Seabron scores 17 in second half as NC State basketball falls to Wake Forest, 69-51
The Big Three carried N.C. State in the first half against Wake Forest.
When the shots stopped falling for Jericole Hellems, Dereon Seabron and Terquavion Smith, things went south in a hurry.
The Demon Deacons weren’t exactly head and shoulders better on this particular night but had enough of a balanced attack to hold off the Wolfpack, 69-51. The 51 points were a season-low for N.C. State.
Despite the second-half scoring outburst by Seabron, Wake Forest (20-5, 10-4 ACC) was able to hand N.C. State (10-15, 3-11) its fifth consecutive loss. It’s the first time head coach Kevin Keatts has dropped five in a row since taking over in 2017.
“Tough night for us offensively,” Keatts said. “If we don’t have three of three (starters) who play well, it’s kind of hard. We’ll go back to the drawing board, we’ll figure it out and we’ll try to move on.”
This one wasn’t because of his best player. Seabron finished with 22 points, 17 coming in the second half. The problem was, Hellems and Smith, the two other big-time offensive contributors, took a step back. The rest of the N.C. State starters shot a combined 8 of 39 from the floor.
“It wasn’t that they (the Demon Deacons) were different,” Keatts said. “They didn’t do anything different (defensively) than some of those other teams. Some of those shots he (Smith) just didn’t make.”
In the first half, N.C. State was able to stick around thanks to its Big Three. Hellems, Seabron and Smith combined for 20 of the 28 points in the first half. The rest of the team went 4 for 10 in the opening 20 minutes. One surprise, though, was forward Ebenezer Dowuona, who went 3 for 3 for six points.
“It’s no secret,” Keatts said. “If those three guys (Seabron, Hellems, Smith) are not having a good night, it’s going to be a long night for us.”
N.C. State is 3-2 in conference games when the trio all score in double figures. Wednesday was the fifth straight league game where all of the Big Three didn’t each score in double figures.
The Wolfpack defense had a hard time containing the Demon Deacons’ combo of Isaiah Mucius and Dallas Walton, who each had nine points early on. They finished with 13 and nine points, respectively. N.C. State managed to stabilize the rest of the Wake Forest offense but never took control of the game thanks to a lack of help from the supporting cast.
In the second half, while Seabron kept getting stronger, Smith and Hellems only had two points combined. Seabron, the team’s leading scorer at 18 points per game, scored nine of 11 points in a two-minute span to pull the Pack to within one, 48-47. Reserve guard Cam Hayes scored the other two from the foul line.
Moments later, Seabron made a layup to make it a 50-49 game. But Mucius hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game to stretch the lead to 53-49. Seabron hit two from the foul line but Wake Forest guard Daivien Williamson hit a 3, then converted a layup after a turnover to push the lead to seven.
Seabron scored 17 of the 23 second-half points for N.C. State. Alondes Williams, an ACC Player of the Year candidate, was just as strong in the second half, scoring 15 points. Williams finished the game with 17.
Wake Forest used a 16-0 run in the final three minutes to push the lead to double figures. State managed to stay within striking distance most of the night, but once Seabron cooled off, the Deacons cruised.
“I just think we didn’t make shots, and we let it get away from us,” Keatts said about the late run. “We didn’t move the ball enough, we didn’t make shots and it got away from us.”
It didn’t help that N.C. State shot a season-low 14% from the 3-point line.
With the victory, Wake Forest snapped a four-game losing streak at PNC Arena.
DOWUONA WORKING HIS WAY BACK
Dowuona was hot in the first half, scoring six points without missing a shot. However, he only played three minutes in the second half. Keatts said the sophomore forward is still working his way back from injury. Dowuona missed the Syracuse game with a lower-leg injury. He played 17 minutes against Notre Dame on Saturday.
“He’s on restriction,” Keatts said. “Honestly, during the game he played too many minutes, he was asking to come out of the game. He was hobbling a little bit. He’s been on load management. We’ve been trying to get him into games because we don’t have any depth.”
Sophomore Jaylon Gibson played 30 minutes (two points, career-high 11 rebounds) in his third straight start.
FRUSTRATION SHOWING
At one point in the second half, Seabron stood at the foul line, hands on his head, looking confused. That scene was preceded by an offensive turnover by N.C. State.
After the game, several Wolfpack players lingered on the floor, obviously frustrated. It was one of the rare times after a loss this season that the team looked so defeated.
“It’s a long year,” Keatts said. “You get into February it’s the dog years of basketball. They are competitors in that locker room; they don’t like losing. It’s a little frustrating, it should be. I would be bothered it they weren’t frustrated. But we have to keep on plugging, and we have to try to figure it out.”
The Wolfpack has six games remaining, two at home. The next three games are at Pittsburgh, at Georgia Tech and home against Boston College. Those are the three teams ahead of N.C. State, which currently sits at the bottom of the ACC standings. Although the Wolfpack can’t get a winning regular-season record even if it wins out, the team can dig itself out of the cellar.
“We talk about it,” Keatts said. “We do talk about how to stack one game on another. I want to be as positive as I can with these guys.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 8:52 PM.
