NC State knocks down 12 3-pointers en route to 14-point win over Virginia
Forrest Gump said it best: N.C. State games are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.
Gump actually said “life,” and he wasn’t talking about N.C. State basketball games, but the message is the same.
Wolfpack basketball games are about as predictable as North Carolina weather. N.C. State’s losing record coming into Saturday’s game against Virginia would intimate there has been more bad than good.
The one constant — and head coach Kevin Keatts has repeated this over and over — is that his team fights. It hasn’t won all of the fights, but it never throws in the towel. That was the case early on against the Cavaliers. N.C. State kept fighting, kept swinging, and it paid off in a 77-63 win over Virginia.
“Excited about the way our guys played,” Keatts said. “What I’m excited about is we played well on both ends of the floor. We did a good job defensively finishing the first half.”
It was the Wolfpack’s first home win since Dec. 9 when it beat Bethune-Cookman, 65-48, at Reynolds Coliseum, and its first win at PNC Arena since its 104-100 four-overtime victory over Nebraska on Dec. 1.
This season, the Wolfpack (10-10, 3-6) has been at its best when shooting well from 3. Senior forward Jericole Hellems and freshman guard Terquavion Smith took care of that part early.
“I thought Jericole and Terquavion really got us started,” Keatts said.
Hellems’ first 15 points were all from behind the arc. Smith, who missed a potential game-tying shot against Virginia Tech, came out firing. He had 14 against the Hokies and had 16 at the half on Saturday.
Hellems shot 8-of-12 from three and finished with 21 points, his eighth career game with 20 points or more. In the second half he refused to let the team lose, hitting one timely shot after another. He got help from Dereon Seabron, who scored nine of his 13 after the half.
Never taking its foot off the gas, N.C. State outscored UVA (11-8, 5-4) 34-31 in the second half.
“We talked about winning the half,” Keatts said. “I thought we were locked in. We came out of the locker room very focused and went on a nice run and certainly that helped put us over the hump.”
The Pack led by 11 at the half, its largest halftime advantage of the year. That had the crowd at PNC hyped, but this team has blown leads before. It did it against then-No. 1 Purdue last month, a game that proved the Pack could play with the best team in the country.
The flashes have given fans enough hope that this team could be good, but the proof has been hard to come by. Against Virginia, N.C. State was relentless, a word they adopted before a road win over Virginia Tech on Jan. 4.
State’s been 1-3 since then. The lone win was on the road against Louisville, when the Pack shot the lights out. State tied its season-high with 12 made 3s. The Pack shot a season-high 48 percent from three. They had the hot hand again on Saturday, even with the winter chill outside. N.C. State closed the first half on a 25-6 run and led at the break 43-32.
“A lot of games have come down to the wire,” Morsell said. “We’ve been in a lot of situation where we let games slip away. We know that UVA is a type of team that’s not going to quit. We did what we had to do on the defensive end to close the show.”
UVA came into the game shooting 31 percent from three, but shot an uncharacteristic 71 percent in the first half Saturday. The Cavs came back down to earth in the second half, shooting 50 percent from three. Of course, they didn’t stay that hot. But N.C. State did, never letting up after the break. The closest the Cavaliers got was 10.
For once, a late Wolfpack lead felt safe. It felt like a day when the ball was bouncing its way. That was apparent when Hellems hit a difficult turnaround, fade away jumper in the lane. It was really apparent when forward Ebenezer Dowuona, not known for his scoring, put one in to put N.C. State up 17.
Even after UVA hit a deep 3, Morsell, the former Virginia guard, hit a deep 3 of his own, extending the lead to 19 with 3:25 to go.
“We know we can compete with anybody in the country on the offensive end,” Morsell said. “We just had to bring it defensively. We knew that once we locked in on the defensive end, a lot of opportunities on the offensive end would open up.”
Saturday marks the first home win over the Cavaliers since Feb. 21, 2009. Keatts was previously 0-2 against UVA inside of PNC Arena. The win by N.C. State snapped a seven-game win streak by UVA in PNC, which was the longest of any ACC team.
SHARING IS CARING
N.C. State had 10 assists in the lost to Virginia Tech. Against Virginia they were a lot better sharing the ball. The team had 14 assists on 30 made baskets. Three different players had at least three dimes.
Morsell, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, said moving the ball was an emphasis in shoot around.
“We shoot our lowest percentage when the ball sticks to one person,” Morsell said. “That was the emphasis to make sure we that we get great shots.”
N.C. State fell four assists short of its season-high. Seabron led the team with five assists, two short of his career-high. The Wolfpack had 10 assists at the half versus Virginia.
“I thought it was good,” Keatts said. “When the ball sticks we’re not very good. If you don’t have good player and ball movement it sometimes leads to bad shots. I thought today we kept the ball moving. Two or three guys touched it every possession and it paid off.”
BEST DEFENSIVE LINEUP
At one point Keatts went with a lineup of Morsell, Seabron, Hellems, Dowuona and Breon Pass.
That unit was a big reason UVA had six empty possession on seven trips down the floor.
Morsell and Pass did a good job applying ball pressure. Hellems and Seabron made things difficult on the wings and Dowuona took care of everything inside.
Keatts called it his best defensive lineup.
“Breon, he’s probably the only guy on the team who can pick you up full court,” Keatts said. “Breon stepped up in the first half and so we’ve asked everyone on our team to stay ready. I thought guys stepped up that certainly hadn’t played a lot of minutes.”
BIG DAY FROM HELLEMS
Hellems had another big day, finishing with a game-high 21 points. He was on fire from the start, with his first 15 points all coming from behind the 3-point line. N.C. State is now 5-1 when Hellems hits three or more 3-pointers. He was 5-for-9 on Saturday.
Smith, who finished with 20, said when Hellems is hot, the whole team feeds off of it.
“It makes it great,” Smith said. “He’s a veteran guy, he knows his spots. When he’s going, it gets everyone else going. He’s a leader on the team.”
Hellems is one of two seniors on scholarship and the only senior in the starting lineup. Sometimes as he goes, so does the Pack.
“He played as a senior today,” Keatts said. “He’s got to be the one steady guy. I thought he was. I thought he stepped up on both ends of the floor. I’m excited that he had the game that he had.”
This story was originally published January 22, 2022 at 5:51 PM.
