NC State basketball adjusts mindset after big Clemson loss: ‘Learn, grow and move on’
In what has been a remarkable turnaround season, N.C. State has not had consecutive losses.
After each defeat, there has always been a bounce-back game, an immediate correction. One came after losing at Clemson, the Wolfpack blowing out Duke 84-60 in its next game.
It’s Duke that now stands in the way of a distinction no N.C. State team has held since the 1974 NCAA champions went 30-1 — avoiding back-to-back losses in a regular season.
Again, Clemson factors into things. Again, Duke is next.
The Tigers rolled into PNC Arena on Saturday and smacked the Pack 96-71 in N.C. State’s last home game of the season. Clemson led from start to finish and was the better team in every facet, leaving the Wolfpack players to try and explain what happened and how they plan to respond.
Senior guard Casey Morsell said the Pack’s confidence would not be shaken by the big loss.
“Not at all,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of basketball left. We know how good we can be. We’ve been on the other side of this type of game.”
A few weeks ago, the Wolfpack won by 30 points at Boston College, leaving BC coach Earl Grant to say the Eagles ran into a “buzz saw.” The Pack ran up and down the court at Conte Forum, thoroughly enjoying itself with a big ACC road win.
Clemson was the buzz saw Saturday at PNC Arena. The Tigers hit 10 of their first 14 shots in jumping to a 15-point lead and took a 54-29 lead into halftime.
The Pack was able to weather a hot start by Wake Forest on Wednesday, outscoring the Deacons 52-46 in the first half and winning 90-74 at PNC Arena. But the Wolfpack could not keep pace with the Tigers, whose defense was on another, much more aggressive level than Wake’s.
“I thought we had the same energy against Wake, but it all starts from the first 10 minutes,” Morsell said. “That’s when you kind of establish who you are in the game, and we haven’t been locked in from the beginning. Once we fix that I think things will be different.
“Today we played a team that scored just as good as we usually score and we couldn’t stop it. So, learn, grow and move on.”
There isn’t much time left for fixes. After Duke on Tuesday, the Pack (22-8, 12-7 ACC) will next go to the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.
“For us it all starts with (defensive) stops,” Morsell said. “Our stops lead to momentum on the offensive end, lead to transition. Once we get that energy and get that engine going, we get on runs and are very tough to beat.”
The Blue Devils (21-8, 12-6) are heating up, and at the right time, winning their last four games and seven of the last nine after an 81-65 win Saturday over Virginia Tech. Duke shot a season-best 56.6% from the field against the Hokies as all five starters were in double figures, and is 15-0 at home this season.
Before Saturday, the Pack was 14-1 at home. N.C State’s worst loss of the season was its 14-point defeat at Clemson on Dec 30.
“We’ve had a great year,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said Saturday after the 25-point loss. “I didn’t declare we were going to win a national championship after we played well early this year, so I’m never going to declare the season’s over.
“It’s a tough game. I don’t like it. We have to move past it. We have to figure it out. “
And do it in a few days.
“We need to come back with some grit, come back with some intensity,” Pack guard Terquavion Smith said. “Just bounce back. Come back tough.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2023 at 3:44 PM.
