NC State basketball quick hits and notes from 68-63 win at Virginia Tech

Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball and its 68-63 win at Virginia Tech Tuesday evening in front of 5,148 fans at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va.

Play Of The Game

The word of the night for NC State basketball was “relentless,” and that approach led to be the turning point play late in the game.

Virginia Tech was on a 9-0 run to take a 59-58 lead with the clock ticking under five minutes left. The Wolfpack seemed destined for another game where it would not finish a great opportunity (see note below).

Hokies junior forward Justyn Mutts had just scored to put Virginia Tech up 59-58 for its first lead in over 10 minutes. On the ensuing Pack possession, senior forward Jericole Hellems missed a three-pointer, but sophomore point guard Cam Hayes was able to run down the rebound.

Then freshman guard Terquavion Smith misfired on a three, and Hellems was in position for a couple of taps at the rim but missed both. The rebound then was tapped out to Hayes, and Virginia Tech redshirt senior forward Keve Aluma committed a foul.

After the inbound, redshirt sophomore wing Dereon Seabron tried a three that also missed, but sophomore center Ebenezer Dowuona grabbed the offensive rebound, and this time his short turnaround shot in the lane fell in to give NC State a 60-59 advantage with 3:55 left.

The possession included five offensive rebounds and lasted 59 seconds from when Mutts had made his shot.

Most importantly, it put the Wolfpack up for good.

Highlight Of The Game

💥 ERNEST ROSS 💥 @PackMensBball pic.twitter.com/Wsm8BcCMbw

— ACC Network (@accnetwork) January 5, 2022

NC State Basketball Player Of The Game

After Dowuona’s go-ahead basket, Seabron would score four straight points to pad the lead and put the pressure squarely on Virginia Tech.

Seabron would finish with his ninth double-double of the season, 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 10 rebounds, while tying for a team-high three assists.

Fresh off a 32-point performance in a home loss to Florida State on New Year’s Day, he has had back-to-back games of at least 20 points for the second time this year, and he has seven contests of 20-plus overall this season.

Seabron’s averages for the year are now 19.7 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.6 steals per contest, and he is shooting 54.4 percent from the field. He is first in the ACC in rebounding, third in scoring, sixth in field goal percentage, ninth in assists and 11th in steals.

Improved Defensive Performance

During the five-game losing streak that was snapped with Tuesday’s win, NC State had allowed every team to shoot at least 50 percent from the field:

Date	Opponet	FGM-FGA	Pct.
Dec. 12	Purdue	30-60	50.0
Dec. 17	Richmond	31-59	52.5
Dec. 21	Wright State	31-59	52.5
Dec. 29	Miami	31-56	55.4
Jan. 1	Florida State	29-57	50.9

Unsurprisingly, NC State is currently next-to-last in the ACC in field goal percentage defense, but the shots did not fall for Virginia Tech.

The Hokies made 23 of 53 shots from the field, or 43.4 percent, and was just 8 of 23 on three-point shooting, or 34.8 percent. Virginia Tech entered the game shooting nearly 40 percent on its three-pointers.

Finishing Issues (At Least Temporarily) Solved?

This is a partially a repeat note from the quick hits following the loss to Florida State.

NC State basketball has an 8-7 overall record, but it’s not far from sporting a better mark.

• 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 (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 led 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 to seal what would be an 83-81 win.

Against Virginia Tech, NC State was up 58-50 with less than eight minutes on the clock when the Hokies ripped off a 9-0 run. This time, VT went scoreless over four minutes, while the Pack responded with an 8-0 run to lead 66-59 with 40 seconds to go.

Smith’s hot shooting continues

Seabron ended up being the player of the game, but early in the contest it appeared that Smith would have the honor.

He finished with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including making 4 of 9 three-pointers. Fourteen of those points came in the first half, when Smith had nearly half of the Wolfpack’s total of 29.

Smith has made at least three three-pointers in seven of his last eight games. In those seven contests, Smith has made 43.3 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc (26 of 60).

Smith is now third in the ACC in three-pointers made per game at 2.7.

NC State Basketball Plus/Minus)

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

Dowuona: -1 (25 minutes played)

Redshirt senior guard Thomas Allen: -1 (16)

Hellems: +5 (40)

Smith: +3 (37)

Hayes: +10 (23)

Seabron: 0 (38)

Junior guard Casey Morsell:  -2 (6)

Freshman forward Ernest Ross: +6 (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: 16.5

Smith: 13.7

Hellems: 11.2

Allen: 5.1

Ross: 3.9

Hayes: 1.4

Morsell: 0.6

Dowuona: -0.9

What The NC State Basketball Win Means

The Pack is 8-7 on the season and 1-3 in the ACC, while Virginia Tech is 8-6 and 0-3.

Virginia Tech was one of two teams remaining in the conference that head coach Kevin Keatts had not beaten during his five-year tenure. The other is Georgia Tech.

The Wolfpack leads the all-time series against Virginia Tech, 41-18. It is the Pack’s first win in Blacksburg since 2014.

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

• RSN: 2-0

• FloSports: 1-0

• ESPNU: 1-1

• ACC Network: 1-2

• 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: 1-1

Other Stats Of Note

• NC State won the turnover margin 10-9, and both teams had 12 points off turnovers.
• Neither team had many fast break points, each with four.
• NC State had a 36-26 win on the boards overall, including 14-8 on the offensive glass. That led to the Wolfpack having an 16-11 win in second-chance points.
• The Wolfpack’s reserves outscored Virginia Tech’s bench, 8-7.
• Defensively, NC State had three blocks and six steals. Virginia Tech had three rejections and three steals.
• NC State led for 29:50 and Virginia Tech for 8:17. The Pack’s largest lead was 10, and the Hokies’ was seven. There were three ties and six lead changes.

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