Gavin Grant drove to the basket, went up for a dunk and then, as a defender came down on him, still found a way to put the ball in the hoop.
The shot ended the half and put N.C. State up 45-33. The junior forward then walked up to the referee, and with a big smile, put his hand out for a high five.
“I tried to give him a five, but I guess he wasn’t feeling it,” Grant said jokingly. “It seemed like I was getting killed. I wanted some calls.”
“Nah, once again, the refs did a great job.”
He wouldn’t get a foul or a high five, but he did get exactly what his team needed — a big ACC win.
The 81-56 thrashing against Virginia Tech at the RBC Center Sunday afternoon moved the Wolfpack to 14-11 overall and 4-8 in the ACC. It also halted State’s three-game skid and set up Wednesday’s matchup against North Carolina.
Sophomore forward Ben McCauley said ending the losing streak in front of the fans was important to the players.
“We’ve had some tough losses here the past couple games,” McCauley said. “It was great not just to get the win, but to get the win in front of our home crowd.”
Grant said the team was tired of losing and that “everybody’s got a point.” However, coach Sidney Lowe said the difference was in the team’s focus.
“We felt we had a couple bad games,” Lowe said. “The focus was there today and we showed that we do still have something left in the tank.”
State shot better than 66 percent from the field, including 11-of-15 from the three-point line. The Pack didn’t miss from behind the arc in the second half, going 6-for-6.
Asked if he had ever seen such a good shooting performance, Lowe didn’t have any doubt.
“No, I haven’t,” he said. “We were very patient. We were patient on the offensive end. We didn’t settle for any shots; we ran it through, and we tried to force them to play defense for longer periods of time. And as a result, we were able to get some open looks.”
Sophomore guard Courtney Fells, who shot 6-for-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc, said the team executed well on offense.
“We just ran the offense well, took good shots, played inside-out,” Fells said. “The shots came, and we were able to knock them down.”
McCauley added that the team’s execution led to layups and open shots.
“There were times we were getting wide-open layups,” McCauley said. “That comes with working on the offensive end and running our offense and getting the open shot, like we know how to do.”
The Tar Heels are next for the Wolfpack Wednesday night. While Lowe talked to his team extensively about the rivalry before the first matchup, he said now there is no need.
“You don’t have to talk about it anymore,” Lowe said. “It’s not even going to be what I say anyway. They’re gonna know [today]; they’re gonna know the next day based on what they’re gonna hear from students and faculty, whomever. They’re gonna know once we get over to that arena.”
