NC State men beat Louisville in ACC Tournament. Three takeaways from first round win

One N.C. State fan at the Capital One Arena made her feelings clear about her team: “They are making me sweat. Oh my god.”

Her reaction was fair for a game that featured seven ties and three lead changes by both teams.

No. 10 seed N.C. State (18-14, 9-11 ACC) beat No. 15 seed Louisville (8-24, 3-17 ACC), 94-85, to extend its season and snap a four-game losing streak.

To start the game, the bench looked uninspired during the starting lineup introduction — like the outcome was a foregone conclusion. N.C. State’s play in the first 10 minutes didn’t inspire much confidence, either. It committed four turnovers by the under-16 timeout, DJ Burns picked up two fouls and the defense lacked toughness. Louisville capitalized on the combination, taking a 10-point lead twice in the first half.

Then, shots started falling and the Wolfpack’s defensegot stops. The team showed signs of life.

That said, it couldn’t contain Louisville’s Skyy Clark. The sophomore came in averaging 12.4 points per game and recorded a career-high 36 points to lead all scorers. His previous high was 29, set against New Mexico State on Nov. 26, 2023.

The Wolfpack shot 53%, going 27 of 51, while making 33 free throws. N.C. State is now 7-0 when it shoots 50% or better from the field. It is also 2-0 when scoring at least 90 points.

“It was a shootout. Our defense wasn’t very good, and we talked about making some adjustment guarding the ball,” N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts said. “When you get a guy like Skyy Clark ... in the tournament, who’s playing well, you’ve got to really defend him. I thought he had a tremendous game against us. He played really well.

“Give Louisville a lot of credit. That was a heck of a battle all the way until the end, and we’re fortunate — neither team played any defense. We just happened to score 94 points.”

Casey Morsell led the team with 25 points and made all 13 of his free-throws. Jayden Taylor scored 18 points and added eight rebounds.

N.C. State plays No. 7 Syracuse at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Here are three takeaways from the Wolfpack’s postseason win.

Team stepped up with DJ Horne out

The Wolfpack’s leading scorer participated in the team’s initial warmups but did not play. The graduate student left the team’s regular season finale at Pitt with a “lower extremity injury.”

Horne averaged 16.8 points per game this season, adding 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest. N.C. State certainly felt his absence, though scoring was the least of its worries. It mostly needed his floor management skills and aggressive defense.

Instead the Wolfpack used a plug-and-chug rotation method, using Kam Woods and Breon Pass early in the first half rotation. They played in the second half, as well, helping run the full court press.

“The guy can put the ball in the hole; one of the best in our league,” Keatts said of Horne. “What we’ve asked is guys like Jayden Taylor to step up. I’ve asked Michael (O’Connell) to be a little bit more offensive minded. I think Breon Pass came in in the first half and really gave us a big-time lift, but everybody has got to step up. When you lose a guy that can score the basketball the way he does, I would have never guessed that we would score 94 points without DJ Horne, but we did.”

Wolfpack’s defense was inconsistent

N.C. State started the game with a weak defensive presence, unable to guard players at any position on the floor. The Cardinals started 7 of 9 from the field, including two 3s, in the first five minutes of play.

The Pack, however, put together a couple of positive stretches midway through the first. One such stretch included two turnovers and a blocked shot. Pass and Taylor deserve partial credit for the defensive resurgence, providing much-needed effort that turned into made shots.

N.C. State also averages 7.2 steals per game, which is fourth best in the ACC. It had eight by half, including three from O’Connell.

The defensive effort in the second half reflected its late-first half performance, but it still struggled to pull away. N.C. State led by as many as seven points before Clark tied the game with 4:34 to play.

Louisville went into the locker room shooting 18 of 27 (67%) in the first half and finished 32 of 56 (57%) from the field. It wasn’t a good performance, but it was enough.

“We gave up around 50 points at halftime,” Morsell said. “It’s way too much, so being able to lock teams down especially early is definitely the biggest key, especially heading into Syracuse.”

Much-needed buckets from the bench

N.C. State’s bench showed up in a big way Tuesday, keeping the team competitive against the Cardinals.

Ben Middlebrooks scored 11 points and Pass added six in the first half, shooting 2 of 2 from 3-point range. Kam Woods made a layup to round out the scoring.

“Those guys know they had a good amount of time to get ready to play, get warmed up and they were ready,” Morsell said. “They came in to contribute right away is you know, it’s gonna take everyone. It’s not just gonna take starters, it’s gonna take everyone to do what we want to do.”

Every starter contributed on the offensive end, four scored in double figures, but the Wolfpack would not have won without its depth. Its defense didn’t put together enough stops to rely solely on the starting five.