NC State basketball quick hits from win over Colgate

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 77-74 win over Colgate at PNC Arena in Raleigh Saturday afternoon.

NC State basketball play of the game

The play of the game came at the 3:57 mark in the second half when redshirt sophomore wing Dereon Seabron came up clutch.

Moving the ball down the court with speed, Seabron was bumped hard but managed to pull off a tough layup at the rim. Seabron would finish the three-point play after the media timeout to give the Pack a 68-64 lead.

NC State basketball highlight of the game

One play, in particular, got the crowd off their feet: freshman guard Terquavion Smith’s chase-down block. With 9:13 to go in the game, at the peak of Colgate’s late push, senior forward Jericole Hellems had a turnover off a bad pass.

Oliver Lynch-Daniels, who had been lighting it up from beyond the arc all game for Colgate, picked up the loose ball and had an open lane in transition. What looked to be an easy two was swatted off the backboard at the very last second by Smith.

Not only was the play a highlight moment, but it briefly preserved NC State’s 2-point lead at 58-56.

NC State basketball player of the game

NC State is just two games into the season, and Seabron has back-to-back double-doubles, giving him three for his career. For the second straight contest, he had a game-high in rebounding (10 boards). He was only one point away from tying junior guard Casey Morsell for game-high in scoring on his way to a career-high 21 points.

Seabron hit tough shots throughout the game, including a late layup with 1:21 to go that gave the Wolfpack the lead at 72-71.

After Colgate guard Tucker Richardson made a three to tie the score at 74-74, head coach Kevin Keatts called a timeout with 8.1 seconds to go and put the ball in Seabron’s hands. He drove inside and was fouled. Stepping to the line with only 2.0 seconds left, Seabron was cool under pressure and made both free throws.

Morsell had high praise for Seabron during his press-game comments noting he, “can guard every position on the court.”

Leading most of a close game

NC State was in control the entire first half. It wasn’t until 13:05 to go in the second half that Colgate earned a lead.

That advantage didn’t last very long, with Smith getting the lead right back for the Wolfpack just 35 seconds later. Colgate kept it close for the majority of the second half, but only led for just 5:08. The Raiders’ largest lead was only by two points, 64-62.

NC State led for 32:46 in the matchup.

Morsell leads clutch shooting

NC State was hot in the first half, making 16-of-30 shots for 53.3 percent. Sophomore guard Cam Hayes was the team’s leading scorer at that point with 10 points after making 5 of 9 shots. Seabron was 4 of 6 before the break, and Morsell was 2 of 3, including 1 of 2 on threes.

The team cooled some after halftime. Hayes was scoreless, and only four Wolfpackers made a basket over the final 20 minutes. Morsell, though, stayed hot.

He made 4 of 6 shots, including 1 of 2 threes, for 15 second-half points on his way to a career-high 22.

Morsell was also 6 of 6 at the free throw line after the break, leading an effort where NC State was 13 of 15 at the charity stripe in the second half.

Overall, NC State was an efficient 49.1-percent shooting and needed it. Colgate was hot from three-point territory, making 12 of 26 from long range.

New bigs

With Manny Bates done for the season, there are a lot of questions about what his backups — sophomores Ebenezer Dowuona and Jaylon Gibson —  had to offer. In his first ever career start, Dowuona showed flashes of what he can bring to the table, displaying a soft touch at the line while making 4 of 6 free throws.

Dowuona and Gibson combined for eight points and five rebounds.

NC State did not play junior forward Greg Gantt, who is recovering from a sports hernia. Redshirt senior guard Thomas Allen made his season debut, but only played three scoreless minutes.

Allen missed the opener due to a one-game suspension by the NCAA.

NC State basketball plus/minus

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) for NC State basketball:

Hellems: +7 (36 minutes played)

Seabron: +7  (35)

Duwuona: +7 (25)

Hayes: +4 (26)

Morsell: +4 (29)

Allen: -2 (3)

Smith: -4 (24)

Freshman guard Breon Pass: -4 (7)

Gibson: -4 (15)

NC State basketball game scores

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Seabron: 19.7

Morsell: 19.5

Smith: 8.2

Hayes: 4.9

Gibson: 4.7

Dowuona: 3.0

Hellems: 1.9

Allen: 0.0

Pass: -1.7

What this NC State basketball win means

The Pack is 2-0 on the season and just added a potentially quality win. Colgate made the NCAA Tournament last year and returned eight of its top nine scorers. They are a strong contender to make it back to the Big Dance from the Patriot League.

NC State improved to 2-0 all-time against the Raiders, having won the prior meeting in 1950. An interesting fact about that 1950-51 Wolfpack squad: it played in both the postseason NCAA and NIT Tournaments that year.

The game was televised online on ACC Network Extra. Throughout the year, we’ll keep track of the Pack’s record on the different channels:

• ACC Network Extra: 2-0

We also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 2-0

Other stats of note

• NC State won the points in the paint, 34-26.
• The Wolfpack more than doubled Colgate’s total fast break points, 15-7.
• The Raiders’ bench outscored the Pack’s reserves, 25-16.
• NC State won the turnover battle 10-6 and converted that into a 15-11 advantage in points off turnovers.
• The Wolfpack edged out the Raiders on the boards 32-28 overall. The Pack narrowly had the advantage on the offensive glass, 10-9. That led to a more decisive 12-4 edge in second-chance points.
• Defensively, NC State had one block and five steals. Colgate had two rejections and three steals.
• NC State led by as much as 10 points.

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