Red-hot NC State smokes Syracuse in ACC Tournament. Three takeaways from the upset win
DJ Horne ran down the court and blew a kiss to the crowd, aimed at the Wolfpack faithful behind the team bench, with 9:04 remaining in the game.
His 3-point bucket had just given N.C. State a 16-point lead. Horne and his team soon extended that lead to 18 points, an advantage that turned out to be insurmountable.
No. 7 seed Syracuse was never close again as No. 10 seed N.C. State (19-14, 9-11 ACC) upset the Orange (20-12, 11-9 ACC), 83-65, after outscoring the them 48-33 in the second half. The victory, which extends the season for at least one more game, comes just days after losing four of its last five regular season games. It also snapped N.C. State’s seven-game losing streak against Syracuse.
That team is now in the rearview mirror as the tournament-ready Wolfpack put together a performance worthy of March against Syracuse. It wasn’t perfect, but the team played with toughness on both ends of the floor and dominated the second half. Some people might have written off the Wolfpack, but like Horne said on Tuesday, “March is its own season within itself.”
Jayden Taylor led the team with 18 points and added eight rebounds.
“For a team to beat you three times, that pride; that’s what’s in you,” Taylor said, noting the Orange’s regular season sweep. “We weren’t gonna allow that. Not today.”
Mohamed Diarra finished just shy of a double-double. The Missouri transfer contributed eight points, 14 rebounds (seven on each end), a game-high six assists, a block and two steals.
“This is all about learning from our mistakes from the regular season,” Casey Morsell said. “I feel like in the regular season, we were weren’t consistent. We’re applying and executing things at a high level right now. We just got to keep that going.”
N.C. State faces No. 2 seed Duke in the ACC quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Here are three takeaways from the Wolfpack’s win.
DJ Horne re-enters rotation
Horne played for the first time in four days, entering the game at 15:38 in the first half.
Within one minute, Horne assisted on a 3-pointer from Michael O’Connell. Then, he added a steal after corralling a would-be out-of-bounds Syracuse pass.
Officials called Horne for his second foul 5:58 into his appearance and he returned to the bench, though he returned later in the half.
The graduate student left the team’s regular season finale against Pitt with a hip flexor injury. He did not play against Louisville in the Wolfpack’s first-round tournament game Tuesday, despite going through warmups.
In postgame interviews on Tuesday, Keatts said he didn’t want Horne to play unless the team “absolutely” needed him. Horne has been receiving steady treatment but wasn’t moving well.
“Probably should have played him because our defense wasn’t very good,” Keatts said Tuesday. “He can’t guard anybody, but certainly nobody else did. He can play offensively, which is who he is, but defensively he’s not sliding well.”
Such was not the case Wednesday. Horne found his game in a hurry, underwent additional treatment at halftime and played most of the second half.
He finished with 16 points, two assists and four steals in his return.
“I thought I was gonna be a little rusty coming in, but I was able to see the ball go through the net and help my team get a win,” Horne said. “Happy about that.”
NC State shows renewed energy
N.C. State’s lethargic start from Tuesday didn’t carry over to Wednesday evening. The team played with more urgency, engagement; like it remembered its season was on the line.
The Wolfpack held the Orange to 12-of-30 shooting (40%), a much improved number compared to the 66% field goal shooting it gave up in the first half against Louisville. It also forced seven Syracuse turnovers, including a shot clock violation and Diarra’s steal on the Orange’s final possession of the opening half.
N.C. State started the second half with back-to-back turnovers but quickly turned on the jets, no slump in sight. It took a lead in rebounding as well, after trailing the Orange by four boards at the break.
“This week, we know if you lose, it’s over. We go home. The season ends.” Diarra said. “We don’t want the season [to end] like that. That’s why we play with both inspiration and with more energy. We give everything we’ve got.”
Pack steals from Syracuse
With 12:36 remaining in the second half, Horne picked off Syracuse’s Quadir Copeland. Three seconds later, Horne was airborne for a two-handed dunk and 17-point lead.
That was Horne’s second steal and score, adding to an impressive outing against the Orange.
Syracuse entered the game ranked No. 2 in the ACC in turnover margin (3.48) and turnovers forced (14.6).
N.C. State certainly made a dent in the Orange’s numbers. The Wolfpack forced 19 Syracuse turnovers, 11 coming from steals like Horne’s. Mintz took four free throw attempts and Bell was limited to five points.
The Orange also committed turnovers on 15.5% of its possessions this season, per KenPom.com. Against the Pack, Syracuse committed a turnover on 26.7% of its possessions
The Pack finished with 19 fastbreak points and 23 points off turnovers, which it can attribute to its effort and steals.
“The first two times that we played them, we felt like we didn’t really get to disrupt anything they were doing.,” Horne said. “They were kind of just dribbling around, Judah Mintz getting to the free throw line at will, Chris Bell knocking down shots. We knew if we were going to win this game, we can’t do that. We definitely put an emphasis on trying to disrupt everything the guards were doing.”
This story was originally published March 13, 2024 at 9:31 PM.
