The NC State men’s basketball team looked like a brand new team as it demolished the No. 21 Virginia Tech Hokies, 104-78, Wednesday night in PNC Arena.
Freshman point guard Dennis Smith Jr. had one of the best games in Wolfpack (12-3, 1-1 ACC) history. He had the second triple-double in school history and the first for NC State against ACC competition with 27 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds.
“It means a lot,” Smith said. “This is a great school, a great program dating back to ‘74 when they won the national championship. To be able to do that at this school is an honor.”
NC State scored over 100 points against the Hokies (12-2, 1-1 ACC), reaching the century mark for the first time since Nov. 19, 2004 against East Carolina. It was also the first time the Wolfpack scored over 100 points against an ACC opponent since Feb. 27, 1991 versus Maryland.
“I thought everybody that played contributed,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “Everybody did something positive.”
The Wolfpack threw the first punch, as it opened the game on a 26-13 run in the first 10 minutes. NC State played balanced on offense, working the ball inside and out. The Pack’s big men made the most of their looks early, as freshman center Omer Yurtseven, junior forward Abdul-Malik Abu and senior forward Beejay Anya combined to shoot 8 of 8 from the floor in the first half.
Abu had a strong performance scoring in the paint and on the glass. The big man showed once again that he can be a force in the interior and finished the contest with 20 points and 11 rebounds while shooting an insane 9 of 9 from the floor. The bouncy forward also had a handful of monstrous throw-downs, igniting the nearly full PNC Arena crowd.
“All credit is due to my teammates,” Abu said. “They found me in positions where I could just catch and finish. I had a feeling I hadn’t missed the whole game. I was like, ‘I don’t want to miss, but I just gotta keep playing.’ It worked out in my favor not to miss today.”
Redshirt senior guard Terry Henderson torched the nets all night, going 7 of 13 from the floor. The veteran guard finished the game with 22 points, adding four 3-pointers.
“I like the toughness that we all brought as a unit today,” Henderson said. “It was great being out there on the floor with those guys. I loved every minute of it.”
The Pack closed the opening half just as it started it, ending on a 29-17 run to go into the locker room with a 55-30 lead over the Hokies.
Virginia Tech tried to claw its way back into the game opening the second half, as it came out trying everything to turn things around. The Hokies opened the first three minutes of the half on a 10-0 run, pressing NC State full-court and taking advantage of poor fouls and turnovers by the Pack. However, NC State refused to squander its 25-point halftime advantage. The Wolfpack continued to play physical, cleaning up its own misses and scoring in the paint almost at will.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Gottfried said. “They’re a ranked opponent. It was a great team effort for us tonight beating a team that I thought coming into this game was probably playing as hot as anybody in the country to be quite honest.”
There were plenty of dunks that elicited awe from the crowd. However, no dunk could top the one that came from Smith with about six minutes left in the game. Smith took a steal the length of the court, and finished with a video-game esque reverse slam that sent the crowd into a frenzy. The superstar guard proceeded to have his way with the Hokies in the second half, driving to the paint and getting to the foul line with ease.
The Wolfpack played to its true potential. Four Wolfpack players finished in double-digit scoring and the Pack’s playmakers shined against a ranked ACC team that just knocked off then-No. 5 Duke last week. The tremendous upside many mentioned before the season was finally evident in a bounce-back effort after a disappointing loss to Miami to open ACC play.
“It’s a group of a lot of players who haven’t played a lot at this level,” Gottfried said. “They have to learn what it takes to win. I thought tonight they came out with great urgency; their attention to detail the last two days was better. It was a completely different approach to the game for our team. Hopefully our guys are going to understand now that that’s what it takes to have a chance in this league.”
The Pack will head back out on the road for its next game, taking on its archrival, No. 14 UNC-Chapel Hill Tar Heels Saturday at the Dean Dome.
Junior forward Abdul-Malik Abu and redshirt sophomore guard Torin Dorn laugh. The Wolfpack dominated Virginia Tech on all sides of the ball in PNC Arena on Jan. 4, 2017 with a 104-78 win, the first ACC win over 100 points since 1991.
