The NC State men’s basketball team defeated the Demon Deacons 72-67 (4-7, 1-7 ACC) on Wednesday, Jan. 27 to break its four-game losing streak. 

“It was good to get back on the right track; I thought our guys played extremely well today,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “We had two really good practices, and what made it special was that, for the first time, I’ve had everybody at practice and everybody healthy, so the competition in practice was really good.”

While the Wolfpack (7-5, 3-4 ACC) was able to pull out the win, it was certainly not pretty. Both teams struggled to get points on the board, suffering a nearly four-minute scoring drought in the first half. NC State ended the half with nine turnovers, finishing with a total of 17.

“When we play the way we play, we are going to have some turnovers,” Keatts said. “We play fast. We’ll clean it up; we’ve been working on it. We haven’t played a lot of nonconference games where you can clean it up, so it’s starting to show it’s head right here.”

To make matters worse for the Pack, redshirt senior guard Devon Daniels took a hard fall in the second half, sending him off for the remainder of the game and leaving him unable to walk on his left leg. While getting the win was huge for NC State, eyes were focused on the health of Daniels, hoping for a quick recovery. Before exiting the match, Daniels scored 20 points for the Wolfpack, ending the game as its leading scorer.

“It didn’t look good; he was holding his knee and we don’t know anything yet,” said redshirt senior forward D.J. Funderburk. “When we saw him go down, it gave us a little extra motivation to win the game for him.”

Also a huge performer for the night was junior forward Jericole Hellems, who ended the game with 17 points for the Wolfpack. Hellems came in clutch for NC State to help the Wolfpack secure the victory, ending a scoring drought within the last couple of minutes of the match after Daniels left the court. With the Pack only up by five with a minute left in the game, Hellems was able to sink both free throws to protect the Wolfpack’s lead and finish the game. 

“Jericole played great down the stretch,” Keatts said. “He made a jump shot; he made the free throws. It’s going to be important that he continues to get better. I’m proud of him for continuing to fight and get better. We are going to need him regardless of the situation as we go down the stretch.”

Also contributing to the Pack’s performance was freshman guard Shakeel Moore, who has the ability to drill 3s when NC State needs it most. Moore was able to knock down a 3 in the first half to push the Wolfpack into a lead, which the Pack never lost. Moore finished the night with nine points, including two 3-point shots.

Throughout injury and turnovers, the Wolfpack was able to grab the win as it will continue to move through conference play and build as a team. 

“A win is a win at the end of the day,” Hellems said. “It’s a blessing to have a win.”

Next up, NC State will look to add another win as it travels to Syracuse at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 31.