NC State basketball quick hits and notes from win at Louisville

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball in its 79-63 win at Louisville in front of 11,973 fans at KFC Yum! Center in Louisville on Wednesday evening.

Play Of The Game

Louisville made numerous charges at NC State in the second half, at one point even making 11 of 12 shots.

However, the farthest down it whittled down the Wolfpack’s eight-point halftime advantage was at five points when it was 54-49 following Cards’ junior guard El Ellis’ made three-pointer with 9:02 left.

That’s when Wolfpack freshman guard Terquavion Smith made the first of two straight big baskets. His first was a running shot to complete a drive, and then after Louisville freshman guard Mason Faulkner made 1 of 2 free throws, Smith drained a huge three-pointer with 8:47 left to put the Pack up 59-50.

Louisville never was closer than six points the rest of the evening.

Highlight Of The Game

Louisville had a chance to set up for the last scoring opportunity of the first half, but instead Faulkner tried to score on a drive in transition with about 14 seconds left.

His left-handed attempt was easily swatted away by NC State freshman forward Ernest Ross, picked up by Pack sophomore guard Cam Hayes and relayed down court to redshirt sophomore wing Dereon Seabron, who was by himself for an uncontested dunk that gave the Pack a 35-27 halftime lead.

NC State Basketball Player Of The Game

Apparently, it does not take long for Smith to get over a tough performance.

And equally apparent, he enjoys playing against Louisville’s version of the pack line defense.

After going 0 for 7 from the field, all three-point attempts, in the loss at home to Clemson Saturday and scoring just two points, Smith made 9 of 13 shots, including 6 of 9 three-pointers, at Louisville, to finish with 24 points, a new best for Smith in his six ACC games.

Some of his baskets, as ACC Network analyst Dan Bonner noted, were “unguardable.”

The six threes were one off the seven he made vs. Florida State for a career-high, and the nine made field goals matched the second highest total in a game for Smith with the season-opener against Bucknell. He shot 12 of 24 from the field in the loss to Wright State.

In two games against Louisville, Smith shot 16 of 23 from the field (69.6 percent) and 9 of 14 on three pointers (64.3 percent) while scoring a total of 41 points.

Smith is now averaging 14.4 points per game. The record for a freshman is Dennis Smith Jr.’s 18.1 points in 2016-17, although technically that was negated by the recent IARP ruling. Next is Brandon Costner’s 16.8 points in 2006-07, followed by J.J. Hickson’s 14.8 in 2007-08.

Smith has 245 points overall on the year. The record for a rookie in one season is Costner’s 605. Hickson is third at 458 points.

Hot-Shooting Pack

This has not been a good-shooting NC State basketball team, but it has found a way to still average a respectable 76.1 points per game.

The team shooting average of 41.6 percent on the season coming into Wednesday was the worst since the 1993-94 squad that shot 41.1 percent, and that team was the worst since the 1959-60 team made 39.7 percent.

At Louisville, the Pack shot 32 of 57 from the field, or 56.1 percent, and made 12 of 25 three-pointers, or 48.0 percent. In addition to Smith, senior forward Jericole Hellems made 5 of 7 threes, which was one off the six he made in a win over Louisiana Tech for a career-high in treys in a game.

That victory over LaTech was one of only two prior games this year where the Wolfpack made more than 50.0 percent of its shots. NC State connected on 51.6 percent against the Bulldogs, and it made 51.9 percent in a home loss to Florida State.

Thus Wednesday represented a new season-best shooting percentage, and the 12 threes matched the FSU contest for the most in a game.

Controlling The Game

Louisville took an 18-15 lead when fifth-year senior big man Malik Williams made one of two free throws with 8:00 minutes left in the first half.

That’s when the Wolfpack uncorked a 16-0 run in less than three minutes to take a 31-18 advantage, and the closest that Louisville would get the rest of the way is five points.

A late 13-3 run provided the Pack with an 18-point lead with less than 30 seconds to go. The final result was Louisville’s third-most lopsided at KFC Yum! Center, which opened in 2010.

NC State led for 28:50 in the game. It continues a pattern for the Wolfpack, who has led for more of the game than its opponents in four of the past five ACC contests.

In the two league games that the opponent had the lead longer, NC State still owned the advantage for 15:54 and 13:56 respectively in those contests.

Mixing It Up

Head coach Kevin Keatts joked in his postgame Zoom with the media that he suspected NC State basketball fans had a heart attack out of shock when his team opened up in the zone defense.

Keatts ironically used a zone in a loss to Louisville on Dec. 4. He did it one possession and the Cards hit a three, prompting Keatts to quickly pull it.

Louisville still would end up shooting 46.0 percent from the field and 42.9 percent on threes, and it had a huge performance from junior big man Sydney Curry, who did not play in the Cards’ win in Raleigh.

Curry set career-highs with 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting and 10 rebounds for his first double-double.

Despite that, NC State was able to hold its own in the paint, actually winning points inside the lane, 36-34. The only two times the Pack has outscored its opponent in the paint in league games thus far this season have both come against the Cards.

Keatts decided to play Ross a career-high 18 minutes. He played just two in the earlier matchup against the Cards. Ross finished with four points, five rebounds and two blocks.

Sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona added six points, nearly matching the eight he has produced in the previous four ACC games combined.

NC State Basketball Plus/Minus

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

Smith: +28 (30 minutes played)

Ross: +20 (18)

Hellems: +16 (40)

Seabron: +13 (38)

Fifth-year senior guard Thomas Allen: +12 (21)

Hayes: +4 (19)

Dowuona: -4 (22)

Morsell:  -9 (12)

NC State Basketball Game Scores

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

Smith: 22.3

Hellems: 16.9

Seabron: 12.5

Dowuona: 6.0

Allen: 5.0

Ross: 4.0

Hayes: 0.1

Morsell: -0.6

What The NC State Basketball Win Means

The Pack is 9-8 on the season and 2-4 in the ACC, while Louisville falls to 10-6 and 4-2.

The Cardinals lead the all-time series, 14-11, and is 6-3 against the Pack since joining the ACC.

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: 2-1

• ACC Network: 2-2

• ESPNU: 1-1

• ESPN2: 0-1

• CBS Sports Network: 0-1

• Big Ten Network: 0-1

We also track NC State’s records by month:

• November: 5-1

• December: 2-5

• January: 2-2

Other stats of note

• NC State won the turnover margin 14-8 and outscored Louisville off those turnovers 20-9.
• State scored all four of the fast break points in the game.
• Louisville had a 32-28 rebounding advantage, including a 9-5 edge on the offensive glass. That led to the Cards having an 9-7 win in second-chance points.
• The Cardinals reserves badly outscored the Pack’s bench, 52-7. The 11 points scored by Louisville’s starters were its fewest in a game for a starting five since 1933.
• Defensively, NC State had five blocks and seven steals. Louisville did not have a rejection and stole the ball five times.
• NC State led for 28:50 and Louisville for 5:56. The Pack’s largest lead was 18 points while Louisville’s was five. There were four ties and four lead changes.

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