NC State stumbles to a 64-59 loss to Miami

It turns out that wretched shooting performances that result in frustrating losses are still a part of basketball, which is a shame, because I thought they got rid of that whole deal. Oh well.

NC State was pretty putrid at the offensive end on Saturday afternoon and it ended up costly. As always, you gotta make shots

NC State was urgent on the offensive glass, which gave the Pack some extra opportunities that nearly excavated an escape route from this otherwise poor performance, but ultimately that’s a useless prop for an offense that can’t make shots.

Miami’s interior defense is good—that was not an exaggeration or a surprise—and it proved as much today, limiting State to barely 40% shooting on twos. State’s approach to attacking the paint was often not very good, and the Pack’s adjustments didn’t pay off because no one could make a jump shot. Tough times all around.

Still NC State managed to limp into the last four minutes with a four-point lead, only to watch Miami counter with a 14-5 stretch the rest of the way. There’s not any one thing you can point to on an afternoon like this, when the shit performance was all-encompassing. Everything sucked today, and Miami is not bad—again, the Canes lost three straight ACC games by five combined points—and so this can be the result.

Miami had its edge—the frustration of losing multiple close games—heading into this one, and NC State didn’t play as angry as it should have after the result in Clemson. That matters. It might not alter your shooting stroke, but it matters.