Why missed opportunities against comparable ACC teams haunt NC State basketball
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wolfpack lose three winnable games, exposing failure vs comparable ACC teams.
- Missed opportunities and late collapses turn winnable games into losses.
- Wolfpack résumé wobbles; likely mid ACC seed and stagnant NCAA outlook.
The issue isn’t losing to Duke. It’s in the upper echelon of men’s college basketball. The issue really isn’t Virginia, either. The Cavaliers aren’t quite to the Blue Devils’ level, but they’re certainly in a higher tier than N.C. State.
The Wolfpack’s biggest problem after losing five of its six last games isn’t even having three losses by 29 points or more. N.C. State’s most glaring blemish on the season is failing to handle business against comparable teams.
“We’ve missed some three-foot putts,” N.C. State head coach Will Wade said after the 93-64 loss to Duke on Monday. “When you miss three-foot putts and then you try to make up for it on 30 footers, it’s hard to do. Our margins are pretty thin right now.”
Wade mentioned his team squandering an eight-point lead against Georgia Tech, the worst team in the ACC, on Jan. 17. The Yellow Jackets haven’t won a game since they upset the Wolfpack at home.
N.C. State blew a seven-point lead to Miami in the final 67 seconds on Valentine’s Day. Then, on Saturday, it blew a nine-point lead to Notre Dame, also one of the weaker teams in the ACC, allowing the Fighting Irish to force overtime and comeback for the upset victory.
Those losses are the problems. Those are the ones that Wade can’t get over. They’re the ones he’ll keep bringing up. Because it’s one thing to lose to Virginia or Duke. They’re whipping almost everybody. It’s much harder to stomach the losses against teams his squad was more than capable of beating.
“We can’t punch in the heavy weights right now, but the middle weights and light weights, you know, we’ve let them knock us around a little bit, too.” Wade said. “We’ve landed our punches in those classes, but we’re just not there right now, and we’ve got to get there quick. This program deserves it. Our fans deserve it, and we’re going to work extremely hard to get there and get there fast … But we’ve got to punch in our weight class better than we have.”
Missing the gimmes
Wade said that’s been the most disappointing part about this season. His previous teams, with many of the same assistants, lost games but rarely lost the games they were supposed to win. They keep missing the three- to five-foot putts.
That turns a great season into a good season. Or a good season into just an OK season, he said.
When it comes to the ACC and NCAA Tournament resumes, the Wolfpack is in a better position than it was a year ago — and even two years ago before its Cinderella run — but the program is certainly not where it wants to be.
N.C. State had a chance to stay in contention for a double bye in the conference championship. It needed to go 2-2 down the stretch with wins over Notre Dame and Stanford, while getting at least one other game to go its way. There were at least seven different scenarios in which the Wolfpack could’ve remained in the Top 4 with wins over the Irish and the Cardinal.
With the Pack going 0-3 and one regular season game left, it will likely land anywhere between the No. 5 and No. 7 seed going into Charlotte next week.
NC State’s NCAA Tournament outlook
The NCAA Tournament resume is also in a somewhat precarious position. Without any sort of miracle, it’s unlikely that N.C. State will see its seed rise. Prior to the loss on Monday, various prognosticators had the team listed as an eight seed. Earlier this season, it had been listed as a No. 6 or No. 7 seed.
“I think we’re fine as of today, but we don’t want to lose Saturday. I think it’ll get a lot trickier then,” Wade said. “We’ve got four Quad 1 wins. Some of our losses have been pretty loud, but still a loss, and our numbers are pretty good.”
The Wolfpack is now 4-8 in Quad 1 games and 7-2 in Quad 2 matchups. Its loss to the Yellow Jackets sits at a Quad 4. It is 2-6 in matchups against AP Top 25 teams, with victories over Clemson and North Carolina. Its other two Quad 1 wins came against SMU and Wake Forest.
N.C. State’s resume also includes wins over potential NCAA Tournament teams Liberty, VCU and Virginia Tech. VCU and Virginia Tech are on the bubble. N.C. State was No. 29 in the NET prior to the loss to Duke. The Wolfpack was No. 31 in KenPom rankings and dropped to No. 35 following the game.
“We’re just trying to win games. That’s it. That’s the main focus. Winning the games,” senior guard Quadir Copeland said. “We win games, no one’s got something to say. When we won them six games, everybody was happy. We’ve been losing, and everybody’s sad, that’s how it goes. … We just gotta win games. We’re gonna stick together and stay with each other and win games, simple as that.”
