back-to-back games, wins at Louisville and against Wake Forest, in league play for the first time since the Pack’s ACC slate began.

Turnovers that lead to offense help, but the Pack’s defense showed more improvement mid-game against the Demon Deacons, too. Wake Forest shot 53.8% from the field in the opening 20 minutes, but NC State limited it to just 33.3% from the field in the second half. 

NC State’s defense is sixth in the ACC in points allowed (69.1), fifth in steals (133/7.82 per game) and second in turnover margin (+4.13) this season. 

The past two victories have been propelled by the defense, including a 12-0 start in the first four minutes at Louisville, and the Wolfpack team knows that end of the floor can set the tone for NC State no matter if its offense is rolling or not. 

“That’s our identity,” NC State graduate guard DJ Horne said of the team’s defense after the Wake Forest win. “We try to dictate the game knowing that if we’re going to win, it’s gonna start with defense. … I don’t think we hit any threes the entire game but we still managed to win that game and put up 80-plus points. It shows how whenever our shots aren’t falling we’ve really got to rely on our defense.”