NC State basketball falls to Georgia Tech at home. Observations from the ACC loss
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- N.C. State shot 37.1% overall and 36.4% from three, losing 78-74 at Lenovo Center.
- Georgia Tech overcame 17 turnovers and out-rebounded the Wolfpack 43-34 to prevail.
- Wolfpack forced 13 steals and 17 opponent turnovers but lacked consistent scoring.
Will Wade said one of the biggest questions during preseason prep wasn’t if his team could defend. It was whether this new group could score enough points to keep up in the ACC.
For much of the season, that concern was reversed. N.C. State showed it could score but struggled to defend.
The offense fell short on Saturday as the Wolfpack lost to Georgia Tech, 78-74, at Lenovo Center. This was the Yellow Jackets’ first win of the season away from home and their first at Lenovo Center since November 2019. State lost despite Georgia Tech missing 14 foul shots and committing 17 turnovers.
The loss comes after N.C. State’s 113-69 win at Florida State, its largest ACC road win in program history, one week earlier.
“I was worried all week. I was about the only one with the team that was worried,” Wade said. “Coming off the off week, noon tip off. It was the same spot Florida State was in last week, and we didn’t, we didn’t handle it very well.”
The Wolfpack (12-6, 3-2 ACC) could not get the offense rolling, no matter what lineup was on the floor, against Georgia Tech. NC State finished 37.1% from the field and 36.4% from 3-point range. It also shot 64% from the free throw line.
During a six-minute stretch in the second half, N.C. State went 1 of 10 from the field. It had one stretch where it made three straight shots but the Pack failed to sustain that momentum.
The baskets didn’t come easy for anyone, but it was especially difficult for N.C. State’s primary shooters.
Darrion Williams and Paul McNeil, two of the team’s leading scorers, went 2 for 10 in the first half. They were 1 for 5 on 3-point shots. This comes after the duo combined for 41 points one week ago, when the Wolfpack won, 113-69, at Florida State. The duo’s off day continued into the second half, though McNeil hit a pair of 3s with six minutes to play.
Williams and McNeil finished 5 of 22 from the field and combined for 19 points.
Even Ven-Allen Lubin had issues getting the ball to fall. Lubin entered the game leading the ACC and ranking No. 4 in the nation for field goal percentage (67.2). In the second half alone, Lubin is making 78.6% of his field goal attempts. He scored 12 points, shooting at a 55.5% clip in the team’s return home.
Quadir Copeland led the Wolfpack with 16 points and six assists.
N.C. State’s defense couldn’t keep pressure on Georgia Tech down the stretch, despite the solid start, and allowed the Yellow Jackets to shoot 58.3% from the field in the second half. Georgia Tech scored 13 points in the final 5 1/2 minutes. Lubin and Copeland both said the team was out-played and didn’t show the same toughness as Georgia Tech.
“We just haven’t been very consistent,” Wade added. “It’s kind of been the story of our team; two steps forward, one step back. I didn’t feel like we had the best use of the off week.”
Kowacie Reeves paced the Yellow Jackets with 21 points, above his season average of 15.8 points per game.
The Yellow Jackets (11-8, 2-4 ACC) played without Mouhamed Sylla for the second straight game and fourth absence in the last five games. He averaged 10.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in 15 appearances. Despite being unavailable, his teammates stepped up to out-rebound the Wolfpack and find the basket when it mattered.
Georgia Tech also out-rebounded N.C. State, 43-34. The Wolfpack is 2-6 when the opponent finishes with a positive rebounding margin.
“N.C. State is a really good team, and you’ve got to keep playing,” Yellow Jackets head coach Damon Stoudamire said. “We took we took their best hits, and we were able to come out on top.”
I’ll take that, please
N.C. State’s defense knew the assignment against Georgia Tech: Strip the basketball. The Yellow Jackets have struggled this season with taking care of the ball, and the Wolfpack took advantage of that liability.
The Wolfpack forced a turnover on the visitors’ first four possessions, including a pair of steals from Alyn Breed on the opening two. Midway through the first half, Tre Holloman and Terrance Arceneaux each added a steal en route to N.C. State retaking a lead.
N.C. State forced nine first-half turnovers, including seven steals, and scored 14 points off the miscues.
The Wolfpack started the second half in similar fashion. It forced four turnovers, three of which were steals, after the break.
The Yellow Jackets coughed up the ball 17 times, which included 13 N.C. State steals. Williams led the effort with four steals, while Copeland contributed three.
Georgia Tech ranked No. 296 in Division I for its offensive steal rate (11%) this season. In ACC play, the Yellow Jackets were getting picked off on 12.8% of its possessions and ranked last in the conference.
N.C. State entered the game forcing 14.8 turnovers — of which 10.3 are steals — and committing 9.5, holding a conference-best 5.3 turnover margin. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech came to Raleigh committing 13.8 turnovers per game and only forcing 10.8 for a -3 margin.
With the Wolfpack’s offense struggling at times in its return to Lenovo Center, it needed every possession it could get to stay competitive when shots weren’t falling.
Role players make clutch plays
Breed earned a spot in the starting lineup earlier this season, and he continues to be a solid contributor for the Wolfpack. The McNeese State transfer, opened the game with two consecutive steals. He made a corner 3 off a pass from Williams to score the team’s first basket.
Breed’s defensive pressure late in the game led to a much-needed shot clock violation.
Breed added a second 3 with 2 ½ minutes left in the first half to cut Georgia Tech’s lead to four points. The senior started the second half with an assist on Copeland’s fastbreak layup.
Freshman Matt Able came off the bench and made a handful of timely plays, too. Able knocked down a pair of much-needed free throws and hit the 3-pointer that gave N.C. State a 22-21 lead after trailing by as many as eight points.
Arceneaux wasn’t a major scoring threat, but he corralled six rebounds, picked up one assist and didn’t commit any turnovers.
N.C. State continued to show its strength lies in a balanced effort, but it still needed more from its major players. It can’t rely on its glue guys to carry the program.
Tre Holloman makes return
Holloman returned to the rotation on Saturday after missing two and a half games. Holloman exited the Virginia game on Jan. 3 in the first half with an ankle sprain. He traveled with the team last week when it played at Boston College and Florida State but did not play. Holloman wore a medical boot during N.C. State’s trip to Chestnut Hill, but he did not wear one during the trip to Tallahassee.
The Wolfpack did not have a midweek game, which the team used for rest and rehab.
“You don’t get many breaks in [the] conference season,” Wade said on Monday during the ACC media call. “We’ve got to get some guys healthy. Tre is going to do some workouts the next couple days to see if he can be ready to go.”
Holloman entered the game averaging 10.2 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 15 games played.
The senior finished with six points, one rebound and a first-half block from behind to prevent Reeves from making an easy layup.
This story was originally published January 17, 2026 at 2:36 PM.
