Short-handed Wolfpack earns tough win over Panthers

The No. 15 NC State men’s basketball team took on the Pittsburgh Panthers in PNC Arena Saturday afternoon, and came out with a 86-80 win.

The game was tightly contested throughout, and multiple lead changes occurred, with Pitt leading for a good portion of the second half. A 29-19 run to end the game helped push the Pack (14-2, 2-1 ACC) over the Panthers (11-5, 1-2 ACC), led by graduate guard Eric Lockett, redshirt sophomore forward DJ Funderburk and redshirt sophomore guard Devon Daniels.

“Devon Daniels had some good moments during the game where I thought he played well.” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Nobody played bigger than the guy who didn’t play the last game who was Eric Lockett.”

The late run to win the game was primarily led by Lockett and Funderburk. Lockett finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, two assists and strong defensive plays, after not playing in the last game.

Lockett himself believed that the game just came to him, and that a personal 8-2 run against the Panthers, including two great 3-pointers, was natural.

“I don’t know what it is, it’s just me going out and playing as hard as I can,” Lockett said. “It just felt like it was in the flow of the game, it was natural and it wasn’t me going out of my way to do anything extra, it was just playing basketball the right way.”

Lockett did not play against UNC-Chapel Hill, but he did not let that deter him from coming onto the court and making an immediate impact.

“After Eric Lockett didn’t play in the Carolina game and I told my guys in the locker room, he could have easily went out that night and partied and just be unhappy with what happened but he didn’t do that,” Keatts said. “I got a text after the Carolina game that Eric Lockett was over in the Dail Center, which is our practice facility, he was getting shots up, he never complained. The next time we were in the gym he smiled, he worked hard so he is a mature young man. A lot of our guys can learn a lot from that.”

Lockett’s performance even inspired his teammates, and helped spark the Pack’s late runs.

“That’s beautiful to me,” Funderburk said.”I personally would have had my head down coming into this game if I didn’t play in the last two, but he showed something different.”

The Wolfpack played the majority of the game with only eight available players. Graduate forward Wyatt Walker was pushed to the ground during a Pitt drive early in the game. Walker tripped a Panthers’ player and was assessed a standard and flagrant foul, ejecting him and giving Pitt four free throws.

The Pack played the rest of the game with only one true big man in Funderburk. After the ejection of Walker, Funderburk stepped in to play the five, and helped spark multiple runs for the Pack.

Whenever Funderburk was subbed out, the Pack ran with a small-ball lineup that made the tallest player on the court freshman Jericole Hellems, at 6-foot-7.

“It’s just a testimony to the chip on our shoulder that we play with,” Funderburk said. “How hard we play and just coming together as a brotherhood and trying to figure out what we doing wrong and just come down and get the win at the end of the game.”

Shortly after the Walker ejection, junior guard Markell Johnson hit the ground hard and did not get up for quite some time. Johnson was escorted to the locker room with some help, and eventually returned to the bench but not the game.

The ejection of Walker and the injury to Johnson showed the physical aggression displayed by both teams. In the first nine minutes of the game, a total of fourteen fouls were called, with seven being called on each team.

This number was pushed to 20 fouls for both teams, with Pitt still having seven fouls and the Pack having 13 in the first half. By the end of the game, 40 fouls were called, with the Pack being called for 19 and the Panthers being called for 21.

Turnovers were also plentiful in the game, with the teams combining for 30 turnovers, with 13 coming from the Pack and 17 coming from Pitt.

Towards the end of the first, the Pack went on a 12-7 run, with Daniels scoring nine of 12 of the points for the Pack.

Pitt took its first lead of the game with about a minute left to play in the first half at 40-39, but a Lockett bucket pushed the Pack lead to 41-40 at the half.

Daniels was strong for the Pack in the first half, recording 15 points on 88 percent shooting to go along with three rebounds. Funderburk also had a solid first half, recording six points, three blocks and two rebounds.

Another key factor in the game was the abundance of offensive rebounds for the Pack. The Pack grabbed 21 offensive rebounds, with Funderburk getting six of them.

Funderburk played exceptionally well in the absence of Walker, finishing the game with 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks which were all career highs. Funderburk also finished the game with a plus-11 point margin when he was on the court, tied with Beverly for the team high.

“We had some great contributions from a lot of guys, DJ Funderburk who was put in a tough situation,” Keatts said. “I thought he played great.”

Redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn also played a good game, finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. While Dorn did not score as much, he was able to do the little things for the Pack that helped lead to the win, including his team-leading five assists.

The second half was back-and-forth with both teams taking the lead then promptly giving the lead away. Pitt led for most of the second half with 58-53 being the Panthers’ biggest lead of the game. However, NC State was able to bounce back with the strong run and finish out strong.

While Daniels did not play as much in the second half, he still provided a spark for the team, hitting a couple of clutch shots and a strong block on the defensive end to help seal the win. Daniels was the leading scorer with 19 points on 64 percent shooting from the floor, four rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal.

The Wolfpack will be back in action Tuesday in Winston-Salem with an ACC matchup against Wake Forest at 8 p.m.