On an afternoon where NC State men’s basketball dominated the turnover battle and held the highest-scoring offense in the ACC to 63 points, the Wolfpack did all the little things well in a scramble to recover from three-straight losses.
SMU didn’t score for the first four minutes, sparking an opening 8-0 Wolfpack run that forced the Mustangs’ post-centric offense out of its comfort zone. The elite defensive performance should’ve been a building block entering the most crucial stretch of the season, but will only be remembered for the lackluster outing on the other end as NC State lost 63-57 to SMU Saturday afternoon at Lenovo Center.
“Defense is keeping us in every game that we’ve had,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “When you hold a team to 63 points, you know you have a chance to win. The unfortunate thing is we scored 57.”
Following a tenacious and-one from senior forward Dontrez Styles in the first half, the game’s direction changed. An 18-1 Mustangs run (15-5, 6-3 ACC), perpetuated by a scoreless six-minute stretch and the Wolfpack (9-10, 2-6 ACC) going 0-11 from the floor, saw the script flip instantaneously. Ten of those shots were jumpers, seven off the bounce, revealing both a disinterest in challenging the Mustangs’ seven-foot-two center Samet Yigitoglu and that the team was forcing shots.
Senior forwards Ben Middlebrooks and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield were held to a combined six points with Yigitoglu anchoring the 2-3 zone. Keatts defended his big men when asked about the team’s jump-shot-heavy game plan.
“Both Brandon and Ben are not traditional back-to-the-basket guys,” Keatts said. “They would much rather face up, and we’re not alone in that. The majority of college basketball doesn’t have those guys, most of the post guys are pick-and-pop situations, so that’s not deliberate. Those were just the shots that we got.”
Coming out of the locker room, SMU made a concerted effort to get Yigitoglu involved, with its first four possessions ending in his hands. From there, the Mustangs ballooned their lead to 15 points, polished off by a tomahawk dunk that silenced the Lenovo Center. NC State looked frustrated on the defensive end, pressing to get any spark that could jump-start the offense.
A late push led by senior guard Marcus Hill wasn’t enough to tip the scales, extending the Wolfpack’s losing streak with another single-digit loss. With the Wolfpack staring at a quick turnaround against No. 2 Duke on Monday, its main goal is getting back to work.
“We can’t dwell on this loss,” said freshman guard Paul McNeil. “We’ve got a big game coming up, but we’re going to practice and stay focused. We’re going to watch film and do what we got to do.”
The loss marks the fourth in a row and its sixth in the last seven outings, dropping the team under .500 and casting doubt on its ACC Tournament hopes. In classic Keatts fashion, the eighth-year coach found a silver lining.
“We have to understand that everybody in the program is frustrated,” Keatts said. “But the great thing about it is not because we’re not playing hard. That’s a different issue. Our issue is that we’re not scoring the basketball enough to win these games. If we can figure out how to get over the hump and make some shots, then we’re there.”
McNeil, who played a season-high 15 minutes, echoed that sentiment and backed his teammates.
“It’s bigger than scoring,” McNeil said. “We have to find a way to stay focused. It was hard for us not hitting shots tonight, but we stayed focused and kept the energy high, we just came up a little short.”
Including Saturday afternoon, NC State undertakes the hardest portion of its schedule with six consecutive games against quad 1 or quad 2 opponents, including Monday against the Blue Devils.
“I learned this early in my career here at NC State: don’t prepare for the next six games,” Keatts said. “You have to prepare them for the next game. We came into this game prepared for SMU and we’ll turn the page tomorrow. We have to prepare for Duke. They don’t know what’s going on at six o’clock tonight as opposed to six games down the road.”
The Wolfpack will aim to get back on track in Durham on Monday at 8:30 p.m.
