NC State’s 3-point shooting proves too much for Louisville as Pack grabs ACC road win
The ACC has never been a sympathetic basketball league.
If a team is losing, too bad. Other teams try to add to the misery while pocketing another victory. It’s just the nature of competition, and relentlessly so.
N.C. State has taken some losses this season, taken some punches. But the Wolfpack picked up a big victory Wednesday, rolling past Louisville 79-63 at the KFC Yum! Center for its most impressive team win of the season.
Wolfpack senior Jericole Hellems, who had 19 points, called it a “lovely win.” For a team that was 1-4 in the ACC before Wednesday but believed it could and should be better, it was just that.
“If you watch, our guys just fight,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said after the game. “That’s where we are. Our guys have been in every game and had a chance to win.
“Every win is important in this league. But road wins are special and this was a real special road win for us.”
This victory wasn’t built on the individual brilliance of Dereon Seabron but more on timely 3-point shooting of Terquavion Smith and Hellems and contributions from many, notably a productive 18 minutes from 6-9 freshman Ernest Ross. Seabron’s first basket of the game came at the end of the first half.
Smith, coming off a miserable game against Clemson, responded with 24 points. He knocked down six of nine 3-pointers as the Pack closed 12 of 25 from 3-point range.
Smith was 0-7 from the field Saturday, all on 3’s, as the Pack lost at home to the Tigers 70-65. He found his touch Wednesday and delivered.
“I knew what I needed to do and what I needed to work on,” Smith said. “The confidence was always there but to see it fall in makes it go through the roof.”
Smith’s biggest 3 came with 5:30 left in the second half and N.C. State leading by six. With the shot clock running out and two Louisville defenders in his face, the freshman unloaded a shot from the right corner, the ball bouncing in the rim and falling in for a 64-55 lead.
Seabron did his damage. He had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists as the Wolfpack improved to 2-4 in the ACC and 9-8 overall.
“People are going to game plan against him but he’s got to do other things,” Keatts said. “Passing the ball is one. Because of his ability to drive and draw defenders, we’re going to have some open guys and he has to make the right play.
“You become a really good player when you impact the game and it’s just not scoring, and I think that’s what he’s doing for us.”
Sydney Curry had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Cardinals (10-6, 4-2 ACC), which shot 60.9 percent from the field in the second half. Their problem: the Pack shot 66.7 percent, including five of nine 3-pointers.
“Bad night for Louisville,” Cards coach Chris Mack said. “They came to play. Some of our guys didn’t.”
The Wolfpack led by 16 points early in the second half before the Cardinals started mixing inside scores with enough 3-pointers to close the gap to within five points. But Smith and Seabron answered and the Pack refused to let this one slip away.
The Pack, in a surprising twist, played some zone defensively -- “I just wanted everybody to have a heart attack,” joked Keatts, a devout man-to-man coach -- and took a 35-27 halftime lead with minimal offense from Seabron.
The Wolfpack had too many one-and-done offensive possessions in the first eight minutes of the game, but then ignited. N.C. State surged to 16-0 run fueled by 3-pointers — three from Smith and two from Hellems, who had 12 points in the half.
The Pack led 31-18 and Mack called for a timeout — and switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone. That stalled the Pack, which scored two baskets in the final five minutes of the half, including Seabron’s first points — a fast-break dunk with six seconds left.
The Pack pushed the lead to 16 points by scoring the first eight points of the second half, forcing another Louisville timeout. The Cards began getting the ball into the paint, using the size of Curry to get back into the game.
This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 11:24 PM.
