After a run to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament, the Wolfpack’s journey to New Orleans fell short with a loss to the Kansas Jayhawks coming down to the final seconds of the contest.
The basket seemed as if it was as wide as the ocean for the Pack in the opening minutes. State got out to an early 9-1 lead in the first four minutes of the game, which included a three-pointer from sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown and a layup in transition from sophomore forward C.J. Leslie.
Those minutes proved to be the exact opposite for KU, as it couldn’t hit on its first five field goals until forward Thomas Robinson came up with a layup inside following a timeout from Kansas head coach, Bill Self.
KU went on a 20-4 run from that point, getting the score to 23-17 with seven minutes left in the half. The Pack missed nine straight from the field during that stretch, but its offense got a boost from two consecutive fast break buckets from Leslie.
In the closing moments of the half, Robinson put the Jayhawks up by four, 32-28. State responded with a three-pointer from junior forward Scott Wood, and a layup from Leslie in the final seconds gave State the lead going into the half, 33-32.
Kansas center Jeff Withey clogged the paint in the first half with seven blocks.
“We grew up, we proved a lot,” head coach Gottfried said. “It’s just tough because we felt we certainly had a chance and could’ve won the game. Kansas just made some key plays at some key times, and they played well defensively, especially around the rim.”
State was also plagued with foul trouble in the first half. Howell and Leslie picked up two fouls each and junior forward DeShawn Painter picked up three in the first half.
The second half opened with a 12-2 Kansas run and Leslie picked up his fourth foul. That, along with cramping, kept him on the bench for the majority of the half. This resulted in the Jayhawks getting out to a 50-40 lead.
“He’s a great asset to our team, he’s probably our best low post scorer and he can really get himself something with the ball,” Wood said. “He brings a lot of energy on the offensive and defensive end. Any time he gets into a little bit of foul trouble it hurts us. I think DeShawn and [freshman forward] Tyler Harris did a good job of coming in and helping us out.”
State clawed back into the game and reduced the gap to one with the score at 58-57 with more than a minute left after a dunk from senior forward C.J. Williams. With the score sitting still for the next minute, Kansas forward Elijah Johnson caught an inbound pass and finished the play with a layup to push its lead 60-57 with 13 seconds left in the contest.
After a timeout by Gottfried, Brown attempted to throw a crosscourt pass to Wood coming off of a fade screen, but Wood stepped out of bounds, giving Kansas possession with eight seconds left.
The Pack got another shot at sending the game into overtime with 2.9 seconds left on the clock. Following another State timeout, Williams threw a full court pass to Howell and he attempted a three-point shot with the clock winding down, but it fell short. The Jayhawks walked away from a thriller with the win, and the Wolfpack season ended.
Reflecting on the latter part of the season, Leslie and Gottfried spoke on the impact of the coaching change and the team’s success.
“The results speak for itself,” Leslie said. “Nobody expected us to be here. You can pretty much tell the proof is in the pudding in this situation.”
“One thing I said to our guys is that the entire Wolfpack nation, the alumni, the city of Raleigh, our community, these guys helped generate some excitement for our school,” Gottfried said. “More than anything, I just told them ‘thank you.'”
