NC State remains winless away from Raleigh. Rebounding was once again its culprit
Ben Middlebrooks sat in the media room at Virginia Tech, hands in his lap, looking down at the table. His disappointment and frustration were evident after N.C. State blew a double-digit lead for the second time in two weeks.
Virginia Tech trailed the Wolfpack by 15 points after Middlebrooks made a layup 1:50 into the second half.
Similarly, Virginia trailed by 14 points shortly after the break during the Wolfpack and Cavaliers’ matchup on Dec. 31.
In that 70-67 loss, N.C. State’s offense struggled. On Wednesday night in Blacksburg, the offense looked cohesive for most of the outing. Instead, it was rebounding down the stretch that doomed the Wolfpack as it fell to VaTech, 79-76, at Cassell Coliseum.
“I think we need to really lock in that final stretch,” Middlebrooks said. “You see those shots going in, we’ve got to bear down and be able to get stops and be able to get rebounds. We just missed a couple and weren’t able to get them.
“There’s no one on our team who doesn’t want to win, doesn’t hate to lose. If anything, a positive look on it could be that we’ll have more fight going into the next one. But again, these are games you’ve got to win, and it hurts not to.”
The Wolfpack was out-rebounded, 35-24, in its worst performance off the glass this season. It couldn’t corral a rebound on its second-to-last offensive possession. On the opposite end, Jaden Schutt missed a basket with five seconds left on the clock. Marcus Hill attempted to grab the ball but was called for a foul and Schutt made two free throws.
N.C. State had 2.3 seconds remaining. A turnover on the in-bounds ended the game. That could be the play pointed to as the reason for the loss, but in reality, it was all the missed opportunities from a lack of rebounding.
In the final seven minutes, the Hokies out-rebounded N.C. State, 10-3.
“I like coach (Kevin) Keatts. I really like his teams. We’ve competed and locked horns on a number of occasions,” Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said. “We played a little bit harder down the stretch. Sometimes it’s that simple. … I thought our team played a little bit harder than N.C. State, and I take nothing away from N.C. State. Those kids are great kids. They play really hard.”
Virginia Tech finished with 15 offensive rebounds, from which it scored 22 second-chance points. The Pack pulled down offensive boards and scored 13 points. One more put-back could’ve won the game.
The Hokies pulled down 20 boards on the defensive side, compared to the Pack’s 16.
“I wish we had every rebound. I wish we wouldn’t have went under a screen. I wish we got a few 50-50 balls,” Keatts said. “It’s crazy when you have a one possession win or loss, it’s probably 10 plays in the game that you wish you could have back or that could go your way. It didn’t go our way. I’m disappointed for our guys in the locker room, because we fought our asses off, and, unfortunately, we know we’re leaving with a loss right now.”
One area that made an impact was perhaps a lack of impact on the inside.
Middlebrooks played 27 ½ minutes and picked up his fourth foul with 10 minutes remaining. Officials called him for his third and fourth in a span of 26 seconds. He finished with 13 points and only two rebounds.
“We completely changed when Ben got his fourth foul,” Keatts said. The Hokies out-scored N.C. State 23-14 after Middlebrooks’ foul. “That changes us. We don’t have a lot of depth at the five position right now.”
Ismael Diouf recorded a career-high seven points but did not pull down a board. Meanwhile, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield missed the second straight game with a shoulder injury. Keatts did not have an update on the Louisville transfer following the game. He will be re-evaluated in the next 48 hours.
Hill, one of the smallest players on the team, and Dontrez Styles led the team with five rebounds each.
The rebounding issue, however, wasn’t a one-off. N.C. State entered the game averaging 33 rebounds per outing and ranked No. 317 in the nation and No. 17 in the ACC, according to the NCAA.
N.C. State has finished with 30 rebounds or fewer in eight games this season. The team was held to 25 boards, its previous season low, against Wake Forest on Jan. 4. Kansas held the Pack to 26. It didn’t break 30 against Presbyterian on Nov. 8, either.
On defense, it averaged 22.4 rebounds, which places the Pack at No. 326 in the country and dead last in the conference.
KenPom.com indicates the team allows opponents to pull down an offensive board on 32.8% of missed shots. That rose to 33.7% after the loss.
N.C. State hasn’t won a game away from home this season, and none of those matchups featured more than 34 rebounds.
The team is only six games into the ACC schedule, so there’s still time to right the ship — and figure out how to snatch balls off the glass. No one wants six games to spiral into seven, eight or nine.
This story was originally published January 16, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
