NC State basketball has endured plenty of adversity. Saturday, it found a way to learn from it
Saturday may have been a turning point for N.C. State, and it wasn’t because the Wolfpack ended an NCAA-record Florida State overtime streak that dated back more than nine years. The Wolfpack has struggled at times this season, especially late in games, some of it self-inflicted, to be sure.
Against the Seminoles, N.C. State finally found its way out of the darkness, not only coming back from a late six-point deficit to force overtime after blowing a second-half lead, but finding a way to beat a team that had won 14 straight games in that situation.
Coaches love to talk about growing through adversity, and for good reason. There aren’t a lot of life lessons on the sunny side of the street. But you can’t just take punches. Eventually, you’ve got to throw one of your own.
So as the Wolfpack prepares to host Coppin State on Tuesday at Reynolds Coliseum — a game that shouldn’t be close, unlike the previous four — this may not be the time to find out what N.C. State learned from gritting out a victory. But there’s also no margin for error after the Wolfpack failed to win any of its big nonconference games so far, with only Kansas left on Saturday.
Certainly Jayden Taylor and Michael O’Connell and Ben Middlebrooks have some hard-earned experience on that front, both with adversity and fighting through to the rewards on the other end. But a big chunk of the rest of the roster didn’t help hang those fancy new banners. Some of those lessons will have to be learned all over again. Saturday’s 84-74 win was a start.
“The great thing about when you got a new bunch is, they are a new bunch and so you can learn a lot of things,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said. But we needed a win where we made some mistakes but we came back, and that way we can grow. And I think this is the best thing that could have happened for us, because we’ve had more adversity than we have success, and just winning this game will really help us.”
The Wolfpack certainly put itself in a difficult position. Leading by seven early in the second half, the Wolfpack let Florida State big man Malique Ewin go on an epic run, scoring 18 of the Seminoles’ next 35 points, posting up far from the basket and spinning to his right, over and over again, as the lead evaporated and Florida State pulled ahead.
During the under-4 television timeout, with 3:44 to play, the Wolfpack was down five, soon to be six after a Florida State free throw. N.C. State had struggled to finish the previous game against Texas, missing two shots and turning the ball over with a chance to tie the score in the final minute. Against Florida State, two things happened: Dontrez Styles took over, and Ewin fouled out.
Styles scored seven points in that final segment and Ewin was called for a touch foul on Middlebrooks, his fifth, with 1:51. Without Ewin, the Seminoles stagnated on offense and barely hung on in regulation before N.C. State pulled away in overtime for the win.
“You’re playing in the ACC, you’re not going to blow out teams every night,” O’Connell said. “Teams are going to make runs and the biggest thing you have to do is be able to sit there and try to end theirs as soon as possible and get on your own. So just staying together was huge for us.”
What ended up being a potentially pivotal win was a roller-coaster of emotion, from the ease with which the Wolfpack took an early lead to how easily it gave that lead away. But the final few minutes, where N.C. State had so often stumbled, may have shown the Wolfpack a new path forward.
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