NC State’s NCAA Tournament run continues as Wolfpack stuns Marquette to reach Elite 8
N.C. State just won’t go away, will it? The Wolfpack just refuses to go home.
The Pack started playing elite basketball in Washington. D.C., winning the ACC championship, and has taken it on the road in the NCAA Tournament.
And keeps winning. Make it eight straight.
The Wolfpack, seeded 11th in the Southern Regional, turned back No. 2 seed Marquette on Friday, taking a 67-58 victory at American Airlines Center.
That leaves the Pack — has it now become “America’s team”? — one win away from its first Final Four since 1983, when N.C. State won its second national championship.
With the N.C. State women advancing as well Friday night, with a comeback win over Stanford, both Wolfpack teams will have a shot at the Final Four on Sunday.
The Wolfpack men (25-14) will face Duke (27-8) in the regional final, N.C. State’s first since 1986. The Blue Devils made it an all-ACC regional final by fighting past top-seeded Houston.
“I’m not surprised because I’ve seen it now for eight straight games,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “Each game takes its own identity, but we do have a refuse-to-lose mentality.
“Guys are trusting one another, playing for one another. We’re getting better defensively. And it seems like we’re getting stronger as the tournament moves on.”
No NCAA win comes easily at this point and this one didn’t. D.J. Horne had 19 points, making some clutch second-half shots. Casey Morsell had 15 points, and some big baskets of his own, while Mohamed Diarra again was so vital, putting together another double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds.
Marquette made the decision to double up on D.J. Burns defensively and Burns didn’t force anything. He had four points and four rebounds, but he tied his career high with seven assists and could have had more.
“It feels great just to know we’re going to the ‘Elite Eight,’ something that hasn’t been done in so long,” Horne said. “We’re just trying to take it all in, one by one. We all know the job isn’t done yet.
“I think everybody understands what got us to this point, and the level of desperation it takes to have that winning feeling.”
The Golden Eagles (27-10), with hyper active coach Shaka Smart orchestrating things on the sideline, trailed nearly the entire game. Kam Jones had 20 points and Tyler Kolek 17 and 10 rebounds, but the Pack worked hard defensively to limit the damage --Jones and Kolek were a combined 4-of-17 from 3.
“They played with great force and aggressiveness,” Smart said of the Pack. “I thought they did a good job getting us on our heels ... and they went and took the game.”
Marquette would finish 4-for-31 on 3-pointers, leading Smart to say, “It’s going to be hard when you do that, but our guys tried to find a way to win despite that.”
The Pack led by 13 points at halftime and by as many as 16 early in the second half. But with both teams playing defense that was a lot like hand-to-hand combat, open looks were hard to find and every pass contested.
The Golden Eagles were within 48-38, its cheering contingent on its feet and loud, and had nearly forced a shot-clock violation before Horne knocked down an off-balance 3-pointer midway through the second half.
Diarra, so active around the boards, then scored on a putback and the lead was 51-38.
Marquette wasn’t done. A 3-point play by big man Oso Ighodaro made it a 53-45 game. The Golden Eagles looked to double team and trap each time a Wolfpack player picked up their dribble., and it was effective in tightening the game.
A driving basket and 3-point play by Jones with 3:39 remaining pulled Marquette within 58-52. But Morsell’s twisting drive with 2:20 remaining made it 60-52, and Michael O’Connell’s high-arcing 3 with 1:34 left made it a 63-52 cushion.
“They played with great force and aggressiveness,” Smart said of the Pack. “I thought they did a good job getting us on our heels ... and they went and took the game.”
The Wolfpack did a lot of things well — or well enough — in taking its 37-24 halftime lead.
The Pack shot the ball well — 53.6% from the field. It kept the Golden Eagles from getting second shots as Diarra had 11 rebounds, 10 on the defensive end, in the half.
Burns was more distributor than a shooter, taking just two shots in the half. He had five assists in the opening half and would have had more had some of teammates been more alert.
Burns also got a big call — for the big man, a rarity this season when he has faced double- and triple teams when he has the ball.
Trapped along the baseline, he was called for his second personal foul. With Horne already on the bench with two, the Pack was in the position of having to sit both.
But after a video review, the call was reversed. No foul on Burns. Marquette’s Stevie Mitchell was tagged with a foul for flopping, just as Keatts strongly insisted after the initial call against Burns.
This story was originally published March 29, 2024 at 9:36 PM.
