NC State basketball falls at Wake Forest, Deacons score season-high 101 points in win
For as well as N.C. State played in spurts, it was almost inevitable the drought was coming.
It happened last time the Wolfpack played Wake Forest, and it cost them again in the rematch.
The Demon Deacons took advantage of the scoring droughts N.C. State has become famous for, winning 101-76 on Senior Day at LJVM Coliseum.
Wake Forest will head to Brooklyn next week with hopes of making a run at the ACC tournament title. The Wolfpack, with one more game (at Florida State) remaining before the postseason, will end the regular season with just one conference win in the state of North Carolina.
That was on January 22.
N.C. State has gone 0-6 in North Carolina since. At 11-19 overall, a 20-loss season is all but guaranteed. That’s never happened since the Pack started playing basketball.
Unless N.C. State goes on the greatest run ever and wins it all, loss No. 20 is right around the corner.
Wake Forest (23-8, 13-7) wore down the Pack in the second half.
After Terquavion Smith tied the game at 48 with a 3-pointer, the Demon Deacons went on a 9-0 run as N.C. State missed seven straight. Another 3 by Smith broke the drought. By then, though, Wake Forest was in full attack mode.
ACC Player of the Year candidate Alondes Williams all but sent the Wolfpack packing with a powerful slam that made it 64-53. The Wake Forest momentum only grew from there.
“Alondes Williams may not have scored the most points,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said. “But I thought he was the most valuable player.”
Within 10 minutes the lead had ballooned to 20. What changed in the second half?
“Everything,” Pack guard Casey Morsell said. “In terms of defense, we weren’t as active, we didn’t talk as much. Offense, we went back to what kind of made us lose all year, selfish basketball. No passes, no movement. It was easy for them to guard. Defense leads to easy buckets on the offensive end and that’s how they got going.”
N.C. State played one of its best first halves of the season, going shot for shot with the Demon Deacons, trailing by one at the break.
The second half was a series of defensive breakdowns and missed opportunities. The Wolfpack shot 34.4% from the field after intermission. State has shown it can play with anyone in the league, but the scoring lapses have haunted the Wolfpack.
“You don’t get trophies for competing for 25 minutes,” Morsell said. “You have to compete for the entire game, especially in this conference.”
Senior Jericole Hellems, one of State’s best players in the first half, could never find a rhythm in the second. He finished with 18 points, just three in the second.
Smith had another solid offensive output, finishing with 22 points, his 12th 20-point game of the season. Missing from action, though, was Dereon Seabron, who finished with five points.
“We didn’t get a lot from DB (Seabron), which makes it tough,” Keatts said. “When our big three doesn’t play well, it doesn’t give us the best chance to win.”
With N.C. State forwards Jaylon Gibson and Ebenezer Dowuona in foul trouble, Wake Forest 7-footer Dallas Walton thrived, scoring 16 points in the second half. He finished with 20 total. Williams had 17. Daivien Williamson led all scorers with 28 points.
“One of the things that bothered us, we got in incredible foul trouble,” Keatts said. “They really, really beat us in the paint (50-22). I thought that was the difference.”
N.C. State ends the regular season in Tallahassee, hoping to build some momentum ahead of Brooklyn.
“I think anything can happen in March,” Morsell said. “You have to have that next game mentality. We have to fix our mistakes, we can’t just keep addressing them and pointing them out. We know what we have to do.”
This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 11:08 PM.
