After securing a substantial last-second 78-77 win against Clemson on the road, NC State men’s basketball returned home for the first time in almost two weeks but fell short in another close ACC matchup, losing 83-87 to Syracuse.
NC State (16-10, 8-7 ACC) allowed Syracuse (17-10, 8-8 ACC) to amass 55 first-half points, putting the Pack in a 15-point hole at the break. The Orange’s successful half was largely due to the performance of forward Chris Bell, who went 8 for 9 from beyond the arc and scored all 26 of his points in the first half.
“Very disappointing loss,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “I think that’s frustrating on my end. The frustration comes because of the first half. We’ve been a really good defensive team the entire year, and to give up 55 points in the first half it’s just not acceptable. That’s not NC State basketball. That’s not what we’re about.”
The Pack fought valiantly to complete the comeback, led by graduate guard DJ Horne’s superb 32-point performance. This marks the sixth straight game in which Horne has scored at least 24 points.
“DJ Horne is having an incredible year and probably a great six-game stretch, as good as anybody that I’ve coached for six games,” Keatts said.
Down by as many as 16 points early in the second half, NC State clawed its way back and tied the game at 76 with just over five minutes remaining. The Pack eventually took its first lead since the beginning of the game at the 3:15 mark when junior forward Ben Middlebrooks hit a pair of free throws, giving his team an 82-81 lead. However, the lead was short-lived.
In the final two minutes of the game, it became a defensive battle between the two teams, with no scoring until the 15-second mark when graduate forward DJ Burns fouled guard Quadir Copeland. After Copeland made both free throws, Keatts called for a timeout. Keatts drew up a play to get the ball to Horne, who attempted to draw a foul on a baseline shot, but the referees didn’t bite.
“I knew they were going to be playing me tight,” Horne said. “I wanted to try to create some space and think that he was gonna bite on it. Then I was gonna try to draw a foul, but the refs didn’t give me the foul. Move on to the next one.”
The first half was dominated by the performances of Horne and Bell. Horne totaled 21 points and was four for six from beyond the arc, while Bell was 8 for 9 from 3-point range and scored all 26 of his points in the half.
“I thought we got confused on a couple ball screen coverage early in the first half,” Keatts said. “We allowed skip passes to the corner. We had no sense of urgency to get to the shot. [Bell] got hot, he had a night.”
Horne didn’t receive much support on the scoring front, as he accounted for over half of his team’s points in the frame, while Syracuse was able to get support from Copeland, who came off the bench. Copeland was 5 for 5 from the field and scored 12 of his career-high 25 points in the first half.
“It’s not acceptable from where I sit to have the start that we had tonight,” Keatts said. “That won’t sit well with me.”
The Wolfpack dropped a crucial home game and now faces the necessity of either winning out or capturing the ACC tournament title to have any chance of securing a spot in the big tournament in March. With this loss, the Pack has now suffered defeat in its last seven matchups against Syracuse, marking the team’s longest consecutive ACC losing streak.
“Take it one day at a time,” said graduate guard Casey Morsell. “We have got a lot of basketball left. A lot of opportunity left. And as you see, we can beat anybody in the league. Still wide open, ACC is wide open, but we can’t let this game be our season.”
NC State will look to bounce back against Boston College at PNC Arena on Saturday, Feb. 24. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. and the game will broadcast on ACC Network.
