What led to Markell Johnson’s technical and NC State’s loss
Markell Johnson might have to come up with a new way to celebrate making a 3-pointer.
The N.C. State guard likes to say the name “Tracy” after hitting a 3. By itself, the wordplay on “trey” is harmless.
After Johnson buried a corner 3 at 13:08 in the second half against No. 12 Auburn on Thursday night, it turned into a technical foul from referee Ron Groover.
“I said ‘Tracy’ when I hit a 3 and he just hit me with a tech,” Johnson said.
It cost him. It cost his team.
Johnson picked up his fourth foul 44 seconds later and it spelled the end of N.C. State’s best chance to beat Auburn for the second straight year.
The Tigers used a late run to pick up a 79-73 win over the Wolfpack. Johnson had 17 points and 10 assists and was effective against Auburn’s ultra-athletic lineup when he was able to stay on the floor.
That wasn’t really possible when he had four fouls with 12:24 left in the game. Johnson had been jawing with Auburn guards J’Von McCormick and Jamal Johnson throughout the game.
At one point during a stoppage in the first half, referees Doug Shows and Pat Adams took turns going over to Johnson and seemingly warning him about the trash talk. Johnson said he wasn’t warned in the first half by either official.
N.C. State guard C.J. Bryce and Auburn guard Allen Flanigan actually picked up matching technicals at 14:35 for a confrontation after a Flanigan basket.
“It was getting really chippy there, so I feel like they wanted to keep guys in check,” Bryce said. “I understand it.”
But Johnson didn’t quite get the message. Even if his actions didn’t warrant being tee’d up, he has to be able to read the room better.
Johnson’s too valuable to get caught up in a sideshow. Just look at what happened when N.C. State played Georgia Tech without him in the opener. Then look at some of Georgia Tech’s subsequent results.
Throw in Auburn’s size and talent and the Wolfpack needed everything it could get from Johnson to win on Thursday. It was Johnson’s career-high 27 points last season which propelled the Wolfpack to the win over the Tigers in Raleigh.
Even with Johnson on the bench for about a 6-minute stretch, N.C. State was able to stay close. Bryce had 21 points and junior forward D.J. Funderburk showed some signs of finding his previous form.
That effort, overall, was encouraging for the Wolfpack.
“Listen, I couldn’t be more proud of a team,” coach Kevin Keatts said. “We fought. It was a great game against a top 10, top 15 team on their floor.”
N.C. State didn’t learn much from a five-game win streak in November against a group of out-matched teams.
The past five games have been more revealing. N.C. State lost to a more athletic Memphis team in Brooklyn by five points on Nov. 28.
N.C. State did beat Wisconsin at home during the stretch and got road wins at Wake Forest and UNC-Greensboro. That set up Thursday’s trip to Auburn, which will probably be the most athletic team N.C. State sees all season.
“We’re playing as hard as we can every single night but we have to be smarter coming down the stretch,” Bryce said. “I feel like in this game and the Memphis game, we had a lot of unforced errors down the stretch that you can’t have against really good teams. That’s something we have to get better at.”
Smarter is always better.
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 1:48 AM.
