After shooting 2-16 in the loss Wednesday to North Carolina, DJ Horne was removed from the starting lineup for Michael O’Connell in Saturday’s game at Louisville. The move paid off in spades, as O’Connell had 11 points, six assists and a +13 in his 31 minutes on the floor. And Horne came off the bench to score a game-high 27 points, as State moved to 4-1 in conference play with an 89-83 win.
It was a dreaded noon start and neither team played particularly well early on. But the Pack saw the ball go in the basket when they weren’t turning it over and they jumped out to a 12-0 lead. The officials let the teams play physical, which worked to State’s favor with their height and bulk advantage inside. The Cardinals settled down and made some runs but the Pack held a nine-point lead at the half.
But then a coaching move that left me shaking my head happened. After having so much success opening the game with O’Connell running the show, Kevin Keatts opted to go back to Horne and Jayden Taylor as the starting backcourt in the second half. And Louisville simply blitzed State to start the final 20 minutes. How bad was it? Keatts had to call a timeout 10 seconds before the first media stoppage, with his team reeling, clinging to a two-point lead.
Louisville eventually took the lead in the game but State came roaring back. The Cardinals held a 55-54 lead. But with 2:18 left in the game, DJ Burns hit a short jumper to give the Pack a 14-point lead. But then they tried to give the game away.
A turnover by O’Connell, followed by a missed shot by Burns and another turnover by O’Connell and suddenly it was a three-point game with 52 seconds remaining. But State hit four of its last five free throws to seal the win.
After a brutal shooting night versus North Carolina, The Pack rebounded with an excellent game putting the ball in the hoop. It shot 54.2% from the floor, 50% on 20 3-point shots and they made 15-17 shots from the line. But the game ended up close thanks to an uncharacteristic 15 turnovers, as well as a good shooting night from the home team, too.
Burns and Casey Morsell had 13 points apiece for State, while Mo Diarra added seven points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.
Wednesday night was disappointing, as it’s never fun to lose to the Evil Empire. But it was a close game until Carolina pulled away late. There was no blatant official bias in the game. In fact, the most questionable call went in State’s favor, as Armando Bacot was called for a flagrant foul which limited his minutes in the first half.
State did a good job on Bacot, who has absolutely torched them in the past. And they held the Tar Heels to 38.7% shooting and 67 points. And this is a UNC team that has topped 90 points five times this season, including three time when they surpassed 100 points. It was the type of effort that easily could have been a win if they had a halfway decent night shooting the ball.
Instead, the Pack shot just 18-66 (27.3%) from the floor and 2-20 from behind the arc. The announcers talked all night about what a wonderful job UNC did on defense. And, indeed, they played well on that end of the floor. But State missed many open shots, including ones near the basket and wide open from behind the arc, that had little or nothing to do with the other team’s defense.
Hey, sometimes the shots don’t go in.
After these two games, the Pack is 12-4 overall and is in second place in the league with that 4-1 conference record. With three road wins, State is in excellent shape in the conference. But it’s not as rosy as far as the NCAA tournament. The Pack has no signature win that we know the committee likes to see.
But almost as important is that they don’t have any bad losses, like what sunk Clemson a year ago, as the Tigers had four Quad 4 defeats. Three of NCSU’s losses have come to teams ranked in the top 10 in the NET, and the other is a Quad 1 defeat, too, a road game at 15-1 Ole Miss.
State still has multiple chances to pick up a Quad 1 win. If it gets a couple of those, while avoiding any Quad 3 or Quad 4 losses, they’ll have a shot to return to the big tournament for the second straight year.