It may not be the NCAA Tournament, but that isn’t stopping the NC State men’s basketball team from making the most out of its time in the NIT.
The Wolfpack (24-11) battled for 40 minutes to top Harvard (19-12) 78-77 behind 16 points from redshirt junior guard C.J. Bryce Sunday night in a rowdy Reynolds Coliseum, and there was no questioning the intensity or passion from the Pack and its fans. It wasn’t the big dance for the Wolfpack, but it was still March basketball, and the two teams delivered a thriller.
“It was a great game. I had fun. I was excited about it,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “I watched a lot of games today … They were all great games. The NCAA games, the NIT games. As I watched the other games, I got excited about our game, because I knew we had another great opportunity.”
NC State came out of the gate with the energy of a team with something still to play for, full-court pressing Harvard from the opening tip and causing some problems for the Crimson offense. While not a big-name team the Pack might have matched up against in the NCAA Tournament, the meeting with Harvard wasn’t something NC State was discounting.
“When it’s tournament time, it doesn’t matter what conference the team comes from or what the name of the team is,” said redshirt sophomore guard Devon Daniels. “Teams come out to compete their hardest. Every day we’ve got to bring it and come out to win.”
The Pack forced 17 turnovers throughout the night, leading to 23 points for NC State. The passion and intensity was clearly present for the Wolfpack squad that found out it had been left out of the big dance just a week earlier. Everybody wants to play in the NCAA Tournament, but the Pack isn’t letting its omission stop it from playing good basketball.
“It was a fun game,” Bryce said. “Just another game for us. Just glad to move on and play some more basketball.”
NC State’s intensity was apparent from the opening seconds of the game; the Wolfpack forced a Harvard shot-clock violation, one of many in the game, on the Crimson’s opening possession. NC State continued to play aggressive defense on Harvard throughout the opening of the game.
While the NC State players’ passion was apparent, the fervor of the Reynolds Coliseum crowd was maybe even more obvious. As the game came down to the wire with Harvard fighting to stay alive, the crowd noise was deafening.
“It’s been great,” Keatts said. “We talk about how great it is in Reynolds, but I don’t want to cheapen our fans at PNC. They do a tremendous job too. It gets loud in there; it’s a great place to play also. We are excited to get a chance to play on campus right now. We have a tremendous fan base. I know a lot of people wanted us to be in the NCAA, no more than we did, but when we got chosen to go to the NIT, everybody showed up for us. We’re happy about that.”
The win over Harvard was the second victory of the NIT for the Wolfpack, which topped Hofstra in Reynolds Coliseum last week. Both Hofstra and Harvard were near the top of their conferences in the regular season, with Harvard actually taking the Ivy League regular-season title, and both provided the Pack with tough tournament matchups.
“The two teams that we’ve played could have easily won a game in the NCAA,” Keatts said. “When you get to the NIT and you’re playing against guys that were regular-season champions, you’re playing some great teams. As I watched both teams, Hofstra and Harvard, I knew we were going to play against really good basketball teams.”
The Wolfpack will now move on to the NIT quarterfinals, where it will host Lipscomb Wednesday night. A trip to New York City and Madison Square Garden will be on the line for the Pack, which wants to just keep playing basketball after the tight win over the Crimson Sunday night.
“Everybody wants to win at this point,” Bryce said. “It’s still D1 basketball. I’m just looking forward to the next game, and I think Lipscomb is going to come out and play good basketball.”
