The clock struck midnight for the Cinderella of the NCAA Tournament, as the 8-seed NC State men’s basketball team fell to 4-seed Louisville 75-65 in the teams’ Sweet 16 matchup Friday night.
Though the Wolfpack fought blow-for-blow for 35 minutes, the Cardinals’ offense was too much to handle in the closing minutes of the game, using a late 14-3 run to put the game out of State’s reach.
“Late in the game they made some plays,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “Our zone helped us, helped us get back in the game, helped us take the lead, and they made a couple of tough shots there.”
Much like in the Pack’s win over Louisiana State, it was an unlikely hero who stepped up for Cardinals in the final moments to seal the game.
Freshman Anton Gill, a benchwarmer who had played just two minutes in the first two games of the tournament, scored seven of the first nine points of his team’s closing run, giving a spark to the Cardinals’ offense.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” Gottfried said. “I think he’s averaging two points a game maybe, and he jumps up and gets seven at the most critical time of the game. That’s what the game’s about. Players step up and make some plays, and he certainly did for this game.”
Gill’s seven points were the Cards’ only bench points of the contest.
Though it was the Louisville backcourt that eventually took the game in the end, junior Montrezl Harrell was the dominant force that kept his team alive during the course of the game.
The big man scored 24 points and grabbed seven boards, dominating the interior and leading the Cards to a 40-24 advantage in the paint.
“They got a lot of points in the paint tonight,” Turner said. “That was one of the things that was difference from the first time we played.”
In the two teams’ regular season meeting, Harrell was held to just seven points, and State’s big men BeeJay Anya and Abdul-Malik Abu combined for 15 points and 18 boards.
On Friday, however, the Pack could not find much in the paint. Except for an outstanding performance off the bench from Kyle Washington—11 points in nine minutes—State was at a loss in the paint, reverting back to its old habits of living and dying by the three-point shot.
Fortunately for State, the shots were falling. The Pack shot 9-for-20 from long range, despite shooting just 22.9 percent in the team’s first two games of the tournament.
However, when Louisville began its final run, State’s hot hand was extinguished, as the club failed to make a triple in the final four minutes of the game.
Regardless of the way it ended, the 2015 season was a surprise success for the Pack, one that gives hope for a bright future.
With only Turner and fellow seniors Desmond Lee and Staats Battle leaving the program, the State roster will return nearly all of its core rotation next season. The team will also get to see transfer Terry Henderson in action after sitting a year due to NCAA rules.
If nothing else, Gottfried believes his team will be hungrier for success in the upcoming season, as the team knows how good winning can feel.
“The guys coming back for our team, this should be something that motivates them to work extremely hard in springtime and summer,” Gottfried said. “We tasted it. We tasted what it’s like to be in this situation, and now it’s got to be one of those where they should want it more.”
The Pack will look to follow up on its strong 2015 campaign next season. Hopefully after this Sweet 16 berth, the AP won’t repeat its work from 2012 and give State the kiss of death: a top-five preseason ranking.
N.C. State falls to Louisville 75-65 in the Sweet Sixteen in Syracuse Friday, March 25, 2013.
