NC State puts one in the win column, defeats Campbell basketball at PNC Arena

In its final tuneup before ACC play, N.C. State basketball proved it can win with just nine players.

Stepping out of the conference before hosting UNC on Tuesday, the Wolfpack took care of business, defeating Campbell, 69-50.

With the win, N.C. State improved to 4-1 overall, but most importantly, looked somewhat like themselves, more like the team that started the season 3-0, and less like the of the team that was gassed late in a loss to St. Louis on Thursday night.

Did the Pack look perfect? Absolutely not. There were times in the first half they looked uninterested against the Camels (4-2) and trailed by as many as seven (22-15). But N.C. State did enough to keep it close, before taking the lead, 30-28, at the break.

Whatever Kevin Keatts said to his team at halftime worked. To start the second half, N.C. State looked like it wanted to be there. The Wolfpack started on a 13-1 run to go ahead 52-36. By the seven-minute mark, they led by a comfortable 18 points.

“I thought our guys did a tremendous job in the second half,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “We didn’t have that pop offensively (in the first half). Our guys are a little bit tired, but they found their energy. Excited that we could play the way we did in the second half.”

N.C. State played most of the first half without the 6-11 redshirt sophomore forward Manny Bates, who picked up his second foul with 9:52 remaining. That meant Keatts had to go with Dereon Seabron or Jericole Hellems, both 6-7, as his tallest player on the floor. At times that also meant extended minutes for true freshman Jaylon Gibson (6-9), who played only one minute against St. Louis on Thursday.

Hellems, who scored a season-low six points in his return home against the Billikens, scored 13 in the first half against Campbell to pace the Wolfpack. Hellems, who finished with 19, got plenty of help during the second-half run to pull away. Hellems started the run with a short jumper, followed by a dunk by Bates. Four different players scored on four consecutive trips for N.C. State and all it took was Keatts slapping the floor in frustration after a turnover to light a fire in his team.

Campbell shot better than 40% from the floor in the first half, missed three from the floor after a three-point play by Ricky Clemons made it a four-point Wolfpack lead. After that, State forced four turnovers on the defensive end, and couldn’t seem to miss on offense. By the time Shakeel Moore and Braxton Beverly hit consecutive 3s, the Pack found themselves in the midst of a 19-1 run and never looked back.

Both teams started cold, shooting a combined 2-13 from the field by the first media timeout. The Camels found their groove first, hitting on four of their next five and it took a Thomas Allen layup to tie the game at 11 for N.C. State. The Pack didn’t do itself any favors by going on a 3:39 drought. Campbell got five in a row from sophomore forward Joshua Lusane, giving the Camels their biggest lead of the day. N.C. State snapped out of its funk thanks to two layups by Devon Daniels and a jumper from Hellems that made it a three-point game right before the half. The Wolfpack hit five of seven from the floor and led by two at the break.

Daniels finished with 12 points and Bates, despite foul trouble, finished with 10 points and two blocks, giving him 101 blocks for his career.

“Coach jumped on us in the second half,” Daniels said. “That’s a nice team (Campbell), but we felt like we were bringing our energy to the max and we turned that up in the second half.”

N.C. State has now won 23 straight regular-season home games against nonconference opponents. The last nonconference team to defeat the Pack was UNCG on Dec. 16, 2017. N.C. State improves to 11-1 versus Campbell and 63-1 all-time against Big South opponents.

AND ONE

Despite foul trouble, Bates scored 10 points on 4-5 shooting from the floor. He’s had eight games in his career with 10 points or more.

LANE VIOLATION

It was the second straight game N.C. State played with just nine players due to COVID-19 protocols.

ICYMI

State opened the season with two games at Reynolds Coliseum, one at a neutral site and a true road game before its first game at PNC on Saturday, with limited fans in attendance.

MAKING SENSE OF THE NUMBERS

8: Number of players who scored for the Pack. Freshman Nick Farrar finished with five points, his first points of the season.

8: Number of rebounds by Devon Daniels, which led the team. Daniels only had one rebound against St. Louis.

21: Rebounding advantage for N.C. State over Campbell. The Wolfpack was outrebounded by 26 boards against St. Louis on Thursday. It was the largest rebounding advantage for the team this season.

18: N.C. State’s bench, just four players, all freshmen, scored 18 points against Campbell after scoring 11 against St. Louis.

This story was originally published December 19, 2020 at 5:58 PM with the headline "NC State puts one in the win column, defeats Campbell basketball at PNC Arena."