The NC State men’s basketball team lost to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Wednesday night in South Bend, Indiana by a final score of 88-58.
The Pack (10-5, 0-2 ACC) was behind 48-36 at halftime, and was never able to recover against the Fighting Irish (12-3, 2-0 ACC) who were playing without their preseason all-ACC forward Bonzie Colson, who is out with injury. Notre Dame guard Matt Farrell got injured in the first half and did not return to the game.
State’s first field goal of the second half came on a dunk from freshman guard Lavar Batts with 11 minutes left. By that point, State was down by 25 points and unable to get back in the game.
Graduate transfer guard Al Freeman led the Pack in scoring with 13 points on 5-of-16 shooting and 3-of-8 from 3-point range. Senior forward Lennard Freeman also chipped in 10 points and four rebounds.
Junior guard Torin Dorn led the team with five rebounds while freshman guard Braxton Beverly picked up five assists. For the Irish, guard TJ Gibbs led the charge with 22 points.
As a team, the Pack shot just 36.7 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3-point range. Notre Dame shot 52 percent for the game and 44 percent from beyond the arc.
The Pack had 15 turnovers compared to the Irish’s 12. The Irish won the rebounding battle 41-30.
State returns to action Saturday night at PNC Arena against the Duke Blue Devils at 8 p.m.
