WINSTON-SALEM – NC State men’s basketball suffered a disappointing 71-67 loss at Wake Forest Tuesday evening. The Wolfpack (14-3, 2-2 ACC) has lost six of its last seven games at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum against the Demon Deacons (8-8, 1-3 ACC).
“It’s a tough place to play,” redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn said. “Wake looks at us as rivals. They play extremely hard when they play us, but there’s certain things that we have to do in order to win games on the road.”
One of the things you have to do to win on the road is make your baskets. NC State couldn’t, shooting 37 percent from the field and 21 percent from 3-point range.
In junior guard Markell Johnson’s absence, the Wolfpack got off to a rough start. Sophomore guard Braxton Beverley filled in for Johnson, who was out with a back injury, and Beverly struggled to facilitate the offense
“Markell’s a big part of our team,” said redshirt junior guard C.J. Bryce. “[Our] starting point guard, his absence definitely hurt us but, we gotta step in in his place. We still have to play basketball.”
Dorn stepped up to provide a spark, taking his man off the dribble on multiple occasions for easy baskets. Dorn ended the first half responsible for almost 50 percent of NC State’s points.
Wake Forest settled in after the first few minutes of the contest; after turning the ball over four times in the first five minutes of the game, the Demon Deacons took care of the rock and clamped down on the boards to build a 24-16 lead, forcing a Wolfpack timeout.
As things got better for Wake Forest, they got worse for NC State. For every missed Wolfpack field-goal attempt, the Demon Deacons seemed to make one. When Dorn hit a jumper, the Deacons responded with a rim-rocking dunk.
Down 10 points at one point in the first half, Dorn simply refused to allow the Wolfpack to get blown out. The redshirt senior forward was the Wolfpack’s offense, scoring almost half its points and energizing his teammates. The baskets weren’t falling for the Pack, but its fight was apparent.
Effort won’t get you results against a team that’s also playing hard, though, and defensive breakdowns gave the Demon Deacons easy basket after easy basket. To go up 42-27 at the end of the first half, Wake Forest knifed through NC State’s press like butter for a wide-open 3-pointer, and for the first time that night, Wake Forest’s fans believed their team could win the game as their home court got loud to send the team into the locker room.
NC State’s offensive struggles affected their defense, something the Wolfpack knows can’t happen again.
“Letting them get fastbreak points [and] wide open shots, that hurt us really bad in the first half,” Bryce said.
In the second half, NC State’s 15-point hole ballooned to 22 as Wake Forest point guard Brandon Childress dissected the Wolfpack with the pick and roll. Finally, NC State’s 3-point attempts began to fall. Three 3-pointers from Beverly spurred on a renewed effort from NC State — on both ends.
“You can’t spot teams 22 points,” Dorn said. “You can’t spot teams like that and expect to come back and win games. You gotta play from start to finish.”
With 12 minutes left in the second half, NC State drew within 9 points after a careless Wake pass and a tough layup by graduate guard Eric Lockett and suddenly the tables had turned. The rattled Deacons pointed fingers at each other as NC State went on a 25-5 run to close the gap to 56-54.
“I know my team is going to fight,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Everybody knows we play hard we won’t lay down. But at the end of the day we cannot keep continuing to dig ourselves holes and getting out of it. We’ve got to do a better job as a staff getting ready to play when we come out of the locker room.”
With its pick and roll game stymied, Wake Forest switched to dribble handoffs and found success in the halfcourt with back-to-back layups. The Demon Deacons crafted a 64-58 advantage with four minutes remaining in the game as NC State became cold again from the field.
With the game on the line, NC State’s leader took the game in his hands. Dorn sliced his way to the basket in transition, laying the ball in despite a foul. Under two minutes and down six points, Bryce went on a personal 5-0 run to bring the Wolfpack within one. After a jumper by Wake’s Johnson and free throw from Bryce, Wake Forest clung to a 69-67 lead with 36 seconds remaining.
Childress ran the clock down under 10 seconds and drove but couldn’t get into the lane. He was forced to pass the ball to Johnson, who was fouled by sophomore Devon Daniels. Johnson sunk both and put the game out of reach.
“We closed the gap, we just didn’t make enough plays to win the game,” Dorn said. “[It’s] just disappointing. We fought back so hard, to not pull that out in the end, it’s disappointing”
The Wolfpack travels to South Bend, Indiana on Saturday to take on Notre Dame.
Redshirt junior guard C.J. Bryce tries to get around a Wake Forest defender during the game on Tuesday, Jan. 15 in Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Despite Bryce scoring 17 points, the Wolfpack still lost to the Demon Deacons 71-67.
