Ronald Nause
TAMPA, Fla. — N.C. State diminished No. 1 seed Carolina’s 16-point lead in the second half to one point, but in its fourth game in as many days, the Wolfpack couldn’t muster one more come-from-behind win and lost to the Tar Heels 89-80 in the ACC tournament championship game.
En route to the final, the 10th-seeded Pack defeated No. 7 Duke, No. 2 Virginia and No. 3 Virginia Tech at the St. Pete Times Forum. Coach Sidney Lowe said after the loss that the experience will help his young team.
“This is going to help us tremendously,” Lowe said. “This is great experience for our young guys and for Carolina’s young guys. Now we have to take this game and think back, ‘OK, what could I have done differently? Maybe there was a shot I shouldn’t have taken. Maybe there was a rebound, a play I didn’t make.'”
“Just the fact that we were playing in this game against this team and to go down to the wire, this was great experience, and I think it’s going to help us in the future.”
And that experience should return next year because, according to Lowe, all the underclassmen will return to the squad. One player who could have bolstered his NBA Draft stock this weekend was redshirt freshman Brandon Costner. The 6-foot-8 forward scored a tournament-record 90 points and finished second in the MVP voting.
“Brandon Costner is a great player. Our offense is set up where he can get inside or get outside,” sophomore guard Courtney Fells said. “He just stepped up and made big shots. He wasn’t selfish at all. He just took good shots.”
All five of N.C. State’s starters earned first or second-team All-Tournament honors. Both Costner and junior forward Gavin Grant were on the first team, while senior Engin Atsur, Fells and sophomore Ben McCauley were on the second team.
Lowe said he’d never seen a team play so many minutes of basketball over a four-day period.
“Never. Never. These guys were absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing,” Lowe said. “What they did this weekend — I don’t think too many people thought they could do it. But there was some people in that locker room that believed in it. They believed in themselves. With every day that we won, I think the confidence grew.”
Throughout the tournament, media begged Lowe to compare this year’s team to the ACC and national championship team he played on in 1983.
“They were similar situations, but we [in 1983] had experience,” Lowe said. “Down the stretch, I had the ball. We had guys who had been in that situation before. If we were to have won this ball game, and even up to this point, we [in 1983] could not have compared to this team and what they’ve done.”