The NC State men’s basketball team dropped its third game in a row to No. 6 Louisville, losing 77-57. The Pack (14-8, 5-6 ACC) had a two-point lead early in the first half and forced a great deal of turnovers and fouls, but could not capitalize on the opportunity, losing to the Cardinals (19-3, 10-1 ACC), who shot lights out in the game. Here are some important numbers from Saturday’s loss.
5 — Team fouls committed by Louisville in the first 4:28 of the game. The Cardinals could not exercise control in the first half, going on a frenzy of fouls and finishing with 11 fouls in the half, 18 in the game. Redshirt junior forward D.J. Funderburk drew four fouls in the paint in this time and finished with 11 points on seven makes from the free-throw line.
8 — Turnovers committed by Louisville in the first 8:16 of the first half. The Cardinals played sloppily throughout the first half in general. In addition to the fouls, Louisville committed eight turnovers in the first eight minutes of the first half and finished the first half with 11 turnovers. The team finished with 18 turnovers in the game, but it did not matter, as the Cardinals were able to overcome this and hold the Pack down.
92:17 — Minutes it took for redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce to score a point. Bryce went two games and 80 game minutes straight without scoring, despite leading the team in scoring for the season. It took Bryce 12:17 into the game to get his first bucket, re-instilling his confidence, as he finished with 15 points, four rebounds and one assist on 43% shooting. Bryce had huge back-to-back shots, bringing the Pack within five points after being down 15 at the half.
18 — Points scored by Ryan McMahon in the first half. Louisville guard McMahon went on a tear in the first half, leading the Cardinals to a 22-5 run to close the half. McMahon went 6 of 6 on 3-pointers before bricking his first 3 at the very end of the half. After redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels switched on to McMahon in the second half, McMahon only scored five points.
38 — Point differential of bench points. The Pack was outscored 25-5 in bench points in the first half and 43-5 in the game, despite junior guard Braxton Beverly, redshirt freshman forward Manny Bates and graduate forward Pat Andree all playing off the bench for the Pack. No points off the bench in the second half is worrying for a team that already lacks depth as is.
26 — Percentage of 3-pointers made by the Pack. The Wolfpack could not buy a bucket from downtown in the game, going 5 of 23 from 3-point range. The Cardinals showed the Pack up in this category, shooting a strong 55% from downtown behind 7-of-10 shooting from deep by McMahon.
12 — Points scored by Louisville star forward Jordan Nwora. Heading into the game, Nwora averaged 19.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game for the Cardinals on 47% shooting from the floor and 44% from deep. The Pack did an excellent job of containing Nwora, who the team held to 12 points, on 3-of-13 shooting from the floor and zero made 3-pointers. No other player averaged over 10.6 points for Louisville heading into the game, but McMahon and Lamarr Kimble poured in 33 of Louisville’s 77 points.
0 — Points scored by the Pack in the last five minutes of the game. The Wolfpack matched its first-half point total in the first nine minutes of the second half, bringing the team’s point total to 52. However, the team finished with just 57 points, only scoring five points in 11 minutes and scored zero points in the last 5:46 of the game.
Redshirt senior guard CJ Bryce gets help from his teammates after hitting a three pointer in the game versus Louisville on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020 in PNC Arena. Bryce scored 16 points and had 4 rebounds against the Cardinals. The Wolfpack lost to the Cardinals 77-57.
