NC State turns up the intensity on Little Rock
There was a little spice at the end of N.C. State’s win over Little Rock on Saturday.
But the game was won by the Wolfpack with a bullish start and its best sustained effort of the young season on defense.
C.J. Bryce scored 18 points and Jericole Hellems added a little bit of everything in a 74-58 win by N.C. State.
“Our defense was really good,” N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts said.
N.C. State had been sluggish through a stretch of games it was expected to win. It didn’t have any trouble in beating Alcorn State or St. Francis but it didn’t exactly crank up the defensive pressure in those wins.
The Wolfpack dialed up the defensive pressure in the first half, in particular, with its zone press forcing turnovers (11 of Little Rock’s 17).
“We really wanted to focus on our defense and get better on that part of the game,” Bryce said.
The Trojans came into the game ranked No. 147 in the KenPom ratings, or about 100 spots higher than the Alcorn State team N.C. State beat on Tuesday.
Little Rock was competitive in a 68-58 loss at Memphis on Wednesday and was expected to provide more of a push for the Wolfpack.
N.C. State was able to use its defense to build up a 39-21 lead at the half. That’s the fewest points N.C. State has allowed in any half this season.
Little Rock guard Markquis Nowell came into the game with a 20.2 scoring average didn’t score, on five shots, in the first half. He finished with eight points.
A block by junior guard Devon Daniels on the defensive end sparked a fastbreak, which ended with an alley-oop dunk by Hellems for a 39-15 lead at 3:37 in the first half.
Hellems finished with seven points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals. Keatts said he gave Hellems a pep talk before the game about being more involved. He credited Hellems with the boost.
“I thought we came out with great energy to start the game and the second half,” Keatts said.
The final 1.3 seconds were unusual in that official Tony Henderson waved the two teams off the court to avoid any kind of trouble.
Ther was some jawing between the two teams but nothing overly unusual. Henderson pulled both teams off the floor but after a brief conference, Ted Valentine and Ron Groover restarted the game to make the ending official.
Before N.C. State make the final inbounds pass, Groover gave technicals to and ejected Daniels and Little Rock’s Isaiah Palermo.
“I don’t know what happened at the end,” Daniels said. “I was facing the crowd and I turned around and I saw (Groover) throwing me out.”
Keatts wasn’t quite sure what to make of the final sequence.
“I think they were going back and forth,” Keatts said of Daniels and Palermo. “I dont know who said what to who. The referees called the game and then they brought it back.”
And one
Johnson, who had been off to a slow shooting start on the season, made five of his first nine shots before he picked up his fourth foul at 16:43 in the second half.
Johnson finished with 12 points and three assists in 24 minutes.
Lane violation
N.C. State was out-rebounded 37 to 33 by the smaller Trojans.
ICYMI
This was the third game in the Barclays Center Classic for the Wolfpack. Its next game will be against No. 16 Memphis in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thanksgiving day.
Making sense of the numbers
6 Hellems had a career-high six assists. He didn’t have any in the first five games of the season.
22 Freshman forward Manny Bates blocked three more shots on Saturday and leads the ACC with 22 through six games.
This story was originally published November 23, 2019 at 2:52 PM with the headline "NC State turns up the intensity on Little Rock."
