The NC State men’s basketball team dropped the second game of its season series to Syracuse, losing 77-68 to the Orange in PNC Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 9.
While the Wolfpack was shooting over 50% in the first half, the high amount of turnovers for the Pack seemed to be the difference for this game. NC State ended this matchup with 20 turnovers, 13 in the first half alone, compared to Syracuse’s 12 overall.
“The game speaks for itself,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “What’s a little frustrating is we turned the ball over 20 times, which is really not characteristic of us. I know we’ve had a few issues this year turning the ball over, but it was not a good night in that area… It’s just not good enough.”
The Pack ended a close first half, only down by one, with the largest lead by any team in the first half only being a mere six points. However, this was not the story for the second half. For the remainder of the game, Syracuse was able to hold the lead until the final buzzer. Even when NC State was able to find its shot in the second half, the Orange always found a way to answer.
“I felt fortunate at the half,” Keatts said. “We were down one but committed 13 turnovers. It actually could have been a lot worse because of the way we had turned the ball over. We have turned the ball over a little bit more this year then we’ve had in the past, that’s because we don’t have leadership in that area. But at the end of the day, we have to have better ball security.”
While NC State was able to reduce its turnovers in the second half, its poor shooting percentage made it impossible to overcome the Orange. With the Wolfpack shooting just 37.5% in the second half, Syracuse had ample opportunity to run up on the Pack, going up with leads as large as 11.
“I honestly just think we second guess every decision we made,” said redshirt senior forward D.J. Funderburk. “Those second guesses gave them extra opportunities to get steals.”
Showing up for the Pack tonight was redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen, who led the team with 17 points tonight. Allen showed himself to a crucial part of the team’s offense, hitting 3s to hold Syracuse to a tight game. At the end of the game, Allen was 4-for-8 from the 3-point line.
“He played well,” Keatts said. “He needed it; he needed to see the ball go in the hole. It was good for him. He’s been struggling. He hasn’t been able to see the ball go in the hole, and it happened for him tonight.”
Also leading the Wolfpack tonight in scoring was Funderburk, who ended the night with 14 points. Funderburk proved to be reliable on the line, going 6-for-7 in addition to being 4-for-6 from the field.
Joining Allen and Funderburk in double digits was junior forward Jericole Hellems with 11 points, who has stepped up and has proven himself to be a leader on the squad in the absence of redshirt senior guard Devon Daniels. Also having a strong game was redshirt sophomore forward Manny Bates, who put up eight points and three blocks.
With a quick turnaround to Duke over the weekend, NC State has many problems to address if it wants to start securing some wins. Following Duke, the Wolfpack has no breaks before facing Pittsburgh and then Wake Forest again next week.
“We’ve just got to be more locked in, mentally tougher,” Funderburk said. “There’s nothing without skill. We can guard, we can score. We’ve just got to avoid the mental breakdowns.”
The Wolfpack will host Duke at home in PNC Arena on Saturday, Feb. 13. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
