No. 20 Auburn shoots its way past NC State. What we learned about the Wolfpack

Auburn’s Kevin Overton hit his sixth 3 of the game to put his team up 12 points with four minutes left in the game. Keyshawn Hall added his fifth 3-pointer 39 seconds later. The first shot was the knife to end the game, the second twisted it.

The ACC-SEC Challenge has not been kind to N.C. State the last two seasons. That streak continued on Wednesday when it fell to No. 20 Auburn, 83-73, at Neville Arena. The Wolfpack is now 0-3 in the annual event, 5-3 on the season and has lost three of its last four games.

Most everything went against N.C. State during its trip down south, though neither team was happy with how it played.

The Pack defense, while it forced turnovers, could not string together stops in the half court or in transition. Auburn shot 26 of 44 (59.1%) from the field, including 12 of 22 (54.5%) from 3. It came in shooting 32.8% from the arc. The majority of the Tigers’ shots were contested or, frankly, lucky — see Hall’s fall away 3 at the end of the shot clock late in the second half — despite some open shot attempts. Quadir Copeland said he thought the team was “real solid” on defense and Auburn was just making shots. Tre Holloman, however, felt like the team hasn’t been guarding well enough. It needs to recognize when playing one-on-one is most effective and when a teammate needs help.

“As the head of the like snake, I gotta set that tone for the defense,” Holloman said. “I just feel like we can be better as a group at team guarding.”

The offense was inefficient, too, despite four players finishing in double figures. N.C. State went 26 of 64 (40.6%) from the field. The Wolfpack went 10 of 30 (33.3%) from the perimeter, which wasn’t ideal, but the bigger issue was its 11 missed layups.

Auburn coach Steven Pearl, however, feels lucky to have come away with the victory.

“If you let a team that’s top 10 in the country on offense shoot 20 more shots than you,” Pearl said. “I don’t know how the hell we won that game.”

It had its opportunities. The Wolfpack led by as many as six points early in the first half. In the second half, it cut Auburn’s lead to one possession at several points, but it never capitalized on its momentum.

“It’s just disappointing,” N.C. State head coach Will Wade said. “Some of them were pretty easy shots, some of them were pretty tough shots, but if you let them get going, they’re great players, great team.”

Auburn completely bodied N.C. State off the glass, out-rebounding the Wolfpack 35-22. The Tigers pulled down 18 boards in the second half alone, while N.C. State finished with just 10 rebounds after the break. It was the only game goal the Wolfpack didn’t achieve.

One bright spot, however, was the Wolfpack’s overall ball movement. It finished with 14 assists on 26 made baskets and only nine turnovers.

Copeland led the Wolfpack with 22 points, while Holloman added 16. Holloman shot 4 of 9 from 3 and was the only player other than Copeland to hit more than one 3-pointer.

Darrion Williams was held to 11 points on 4 of 11 shooting.

Overton, Williams’ former Texas Tech teammate, finished with a career-high 29 points. Hall scored 28 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. That was Hall’s fourth double-double of the season. Even with N.C. State’s inability to stop Overton and Hall, it limited Tahaad Pettiford to six points on one made field goal. Pettiford averaged 15.1 points per game prior to the matchup.

“If weren’t for tough shot-making by KO and Keyshawn Hall, we don’t win that game,” Pearl said. “Two of our best players bailed us out when we had very poor performances from other guys on our team.”

Auburn turnovers, especially in first half, helped the Pack.

Auburn and N.C. State came into the game as two of the best teams in the country at taking care of the basketball, and that was likely going to make a difference in the game. While it wasn’t the only factor, it certainly helped the Wolfpack stay competitive after getting down by 12 points midway through the first half.

N.C. State forced 13 first-half turnovers, including 10 steals, which the team turned into 16 points. It created a turnover on half of Auburn’s first eight possessions. The Tigers finished with 20 turnovers, which the Pack turned into 22 points.

“I thought we were good,” Wade said. “We changed our ball screen coverage from what we typically do, so I think that got a little bit out of whack.”

Auburn led the SEC and ranked No. 11 in the country with only 9.1 turnovers committed per game. Prior to the Tigers’ performance on Wednesday, their worst game had come in their last contest against St. John’s when they committed 12.

The Wolfpack, meanwhile, entered the game averaging 10.4 turnovers per outing. It finished with nine turnovers.

NC State defense is lacking of late

The N.C. State defense has been a liability this season, especially in the last two weeks. It had stretches against the Tigers where the defense looked solid, but there were also multiple stretches when Auburn scored at will.

The Tigers went on a 13-0 lead in the first half — a run that was part of a 17-2 scoring stretch — and took a 28-16 lead.

In the second half, N.C. State its deficit down to two points. Then Auburn used a 10-0 run with 10 minutes remaining to go up 12.

Both periods included wide open drives to the basket, completely unimpeded by the press. This has been an issue for much of the season. While it seems like there haven’t been improvements defensively, Wade was encouraged by the defensive effort.

“We made a few changes in our defensive coverages after Hawaii. And you know, I think it caught then little bit by surprise,” Wade said.

Additionally, the Wolfpack continues to make baffling double team decisions. On multiple possessions, the defense opted for a hard double team in the post. That, however, led to wide open shooters on the perimeter, and the shooters were some of the team’s high-volume scorers.

Wade said the Pack actually limited the number of post traps against the Tigers and tried to defend more one-on-one. It did get caught, hence the handful of open 3s, but Wade said that’s been something they’re adjusting.

Overton and Hall combined for 11 3-pointers. Some were difficult makes but others were uncontested. It can live with the tough but competitive baskets, but it’s giving up too many easy shots.

“We can’t give up the 3s,” Wade said. “We’ve been giving up too many 3s. That was part of our defense that we were changing tonight, and we’ll probably change moving forward, as well, but it hasn’t been good for us this year.”

N.C. State was giving up roughly 77 points per game on the season. It allowed 85.6 points in its three Maui Invitational games, and 93.5 points in its two losses. Auburn hit 70 points with nearly eight minutes left in the game.

Pack couldn’t overcome foul trouble

The Wolfpack’s ability to defend without fouling maintained an issue during its roadtrip. N.C. State was called for eight fouls in the first half and 19 total.

Williams was called for a 3-point foul on one of Auburn’s opening possessions. Hall made all three free throws to put Auburn up 3-0, sending Williams to the bench. The Texas Tech transfer played just 13 minutes in the first half.

Musa Sagnia picked up his third foul with 13:26 remaining in the game, and Copeland followed him with his third foul 19 seconds later. Roughly 50 seconds later, Sagnia was called for a fourth.

The fouls, unfortunately, led to 19 made Auburn free throws. Hall and Overton combined for 12 points from the line, hitting all their free throw attempts.

This story was originally published December 3, 2025 at 11:40 PM.

Jadyn Watson-Fisher

The News & Observer