NC State basketball’s big first-half lead disintegrates in 80-73 ACC road loss to Miami
Two games into its ACC schedule, it’s hard to gauge N.C. State.
The Wolfpack has had stretches of play where the shots are falling, Terquavion Smith seemingly can’t be stopped, Jarkel Joiner is bolting all over the court making plays and N.C. State is pressuring on defense.
Then, there are times when the shots stop falling, there’s indecision and mistakes and the other team surges and takes control.
That’s the way it was Saturday against Miami. The Pack was both good and not-so-good in an 80-73 ACC loss to the Hurricanes at the Watsco Center in Coral Gables, Florida.
Joiner had a game-high 26 points for N.C. State (8-3, 0-2 ACC) but the Wolfpack was undone by its lack of transition defense — and a lack of toughness, NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said — in the second half of the road loss.
The Pack led by as many as 16 points in the first half as Smith had 16 points. The Pack then was outscored 46-30 by the Hurricanes (10-1, 2-0) in the second half as the Canes’ Jordan Miller and Isaiah Wong led the way — Miller with 25 points in the game to tie his career high at Miami, and Wong with 22.
“They were really good down the stretch,” Keatts said. “I thought they made every big play that Miami needed. When you look at two guys who are returning from last year’s team, obviously adding some transfers, I thought those guys were really special. Wong had eight assists and no turnovers.
“I thought it was a game of runs, it was a fun game. I thought the difference in the game was we didn’t get a lot of stops when we needed to at the end. And giving them 21 points in transition is never a good thing. I thought that was a really big difference.”
Wong had a career-high 36 points earlier in the week when the Canes outlasted Cornell 107-105 after scoring 66 points in the first half. But the Canes were slow starters Saturday and could not get into an offensive flow in falling behind 43-34 at halftime.
The Canes then cranked up their transition game and found an answer for Smith, who was often double-teamed and forced some shots when the Canes made it a tight game. Joiner, who played all 40 minutes, had 16 points in the second half but did not get much help on the offensive end other than from D.J. Burns Jr.
With center Dusan Mahorcic now out with a knee injury, Burns started and had a season-high 16 points and eight rebounds, putting in 31 minutes.
“Our two guards have been really good and were good today,” Keatts said. “I thought where we struggled was we didn’t get a lot out of our threes and fours.”
Senior Casey Morsell, who has had some big shooting games for the Pack this season, finished with seven points in 34 minutes. Forward Jack Clark picked up two early fouls in the game and later fouled out after playing just 11 minutes, scoring three points. Forward Ernest Ross had 17 ineffective minutes.
Miami, in contrast, got 11 points and 11 rebounds from 6-7 forward Norchad Omier, a transfer from Arkansas State who had his sixth double-double of the season.
The Pack led by 12 with 14 minutes left in the game after a Joiner 3, but Miami answered with a 10-0 run fueled by 3s from Wong and Harlond Beverly. The Canes tied the score 67-67 on a fast-break dunk by Beverly with 5:22 left and took their first lead of the second half on a Miller 3 with 3:40 remaining.
The Pack would miss nine of its last 11 shots. A Burns basket pulled the Wolfpack within 74-72 with 1:30 left, but Miller hit a pair of free throws and Wong a driving layup as the Canes finished it off.
“That was a very entertaining game, two teams playing at a very high level,” Miami coach Jim Larranaga said. “It’s hard to win in the ACC. Everybody’s good.”
The Pack’s next ACC game is Dec. 22 against Louisville at PNC Arena, and the N.C. State lineup could have a new look: 7-1 center Isaiah Miranda has committed to NCSU and plans to be on campus next week to join the team.
This story was originally published December 10, 2022 at 4:09 PM.
