NC State basketball holds off Vanderbilt, 84-78, at Vegas Showdown to remain unbeaten
N.C. State (4-0) started the Vegas Showdown with an 84-78 win over Vanderbilt (3-2) on Thursday night.
It was an ugly victory. Between turnovers, fouls and a physical game, it was a tough one. A win is a win, though, and that’s what matters.
“I thought we did some good things. I thought we grew up. You couldn’t ask for anything better in a day,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “We had some adversity. We had some highs and lows; started slow, finished strong. Our guys competed, and it was a really good game for us.”
The Wolfpack moves to 4-3 over the Commodores and won its 14th of the past 15 non-conference games.
Here are takeaways from the game:
Getting into foul trouble
With 6:51 left in the first half, several of the Wolfpack faithful who’d made the trip to Vegas let out an exasperated sigh when they heard one of the officials blow the whistle for an out of bounds Vandy player. They thought it was another foul call on N.C. State.
Keatts was the most animated he’s been all season after the Wolfpack was on the receiving end of some calls he — and those in attendance — felt were questionable. Keatts said there was “nothing there” with his responses and he wanted to ask questions about certain calls.
Forward Mohamed Diarra at one point stepped between guard DJ Horne — he was called for contact on a 3-point shot — and an official to prevent things from escalating. By halftime, the Wolfpack was called for 10 personal fouls compared to the Commodores’ five.
After the break things continued to get chippy. Guard Dennis Parker Jr. was called for a foul after the referees missed an apparent Vandy travel. That happened again with eight minutes left in the game, with forward DJ Burns picking up his third personal foul.
Horne and Vanderbilt’s Tyrin Lawrence were hit with double technicals after arguing about a call on Jayden Taylor.
Burns, meanwhile, drew contact on the offensive end and wasn’t rewarded with a trip to the line. On the other end, he was called for a flagrant 1 — his fourth foul — after his follow-through on a block caught a Vanderbilt player in the eye.
Keatts jumped in the air after forward Ben Middlebrooks picked up his fifth personal.
Staying on top of assists and turnovers
N.C. State came into the contest as one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers while limiting its own.
It led the ACC and in turnover margin (8.0), which was good enough to rank No. 10 nationally. The team ranked No. 8 in Division I and No. 2 in the league for assist-to-turnover ratio (1.96), as well. When it came to its own play, N.C. State averaged 7.7 turnovers per game, best in the ACC and No. 3 in the nation.
Things didn’t look positive for N.C. State on that front early as the Pack committed two turnovers before the first timeout.
The Wolfpack cleaned things up — despite the physicality — and maintained positive numbers in turnover margin and assist/turnover ratio.
Guard Casey Morsell said he thinks the team needs to be more consistent,
“We’ve just got to be strong with the ball. We work on it, but I think we take a lot of risks. We hit a we try to hit home run plays, home run passes instead of just trying to hit singles,” Morsell said. “If we could just hit singles make the simple play instead of trying to hit the home run; sometimes it’s there, sometimes it’s not. Credit to Vanderbilt. They did good job speeding us up and forcing us to turn the ball over. We’ll be better with it.”
For a team that’s proven it can play with discipline, it doesn’t want to make sloppiness a habit because free possessions can be deadly in ACC play. But, the resilience Thursday was promising.
Dennis Parker Jr. does it again
Parker, a freshman, did not perform like a first-year player, guiding the team to the win while recording a new career high in points scored. One game after contributing 12 points, Parker picked up 18 and nine rebounds to tie Taylor. He was often tangled in bodies under the glass.
In a tough game that could’ve ended in heartbreak, Parker continued to show that he can be one of the main contributors for this Wolfpack team.
“It feels good that I get the opportunity to play under Coach Keatts and he trusts me out there,” Parker said. “As a freshman, 18 years old, it could be hard for a head coach to trust somebody out there playing at the highest level of college basketball. I’m just grateful for my opportunity and I just want to keep on building on this.”
Kam Woods’ waiver denied
N.C. State officials announced Wednesday the NCAA denied Kam Woods’ waiver request, which means he is not immediately eligible to play.
Keatts originally told the media the program planned to “live with whatever the results are,” and Woods signed with the Wolfpack knowing he may not be eligible this season.
The school will appeal the NCAA’s decision.
Woods made the trip to Vegas, though, and was present on the bench. Woods is at his fourth school after starting his career at Troy, transferring to Northwest Florida State Community College and then to North Carolina A&T. In his one season with the Aggies, Woods averaged 17.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.
In his waiver request, Woods said his multiple transfers were due to a mix of personal reasons and coaching changes outside of his control.
This story was originally published November 24, 2023 at 12:55 AM.
