Somewhere in the midst of an 83-65 ambush on N.C. State, senior Tony Bethel came to a realization.
Maybe it came after watching senior leader Ilian Evtimov, typically a model of craftiness, hurl a no-look pass at the Wolfpack bench. Maybe it came after seeing the high-flying Cameron Bennerman come up short on an alley-oop attempt. Or maybe it came after his own dunk attempt was thrown out by the uncompromising rim. Somewhere in the midst of the meltdown, Bethel had a thought.
“It was just one of those nights,” Bethel said.
On a night when the State’s fortune was written in Murphy’s Law, it was the only answer Bethel had for an effort he called “extremely discouraging.” Speaking through a blank stare and a grim tone, Bethel gave his best explanation as to what went wrong.
“They just out-toughed us,” Bethel said. “We haven’t played like this all season, and it really hurts.”
Bethel, who played two years of Big East basketball at Georgetown, was familiar with Seton Hall’s squad. The Pirates’ certainly faired better on this trip to the Triangle than their last, in which they endured a 53-point massacre at Duke earlier this season.
Although the loss will have no effect on the Pack’s conference standing, Bethel said that fact was of little consolation.
“You can say it doesn’t matter as much because it doesn’t go on the ACC record, but it goes on our record,” Bethel said. “There’s no erasing this game out of your memory.”
A simple scan down the stat line provides plenty of answers as to what went wrong for State.
The Pirates had a 41-27 rebounding advantage. In the first half, the Pirates had two more offensive rebounds than State had total rebounds.
Field goal percentage also weighed heavily in Seton Hall’s favor, as they connected on over 47 percent of their shots. State conversely shot an icy 37 percent.
But numbers and percents can’t fully explain what went awry for the Pack. Riding a season-long undefeated home record, the Pack crawled out of the gates and were down by double digits before many in attendance could find their seats.
“A loss is a loss, but it’s even worse when we’re in front of fans,” senior Ilian Evtimov said. “20,000 fans came to support us, and we were just an embarrassment.”
In addition to it being the Pack’s first loss at home this season, Engin Atsur also delivered his first scoreless performance in nearly two years. Atsur missed all five of his field goal attempts.
The typically stoic Herb Sendek even walked into an anomaly when he was called for a technical foul after disputing an early second-half foul call. After the game, Sendek used one word to describe seemingly every facet of State’s effort — poor.
“Our half court defense was poor, our half-court offense was poor, our first half effort was poor, our rebounding was poor,” Sendek said. “We just weren’t very good tonight, what else can I say?”
