NC State men’s basketball suffered a heartbreaking loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Creighton last week in the team’s first appearance since 2018. 

The Wolfpack’s hopes of an upset were spoiled by a cold-shooting night and a master class by Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner. That being said, let’s break down the good, the bad and the ugly of the red-and-white’s brief spell in March Madness. 

The Good

Sophomore guard Terquavion Smith saved one of his best performances for the NCAA Tournament. With the rest of the team struggling offensively, Smith leaned into isolation basketball, shouldering the load for his entire team. His 32 points nearly carried NC State to a win as he continuously went to his bread-and-butter — driving to the basket to convert tough layups.

One key to Smith’s performance was getting to the free-throw line. Oftentimes welcoming contact, Smith made sure he got his share of free throws. In total, the sophomore had nine foul shots, which was more than the rest of the entire team. 

The Bad

While Smith shone, the rest of the team came out flat on offense. Graduate forward DJ Burns was ice cold the entire game with his measly scoring of two points. Meanwhile, graduate guard Jarkel Joiner struggled throughout the game, shooting 5-18 including 0-5 from deep. Graduate forward Jack Clark also struggled, only making one shot during the game. Aside from Smith, the team shot an inefficient 12-37 overall and 2-9 from 3. 

The offense also struggled to make plays, only coming up with three assists, and while Smith was successful playing in isolation, the rest of the team struggled to create open shots. Additionally, the team occasionally hit tough shots, but relying on hitting contested midrange buckets proved to be unsustainable.

The Ugly

NC State’s achilles heel in the game proved to be interior defense. Kalkbrenner, who leads the nation in field goal percentage this season, cooked the Wolfpack defense from start to finish en route to 31 points off of 11-14 shooting. The Pack primarily assigned Burns and junior forward Ebenezer Dowuona to guard Kalkbrenner, but neither could slow down the big man. 

While Kalkbrenner used multiple moves to score, his most effective move was to slip behind the defender in the paint, then catch a pass over the defender before getting an easy basket. This forced the defender to either give up an uncontested layup or foul and led to both Burns and Dowuona fouling Kalkbrenner and getting into foul trouble. Both Wolfpack players picked up four fouls each. 

Creighton also used the screen and roll to get Kalkbrenner easy baskets. Rolling from the top of the key, Kalkbrenner flew into the paint where he could get a layup or an alleyoop. By running this play, he threw the Wolfpack defense into chaos for just enough time to get open in the paint.