NC State looks energetic in impressive win over Davidson in opening round of NIT
N.C. State definitely looked like a team that wanted to be there.
The Wolfpack wasn’t just going through the motions in the NIT’s first round, and it was apparent from the start. N.C. State got a dunk off the opening tip from Jericole Hellems and that got things going as the Wolfpack rolled to a 75-61 win over Davidson on Thursday.
N.C. State (14-10) will take on the winner of Buffalo and Colorado State in the next round of the tournament on March 25.
The last time Wolfpack fans saw the team in action was a rather forgettable performance in the first-round loss to Syracuse in the ACC tournament on March 9. The team regrouped and proved it wanted to extend the season, jumping out to a double-digit lead in the first half Thursday and clicking on all cylinders for most of the night.
“I thought we were great,” Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts said. “What I mean is I thought our ball pressure was good, we moved the ball. We executed the game plan probably better than we have the entire year. We wanted to play inside out; our post guys were tremendous.”
Davidson (13-9) cut the lead to eight at the half and four early in the second half and that’s when N.C. State turned it up a notch. The Wolfpack hit seven straight shots from the floor, outscoring Davidson 16-8 during the key stretch.
“I thought we got great shots,” Wildcats coach Bob McKillop said. “Sometimes you need that to get over the hump against a team that’s been in the lead the whole time and we just never got over the hump.”
D.J. Funderburk, one of the seniors who encouraged Keatts to accept the NIT invite, got things started with an old-fashioned three-point play. During that sequence of seven-straight baskets, the Wolfpack hit four shots from 3-point range. N.C. State was 2 of 7 from 3 in the first half, but got triples from three different players — Hellems, Cam Hayes and Dereon Seabron — during the key stretch of separation.
Seabron, a 15% 3-point shooter coming into the game, hit two during that run. He had only connected on three made triples all season.
Funderburk set the tone for the Wolfpack, scoring 14 points in the first half, finishing with 21 points and tying a season-high. Funderburk has now scored in double figures in nine of the past 10 games for N.C. State. He got help from Hellems (13) and Bates (14) in the frontcourt. The Pack outscored the Wildcats 38-26 in the post.
“They came out and played the way you’re supposed to play basketball,” Keatts said. “That was fun. If you’re a Wolfpack fan and you watched that game, you have to say that was a fun game. It was N.C. State basketball.”
With the possibility of his college career coming to an end in the next few weeks, Funderburk wanted to take advantage of the chance to keep playing, hence why he wanted to participate in the NIT.
“For the seniors, it’s our last couple of games, and we wanted to stay together for as long as possible,” Funderburk said.
Davidson, a team known for successfully shooting the 3-ball, got off to a cold start in the first half, shooting 21% from 3 in the opening 20 minutes. N.C. State’s defense held Wildcats sharpshooter Hyunjung Lee to two points in the first half. Lee picked it up in the second, but by the time he scored six in a row, the Pack still led by double figures (13) and didn’t show any signs of slowing down.
“We played against a really good Davidson team,” Keatts said. “Bob does a tremendous job with his program, they’ve always been a very good team and we played really (well) and we had to play that way in order to beat them. I was happy with the way our guys played.”
N.C. State has now won six of its past seven games.
“That sixth game (versus Syracuse) that we dropped, it was a bad taste,” Funderburk said. “We just wanted to prove ourselves that we can get back to that level of play, and we showed that tonight. It’s always great to have a win under our belt, regardless of whatever type tournament it is, we got another chance to play next week.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 7:39 PM.
