NC State basketball quick hits and notes from loss to Wake Forest

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball in its 69-51 loss to Wake Forest in front of 11,635 fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh Wednesday night.

Play Of the Game

What looked to be a tight game until the end got away from NC State in a hurry once Wake Forest senior guard Daivien Williamson got hot down the stretch.

At the 4:45 mark, Williamson hit a corner three to push the lead to 56-51. Just 12 seconds later, after a turnover from NC State redshirt sophomore wing Dereon Seabron, Williamson scored on a fast break layup while being fouled by Pack senior forward Jericole Hellems for a three-point play.

NC State would never recover. Wake Forest closed the game on a 19-2 run.

Highlight Of the Game

The most energized the crowd would be was when Seabron used his trademark aggression pushing the basketball up the court and drove all the way for a layup to tie the score at 45-45 with 9:11 left.

This would cap off a 13-4 Seabron vs Wake run that started at the 13:52 mark, when Seabron scored his first bucket of the second half.

This would also be the first tie in the game since it was 2-2 at the beginning of the game.

NC State Basketball Player Of The Game

There weren’t many options for this category considering the struggles from the rest of the team, but that doesn’t defeat the fact that State was in this game solely because of Seabron.

Seabron was his typical self, doing what he does best: scoring in bunches and rebounding well. Finishing with a game-high 22 points and seven boards after only scoring five points in the first half, Seabron was a rare bright spot for NC State on Wednesday.

Seabron Showed Out

It was not the prettiest start in this outing for Seabron, but he turned it around in the second half.

With the rest of the team struggling to find their offense, Seabron took it upon himself to put the team on his back, accounting for 19 of the Wolfpacks’ 23 second-half points. He also finished with seven rebounds. The only negative was shooting 6 for 10 at the free throw line.

It continued a trend for Seabron this year. He is averaging 6.6 points in the first half of games and 11.5 points in the second.

Seabron has scored 20 points or more in ten of the 25 games for NC State.

Terquavion Smith And Jericole Hellems Struggle

What has been a recurring trend all season long looks to have done it again. When NC State’s big three of Seabron, Hellems and freshman guard Terquavion Smith aren’t all clicking at the same time, it is tough to win games.

Unfortunately for the Pack, both Smith and Hellems struggled Wednesday, combining for 17 points on 6-of-28 shooting from the field. The two would only combine for two points in the second half.

For Smith, he shot 3 of 16 from the field and 2 of 10 on threes for eight points. Wednesday was his worst shooting performance since scoring four points and shooting 1 of 9 in the first matchup with Notre Dame. This is just the third time in conference play that Smith hasn’t scored in double digits for NC State

Hellems made 3 of 12 shots and 1 of 7 three pointers and finished with nine points. Over the course of the last three games, Hellems is averaging 4.0 points per game while shooting 4 of 24 from the field and 2 of 13 from beyond the arc.

Nobody on the NC State roster outside of Seabron scored in double figures. Outside of State’s big three, the rest of the team scored just 12 total points.

The last made shot of the game by anybody on NC State’s roster came with 15:59 to go off a two-hand dunk from sophomore center Jaylon Gibson that was assisted by Seabron.

Still Struggling To Close Games

It is like deja vu all over again for the Pack. There have been several games this season where the game looks like it might come down to the wire, but quickly slips away from NC State’s grasp.

Prior to Wake’s decisive run over the final six minutes, NC State was trailing by one point at 51-50.

Other examples of winnable games getting away from the Pack include:

• Against Louisville in the ACC opener for both teams, NC State had a 68-64 lead with three minutes left but failed to score again while the Cards ended the contest on a 9-0 run for a 73-68 triumph.

• Playing No. 1 Purdue in Brooklyn, NC State led 54-41 with nine minutes to go and by 12 with six minutes left at 58-46. The Boilermakers ended regulation on a 20-8 run to force overtime, tying the contest with 21 seconds left.

• Poor free throw shooting doomed NC State against Richmond in Charlotte. Going 15 of 26, or 57.7 percent, in the second half at the line played a role in the Spiders ending the contest on an 11-4 run to turn a 72-70 Richmond advantage with three minutes left into an 83-74 defeat.

• Up five at 73-68 with seven minutes remaining at Miami, NC State was outscored 18-2 over the next five-plus minutes in what would be a 91-83 defeat.

• NC State lead Florida State 58-51 approaching 11 minutes to go, but the Seminoles had a 16-4 run to take a 67-62 advantage with 5:30 to go. This time, the Wolfpack battled back to retake the lead twice, including with 1:51 remaining at 75-74.

Florida State however would go on a 9-3 run before Smith’s three at the buzzer set the final score of 83-81.

• Against Clemson at home, a tight game most of the second half saw the Tigers leading NC State 55-53 approaching six minutes to go when Clemson went on a 9-2 run over the next almost 3.5 minutes to seize control.

• A pair of free throws by Seabron with 1:57 closed NC State to within a point of Syracuse at home, 83-82, but the Orange would then hit a crucial three to spark a 6-0 run to end the contest.

NC State Basketball Plus/Minus

Here is the plus/minus for each player for NC State basketball:

Sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona:  0 (10 minutes played)

Freshman guard Breon Pass: 0 (1)

Fifth-year senior guard Thomas Allen: -1 (2)

Junior guard Casey Morsell: -9 (29)

Sophomore guard Cam Hayes: -12 (20)

Smith: -15 (29)

Seabron: -17 (37)

Hellems: -18 (40)

Gibson: -18 (30)

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: 16.3

Dowuona: 5.7

Gibson: 5.3

Hayes: 1.7

Allen: 0

Pass: 0

Hellems: -0.8

Smith: -1.2

Morsell: -2.3

What The NC State Basketball Loss Means

The Pack is 10-15 on the season and 3-11 in the ACC, while Wake Forest improves to 20-5 and 13-1.

The defeat clinches what will be the first losing season in the ACC in Kevin Keatts’ five-year tenure at NC State.

Wake Forest becomes the first team in the ACC with 20 wins, improving to 20-5 and 10-4 in the conference.

NC State leads the all-time series 146-107, but it snapped a four-game home winning streak against the Deacs. The Pack is 17-6 all-time against Wake Forest at PNC Arena.

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

• ACC Network Extra: 3-1

• FloSports: 1-0

• RSN: 2-2

• ESPNU: 1-1

• ACC Network: 3-6

• ABC: 0-1

• CBS Sports Network: 0-1

• Big Ten Network: 0-1

• ESPN2: 0-2

We also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 5-1

• December: 2-5

• January: 3-6

• February: 0-3

Other stats of note

• NC State won the turnover margin 12-11 and slightly outscored Wake Forest off those turnovers 9-7.
• State edged Wake in the fast break, outscoring them 13-11.
• The Wolfpack and Deacons were evenly matched in total rebounds at 35 a piece, but NC State had a 11-3 edge on the offensive glass (partially due to Pack shooting just 32.2 percent and WFU making 54.0 percent). State also made the most of their second-chance opportunities, outscoring Wake 7-2.
• The Demon Deacons’ reserves beat out the Pack’s bench, 13-8.
• Defensively, NC State had two blocks and three steals. Wake Forest rejected three shots and stole the ball eight times.
• The Deacs led for 33:55, and NC State for just 33 seconds. Wake’s largest lead was 18 to close out the game, and the Wolfpack’s was two.

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