NC State basketball quick hits and notes from loss to Wright State

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball and its 84-70 home loss to Wright State Tuesday evening in front of 11,344 quiet fans at PNC Arena in Raleigh.

Play Of The Game

What turned out to be NC State’s last push came with 8:40 to go down 66-56. Freshman guard Terquavion Smith hit a three after a nice drive and dish from Dereon Seabron.

The rally was short lived,

Wright State’s Trey Calvin hit Smith with a jab step, causing Smith to stumble to the floor, and nailed  three of his own, pushing the lead back to ten,

NC State was never within single digits after Calvin’s ankle-breaking three-pointer.

Highlight Of The Game

NC State was down 75-63 with only 4:10 to go while Calvin was making his way across half-court. Smith made a heads up play and stole the ball. With a two on one fast break opportunity, Smith lobbed it up to freshman forward Ernest Ross for the dunk.

NC State Basketball Player Of The Game

Smith started and stayed hot. Four minutes into the game, Smith had eight of the Wolfpack’s 10 points and finished the first half with 15. The freshman went on to score a game and career-high 27 points on 12-of-25 shooting.

Smith’s impact on the offensive end was needed more than ever tonight as nobody else outside of senior forward Jericole Hellems provided much offense. 

Bullied In The Paint

Heading into this matchup, NC State basketball had been outscored in the paint 130-92 in their past three games. The outcome stayed the course in this game.

Wright State outscored 46-34 in this one, and junior center Grant Basile had a stellar performance with 23 points and 14 rebounds.

Head coach Kevin Keatts mentioned the Pack’s effort and noted, “We did a poor job of defending the paint… unfortunately we don’t have Manny Bates and he’s not coming back”. Keatts added that the guards need to do a better job pressuring the basketball.

This is the fifth time in six games NC State basketball has given up more points in the paint than it scored, and it’s a common theme in losses, with the exception of Louisville.

Oklahoma State: 42-24

Purdue: 50-34

Richmond: 46-30

Wright State: 46-34

Terquavion Smith’s Big Night Not Complemented By Teammates

Already with two ACC Freshman Player of the Week honors under his belt, Smith could be on his way to his third.

Although NC State has dropped its last three games in a row, Smith has averaged 22.0 point per game over that span after his career high vs. Wright State. Smith’s 12 field goals made and 25 attempts were both easily new personal-bests.

His performance was needed Tuesday because most of his teammates struggled. Hellems finished with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting, but 12 of those points came in the first half.

The duo of Seabron and sophomore guard Cam Hayes were a combined 6 of 24 from the field for 15 points. Seabron was held to season-lows 10 points and four rebounds while having a team-high three turnovers.

Hayes had a season-low five points and 1 of 6 on three-pointers.

NC State, who was ranked fifth in the NCAA in free throw attempts (273) and ninth in made shots at the line (194) but was only 5 of 9 from the charity stripe. Wright State was 15-16.

The Raiders came into this game shooting 27 percent on threes. They went 7 of 18 from beyond the arc Tuesday, or 38.9 percent. The Wolfpack was just 7 of 26 (26.7 pecent).

Non-conference Action Concludes

NC State basketball finished its non-conference slate with a 7-4 record. Here’s a rundown of previous records under Keatts in non-con play, and what the finishing results were at the end of the season:

2017-18: 10-3 in non-conference, 11-7 in ACC, 21-12 overall

2018-19: 12-1 in non-conference, 9-9 in ACC, 24-12 overall

2019-20: 9-2 in non-conference, 10-10 in ACC, 20-12 overall

2020-21: 4-1 in non-conference, 9-8 in ACC, 14-11 overall

NC State Basketball Plus/Minus)

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

Junior guard Casey Morsell:  0 (17 minutes played)

Freshman guard Breon Pass: -1 (1)

Ross: -2 (10)

Sophomore forward Jaylon Gibson: -4 (3)

Smith: -7 (34)

Sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona: -8 (27)

Fifth-year senior guard Thomas Allen: -8 (5)

Seabron: -9 (37)

Hellems: -14 (40)

Hayes: -17 (26)

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: 14.9

Hellems: 13.8

Dowuona: 5.5

Ross: 5.4

Morsell: 4.2

Seabron: 2.0

Gibson: 0.7

Allen: -0.7

Hayes: -1.2

What The NC State Basketball Loss Means

The Pack is 7-5 on the season while Wright State is 4-7.

This was the first meeting between the two teams, and NC State basketball is now 10-2 against Horizon League members all-time.

NC State’s 29-game winning streak against nonconference teams at home ends, and Keatts is 36-2 all-time against such opponents in the regular season at home.

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

• ACC Network Extra: 3-1

• RSN: 2-0

• ESPNU: 1-0

• FloSports: 1-0

• ACC Network: 0-1

• 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: 2-4

Other Stats Of Note

• NC State won the turnover margin 13-8 and had a slight 13-12 edge in points off turnovers.
• The Pack had the advantage in fast break points, 13-8.
• The Raiders had a 41-38 win on the boards overall, but the Wolfpack secured the offensive glass 17-8 (partially due to NC State shooting 38.2 percent from the field vs. Wright State’s 52.5 percent). Wright St had a 11-10 win in second-chance points.
• NC State’s reserves outscored Wright State’s 10-5.
• Defensively, NC State had two blocks and six steals. Wright St had five rejections to go with five steals.
• NC State led for just 3:13 and Wright State for 35:10. Wright State’s largest lead was 16, NC State’s was 3.

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