Markell Johnson lifts NC State past Notre Dame
Kevin Keatts spent 20 extra minutes with Markell Johnson on the charter flight after the team returned from Clemson on Saturday afternoon.
The third-year Wolfpack coach had a direct and positive message for his star point guard after a difficult ACC road loss.
“I told him that he’s our point guard and he has to deliver,” Keatts said.
Ask and ye shall receive.
Johnson matched his career-high with 27 points in a 73-68 comeback win over Notre Dame on Wednesday night.
He and junior forward D.J. Funderburk (16 points) combined to score the Wolfpack’s final 15 minutes. N.C. State (11-4, 2-2 ACC) erased a 12-point deficit in the second half to avoid falling into a 1-3 ACC hole.
Johnson was assertive early and brilliant late. He finished with 27 points, seven assists and three steals in 37 minutes.
It was the opposite of his struggles in Saturday’s 81-70 loss to the Tigers. Johnson needed to bounce back and he knew it.
“I think I played terrible at Clemson,” Johnson said. “I think I turned the ball over too much. I let those guards speed me up too much. I just wasn’t focused.”
He took care of the ball against the Fighting Irish (10-5, 1-3), who got a career-high 24 points from Prentiss Hubb but went 1 for 11 from the 3-point line in the second half.
Funderburk made a pair of free throws with 1:38 left to give N.C. State a 68-66 lead. After a steal by Jericole Hellems on Notre Dame’s next possession, Johnson made a knifing layup for a 70-66 advantage with 53.2 seconds left.
Johnson was able to put the game away from the free-throw line, which was a marked change from his recent four-game slump from the charity stripe.
“I’m very proud of Markell,” Keatts said. “He has taken a lot of criticism within the last three or four days. For him to come back and play and tie his career-high — and most importantly make some free throws down the stretch —makes me happy as a coach.”
Funderburk was saddled with early foul trouble but was “flying all over the place,” as Keatts said, in the second half and super active on the glass. He finished with nine rebounds, including five on the offensive end.
“He was a huge difference in this game,” Keatts said of Funderburk.
Johnson and Funderburk had to be. C.J. Bryce missed his third straight game with a concussion but the senior guard was able to at least attend the game for the first time since suffering the injury in a pre-game practice on Dec. 29.
The Wolfpack was able to beat Appalachian State without Bryce, who leads the team with 16.1 points per game, but lost at Clemson and it looked grim for long stretches against the Fighting Irish.
But Johnson wouldn’t let the Wolfpack drop another ACC game without Bryce.
Keatts called it a “program win” after the Clemson loss, the absence of Bryce and with both Johnson and guard Braxton Beverly banged up during the course of the game on Wednesday.
“This was one for us because of the adversity and we showed a lot of fight,” Keatts said.
And One
Freshman forward Manny Bates “only” had six points, five rebounds and three blocks but he continues to show an aptitude for improvement. He was tentative around the basket with the ball at moments in the second half of the Clemson loss but was aggressive throughout Wednesday’s game.
Lane Violation
It wasn’t Pat Andree’s night. The grad transfer from Lehigh missed his all six of 3-point attempts.
ICYMI
Notre Dame made five layups in transition in the first 5 minutes of the second half. The Irish also had three similar quick transition baskets in the first half. Irish coach Mike Brey must have noticed something in the pregame scout because Notre Dame hasn’t been much of a transition team this season.
Making sense of the numbers
1 Funderburk had one assist and no turnovers in 23 minutes. He entered the game with four assists and 16 turnovers for the season. Keatts said he had been giving his big man a hard time about the upside down ratio.
Keatts provided a moment of levity in the post-game press conference when responded to Funderburk’s 1-0 ratio on Wednesday.
“Oh, (shoot),” Keatts said, using a different word. “He improved.”
9-16 Hubb has made 56.3 percent of his 3-point attempts in two trips to the Triangle this season (he was 5 of 9 at UNC on Nov. 6).
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 8:58 PM with the headline "Markell Johnson lifts NC State past Notre Dame."
