NC State received an all-around effort in ACC tournament title win

WASHINGTON — NC State did not have the deepest bench in the ACC tournament, but it was able to gain an all-around effort from all nine available scholarship players in its path to its first title in 36 years with an 84-76 win over top-seed North Carolina on Saturday night. 

The Wolfpack, which became the first team to win five games in five days, embraced the next-man up mentality at Capital One Arena. The championship game provided a key glimpse into contributions from the entire scholarship roster that was dressed for the contest. 

It started with junior guard Jayden Taylor. He stepped on graduate forward DJ Burns’ foot in the first half of the semifinal win over Virginia, and he was in immense pain. He had his left ankle heavily taped up under his sock, and he did not do any on-court preparation for the title game.

Why? Well, he wasn’t even going to get on the floor for the game. But he couldn’t miss the ACC championship game for the world. 

“I was not supposed to play today,” Taylor said with a smile in the locker room afterwards. “I got a shot in my foot. Barely could move, I just toughed it out. I’m going to have to get treatment. It’s going to be hurting tomorrow. It was bad. I’m not gonna lie.”

Taylor stepped up anyways. He came off the bench for the first time in the tournament and still played 22 minutes for the Pack. His offensive production was affected — just 3 points on 1-of-2 shooting — but he still was able to be an annoyance for the Tar Heels on the defensive end. 

The former Butler transfer was the prime example of gutting it out, but he wasn’t alone. 

“Guys were able to still step up and pull it out,” graduate guard Casey Morsell said. “[Jayden Taylor] came in and he has his own adversity, his own battles right now. Everyone just laid it all out on the line just for this moment. … It took everyone, but it took a few miracles too.”

While Taylor battled pain, he gave the Pack a chance when Morsell exited the game with a groin injury in the second half. Morsell, a fifth-year player, limped to the locker room with more than seven minutes left in the game, but he soon returned. 

Morsell, like Taylor, was not going to be held off the floor. He limped around the court when he was reinserted into the lineup during a timeout, but Morsell was able to do his best. He knew North Carolina was going to leave him open on offense, daring him to shoot, while it would target him on the defensive end. 

That’s exactly what happened. Morsell knocked down an open three-pointer with just over five minutes to go, which put the Pack up 8, even though he was hobbled. Defensively, NC State tried to help Morsell out. The Wolfpack switched each time the Tar Heels tried to get Morsell in an action defensively on screens, and he was appreciative afterwards.

“We did a good job as a team covering for me,” said Morsell, who finished with 8 points and three rebounds. “We just stayed connected. … To pull it off, it’s a miracle.”

Though Morsell and Taylor played through new injuries, the Pack also had star guard DJ Horne playing through a hip injury for the entire tournament. He missed the first round game with it, but he returned to the lineup to score in double figures in four of the five games. 

The Cary, N.C., native saved his biggest performance for the championship game with 29 points in just 32 minutes on the floor before he fouled out. When he picked up his fourth foul with a little over 12 minutes to play, Horne was visibly upset on the bench. But the rest of the Pack’s roster was able to settle him down before he returned to action a few minutes later. 

That piece of the bench’s ability to help the star player off the court, as well as on it when he fouled out with just over a minute left, said a lot about the roster’s chemistry, Horne thought. 

“My teammates did a good job on the court keeping my head in the game and everything, even though emotions can get running all crazy at times,” Horne said. “But that’s what basketball is about, and unfortunately I did foul out, but my guys, like I said, next-man-up mentality, stepped in and finished the job.”

While the Wolfpack was able to have three of its key contributors play through injury, the title game also presented another pair of firsts. 

Burns knocked down his first-career three-pointer as the shot clock expired with just over three minutes to play in the first half. He was 0-for-10 from beyond the arc in his career, including four straight misses this season. Burns was a force inside for the Pack in the title game with 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

In addition to the Wolfpack’s post player’s outside shooting success in the contest, junior forward Ernest Ross saw a couple minutes of action in the first half. He was able to hit a layup, which gave the Pack a 2-point advantage with 31 seconds left in the opening frame. 

The easy finish around the rim was Ross’ first basket since NC State’s 87-53 win over Charleston Southern on Nov. 11. It took more than four months for Ross to get another shot to go down as he rarely played in the regular season, but he was ready for the biggest moment. 

Ross embodied everything about NC State’s run. He was prepared, like junior guard Breon Pass was for limited minutes in each game, and Ross was able to execute when his number was called. Ross was emotional in the locker room afterwards, and was appreciative for his chance to make an impact in the program’s biggest game of the season.

“I’ve been working for it for so long,” Ross said. “To get that opportunity, it just shows me that I’ve been working hard and my hard work has paid off.”

Not only did it pay off for Ross, but NC State’s run through the ACC tournament punched the Wolfpack’s ticket to the NCAA tournament. The Pack is back dancing for the second straight season, though it looked improbable just five days before when the league tournament began. 

NC State’s roster was the difference between a first-round exit and the title. It wasn’t going to quit until it accomplished its goal. All nine players were key in the path to the championship, and the Pack was able to finish with a trophy in hand.