No. 20 NC State handles Loyola (Md.) in final warmup for ACC play

The warmup phase of the college basketball season is over for N.C. State.

It’s on to ACC play for the Wolfpack after Friday’s 97-64 win over Loyola (Md.). Senior Torin Dorn scored 17 points and had eight rebounds to lead a balanced effort.

No. 20 N.C. State improved 12-1 with the ACC opener at Miami on Thursday next up.

“I thought we did a tremendous job in the nonconference,” coach Kevin Keatts said. “If you told me we would be 12-1, I probably would have taken it.”

Friday wasn’t the sharpest effort of the nonconference portion of the schedule for the Wolfpack but it was effective all the same. Star guard Markell Johnson was out of sorts, scoreless in 14 minutes, and on the bench for much of the second half.

“Markell was low energy,” Keatts said. “When you are low energy, you don’t play for me.”

So Keatts dialed up another guard, Braxton Beverly had 13 points, and shuffled the lineup. N.C. State’s strength thus far this season has been its depth. The 10-man rotation has been effective, particularly on the defensive end, with N.C. State wearing its opponents out.

The Greyhounds (4-9) turned the ball over 21 times and N.C. State blocked a season-high 13 shots (four by forward D.J. Funderburk) in Friday’s win.

Loyola trailed only 28-25 with 6 minutes left in the first half and was as close as 13 points early in the second half. Beverly’s 3-pointer at 12:35 pushed the margin back to 63-43 and N.C. State cruised from there.

Now the Wolfpack makes the turn into conference play two games ahead of last year’s pace. That team was able to win 11 ACC games and make the NCAA tournament. More will be expected of this remodeled group, which is the first N.C. State team to be ranked in the top 25 since 2013.

This was the first game since N.C. State cracked the top 25, on the heels of a 78-71 win over Auburn. The ranking was not a topic of discussion, said Dorn, who was around for the lean years.

“I don’t think anything is different in house, it’s business as usual,” Dorn said. But it’s definitely cool to get some recognition for the work we have put in.”

That work hasn’t gone unnoticed by Keatts. N.C. State’s lone loss was at Wisconsin (79-75 on Nov. 27). There were no other hiccups, like last year’s home loss to UNC-Greensboro. Ten of N.C. State’s 12 wins have been by double-digits, including a pair of wins over Power 5 foes Penn State and Vanderbilt.

Much of the nonconference schedule scraped the bottom of the KenPom rankings (eight teams are 290 or worse) but N.C. State crushed those teams by an average of 35.8 points.

“I’m proud of the way these guys have taken care of business and how professional they have been and how hard they have worked throughout these nonconference games,” Keatts said.

And now it’s on to the ACC.

This story was originally published December 28, 2018 at 8:52 PM.