The NC State Wolfpack men’s basketball team (6-3, 1-0 ACC) shook off a tough three-game skid with an 84-74 overtime win over the Florida State Seminoles (7-3, 0-1 ACC), their first game of ACC play this season.
The Wolfpack turned in a big second half and OT performance by senior guard Dontrez Styles to lead them to the win. 19 of Styles’ 21 points – a season-high – came after the first half and he was a big clutch factor for the Pack.
“I thought Dontrez Styles was tremendous in the second half,” said NC State coach Kevin Keatts. “He made play after play.”
It was also a big game for senior guard Marcus Hill who has started to find his scoring touch after a tough go in San Diego. Hill had just nine points across the two games at the Rady Children’s Invitational but has now had back-to-back games in double digits.
In 33 minutes against the Seminoles, Hill had a season-high and team-high 23 points on 7-for-12 shooting from the field.
“Both of those guys [Styles and Hill] in San Diego, they were 3-for-12 and both of those guys the last two games have been really good for us,” Keatts said.
NC State led for a majority of the game, but the court started to tilt halfway through the second half as Florida State’s Malique Ewin started to heat up.
The Seminoles took their biggest lead of the game (6) with 3:44 to go in the second half. After that basket, Keatts called a timeout and got his group refocused.
“I wanted us to stay solid,” Keatts said. “I thought we had done some boneheaded stuff and we switched out and we didn’t read and we didn’t switch to the inside and we gave up some easy baskets. The great thing about when you gotta a new bunch is they are a new bunch so it’s like you can learn a lot of things.”
The Wolfpack responded with two strong runs to once again along with Ewin, who ended the game with 24 points and nine rebounds, picking up his fifth foul of the game and that was just what NC State needed to get back into it.
“Ewin, I thought he did a tremendous job,” Keatts said. “He was scoring the basketball, he was rebounding the basketball and I thought when he fouled out of the game, they lost a little bit of their scoring and rebounding inside and they became more of a perimeter team.”
Following that foul out, the Pack couldn’t quite hang on to its slim lead, but they took off to start overtime and never looked back.
One of the most impressive aspects of the win for the Wolfpack was their committed effort to rebounding against the second tallest lineup in NCAA DI basketball.
The Pack allowed just 11 offensive boards and went even overall in rebounding (32-32). Keatts even consistently ran out a small-ball lineup that seemed to give Florida State a lot of trouble with its quickness and tenacity.
“It means a lot,” Keatts said. “It means we’re growing.”
“I was concerned. Two of the things I didn’t like was we didn’t do a good job last game in transition and we didn’t do a good job blocking out. We made it an emphasis tonight that we were going to hit somebody and not give up 14 or 15 offensive rebounds.”
On top of being the Pack’s first ACC win, it also broke Florida State’s record of 14 straight overtime victories which dated back to January 13, 2018 and ended a three game slide for NC State.
“For us, it meant a little bit more,” Keatts said. “We had dropped three games against three really good teams, we were at home and obviously it was the first ACC game early in December. I thought our guys came out, responded and answered the bell.”
“This team needed an early win together. We hadn’t had one, this particular group, and we needed a nice win together and we got one. We needed a win where we made some mistakes but we came back that way we could grow. I think this is the best thing that could have happened to us. We’ve had more adversity than we’ve had success and winning this game will really help us.”
The Wolfpack will next take on Coppin State Dec. 10 at Reynolds Coliseum as part of its annual Heritage Game.
