NC State falls to Orange despite career highs from Hellems, Bates
N.C. State knew there would be an adjustment playing in its first game without leading scorer Devon Daniels at Syracuse.
What the Wolfpack didn’t know was that the adjustment would be having to play the Orange without its top two leading scorers, and it is unknown how long that will be the case.
NCSU coach Kevin Keatts didn’t learn that senior forward D.J. Funderburk would be unavailable to play Syracuse until the team left Raleigh on Saturday. Despite the odds, the Pack (7-6, 3-5 ACC) showed a lot of fight before falling 76-73 in the Carrier Dome.
“When you look at the fight that this team has and the adversity that we’ve had to go through just in the last four or five days,” Keatts said. “And to come out and put us in a position to win on the road in the ACC — I’m proud of our guys.”
Daniels led the team with 16.5 points per game but is out for the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in Wednesday’s win against Wake Forest.
The school announced publicly about an hour before tipoff that Funderburk, who made the trip to New York, would miss the game due to university policy. Keatts said he wasn’t sure if Funderburk would be able to play when they return home to face Virginia on Wednesday.
“I don’t know the answer to that, there is no timeline,” Keatts said in his postgame video conference. “We’re gonna get back to school and deal with a couple of situations. That’s all I can say about.”
Funderburk was second behind Daniels, averaging 11.9 points per game. The Pack frontcourt duo of Manny Bates and Jericole Hellems more than made up for Funderburk’s absence on offense. Hellems scored a career-high 24 points with a career-high with 10 rebounds.
Bates elevated his game earlier this season in a similar scenario when they were limited to just nine players at Saint Louis. He scored a career-high 20 points then and against the Orange he finished with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds before fouling out.
“There really was no pressure (without Funderburk),” Bates said. “I try to take every game with the same approach. Like I know what coach needs me to do. He wants me to go continue to block shots and get more rebounds, so this is my push for every game, not just this game alone.”
But it wasn’t enough in a game that had seven ties and 19 lead changes.
N.C. State’s 47 points in the first half were the second most its scored this season. The high was 49 in its 79-76 win over North Carolina. It owned a nine-point lead at the half, while shooting 56.7 percent from the floor, and appeared headed toward a victory.
Things changed in the second half when the Orange tightened up its zone. The passing for State wasn’t as sharp in the second half — after 14 assist on 17 baskets in the first half, it had just five assists on 10 baskets in the second.
“We all played a pretty good first half, but there’s still things that we need to work on,” Hellems said. “And as young guys they’re willing to willing to learn. So we just gotta use the time that we have to improve.”
Syracuse guard Buddy Boeheim, who struggled in his last two games scoring only a combined 16 points, made four 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. He helped the Orange erase its halftime deficit and wrestle a 70-65 lead.
The Pack missed Funderburk’s experience late in the game. Redshirt freshmen Dereon Seabron reached for a foul with six seconds left on the shot clock and 20 seconds left in the game, trailing 72-70, when the Pack appeared to want to make the Orange take a shot. Instead, they had to keep fouling to send Syracuse to the free-throw line.
State trailed 74-70 when Syracuse sophomore forward Quincy Guerrier fouled Thomas Allen shooting a 3-pointer from the corner. Allen made three free throws to pull the Pack within 74-73 with 6.1 seconds left.
Alan Griffin made a pair of free throws with 4.9 seconds left to push the lead back to three and State’s freshman guard Cam Hayes, who started in place of Daniels, missed a contested 3-pointer over Marek Dolezaj to tie the score at the buzzer.
“With our circumstances, I don’t think anybody outside of our locker room would have predicted that this was going to be a really good game to the stretch,” Keatts said. “But our guys believe and those guys are gonna get better.”
Here are updates from earlier in the game:
Game tightened up
The Orange erased its nine-point halftime deficit, tying the score at 54 before taking a 58-56 lead with 10:25 left in the game. It was its first lead since it was 26-25 in the first half.
The Pack found scoring a lot tougher against that zone defense. Syracuse stop allowing them to easily make an entry pass to Jericole Hellems in the middle. State went from shooting 17-for-30 in the first half, to making just 6 of 19 from the field through the first 12 minutes of the second half.
Foul trouble could also come into play. Manny Bates, who has a double-double with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, picked up his third foul.
Pack lead Orange at halftime
N.C. State leads Syracuse 47-38 at halftime. The Wolfpack dissected the vaunted Syracuse zone defense, shooting 56.7 percent from the field.
Forward Jericole Hellems has been key to the Pack functioning so highly on offense. He’s camped out around the free-throw line, in the heart of the zone, and dished out four assists. (Hellems’ career-high in assist is six.) He also has 10 points.
Forward Manny Bates has also answered the call with D.J. Funderburk out of the lineup. Bates, who only averages 9.0 points per game, hasn’t missed a shot in five attempts and has already collected nine rebounds. His 12 points leads all scorers.
Syracuse sophomore forward Quincy Guerrier has been pretty silent. He leads the Orange with 16.8 points per game, but is 1-for-5 with just two points in the first half.
Missing who?
Syracuse may be the perfect team to play against down two leading scorers. So far, the Wolfpack has made up for being without Daniels and D.J. Funderburk against the Orange’s zone defense.
Guard Braxton Beverly and Jericole Hellems combined to score 17 of the Pack’s first 22 points. State, which is shooting 55 percent from the field, leads 29-26 with 7:08 left in the first half.
Starting lineup
N.C. State’s starters: Braxton Beverly, Cam Hayes, Thomas Allen, Jericole Hellems, Manny Bates.
Syracuse starters: Alan Griffin, Joe Girard III, Quincy Guerrier, Buddy Boeheim, Marek Dolezaj
Funderburk out
N.C. State announced second leading scorer D.J. Funderburk, who averages 11.9 points per game, is out for the game citing university policy. That will leave State’s frontcourt with little depth and add to the load for forwards Jericole Hellems and Manny Bates.
This story was originally published January 31, 2021 at 5:41 PM.