NC State rolls to its fifth straight win, knocks off Notre Dame, 80-69
If this was in fact the final regular-season game of the year for N.C. State, then the Wolfpack ended things with a bang.
N.C. State extended its winning streak to five games, defeating Notre Dame 80-69 in South Bend. The five-game ACC win streak is the first of its kind for the Wolfpack since 2004. N.C. State has now won four in a row over Notre Dame.
“Man, I’m pumped,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Our guys played extremely well on the road again.”
N.C. State has won five straight ACC road games dating back to a win at Boston College on Feb. 6. The Wolfpack was supposed to end the regular season at home against Virginia Tech on Saturday, but that game was canceled earlier on Wednesday.
School officials said they would try to schedule a makeup game for Saturday. If that’s not done, Keatts probably will have no issue ending the regular season the way his team did in South Bend.
N.C. State (13-9, 9-8) trailed for all of 11 seconds before blasting out the gates for an 11-2 run. Notre Dame would battle back to tie the score at 11, but a 7-0 run, sparked by freshman Shakeel Moore, was the final push the Wolfpack needed.
Moore and classmates Cam Hayes and Dereon Seabron put on their best performance, combining for 45 points. Junior wing Jericole Hellems continued to step up since the injury to Devon Daniels in January, scoring 13 points. Hayes scored a career-high 20 points and Seabron scored a career-high 17 and pulled down 13 boards.
“Last game it was the veterans,” Keatts said. “This game I thought our young guys came out and played well.”
Hayes has now scored in double figures in four of the past five games and led the team in scoring for the second time in the last three games. He tied his season-high with three made three-pointers and his play early sparked Seabron, who has started five consecutive games now, improving with the extending minutes.
“Me, Cam and Shak, we just go out there and play our hardest,” Seabron said. “If we see someone playing (well), we just pick up off their energy and keep bringing it.”
With 20 games under his belt, Hayes knows the freshman can’t call themselves young anymore.
“It’s towards the end of the season,” Hayes said. “So we try to play like upperclassmen.”
The Irish (9-14, 6-11) cut it to single digits with a 12-0 run in the final minute, making things interesting as the Pack missed the front end of three straight one and ones. But D.J. Funderburk (eight points, four rebounds) broke free for a slam with 46 seconds remaining to extend the lead to 78-69 with 32 seconds remaining.
As it stands, N.C. State would be the No. 10 seed in the ACC Tournament and play on Tuesday versus Miami, a team that won in PNC Arena, 64-59, on Jan. 9. But the Wolfpack heads to Greensboro as the hottest team in the conference, having not lost a game since Feb. 13. A Duke loss on Saturday could push the Pack to the Wednesday round of tournament play.
“Our guys feel good about themselves,” Keatts said. “I’m happy where the team is at. Obviously, we don’t feel like we are done; we’ve got work to do.”
Keatts wouldn’t take the bait, refusing to comment on any postseason play beyond Greensboro. But there is no denying this is a different team with its sights set on continuing this run.
“It’s a lot of confidence for us now that we are on a winning streak,” Hayes said. “Once we got on a winning streak, we all kind of bought in and stayed the course and stayed focused on reaching our ultimate goal and that was finishing with a winning record and finishing the season strong.”
This story was originally published March 3, 2021 at 7:04 PM.
