NC State 87, Winthrop 79: Cat Barber scores 37 as Wolfpack fends off Eagles

Box Score

NC State ran into another hot shooting team from three-point range on Friday night. This time, the Wolfpack had enough firepower to counter, thanks primarily to Cat Barber and his career-high 37 points. The Pack opened up a double-digit lead in the second half and held on for the 87-79 win.

Barber came into the evening with 53 free throw attempts in five games. He now has 75 attempts in six games, and he's hit 88% of them. His ability to get to the free throw line frequently has been huge for a team that hasn't shot especially well from the field this season. The fact he's knocked down 88% of his free throws is also significant for a group that is otherwise iffy at the stripe.

Winthrop made 12 three-pointers on 28 attempts, led by Jimmy Gavin, who scored 38 points on 10-15 shooting, including seven threes. A bit of hot shooting in the second half gave the Eagles a four-point lead, but the Wolfpack responded with a 19-3 run to give it some breathing room for the first time all night.

While the Eagles had themselves a three-point shooting bonanza, they hit only 36.4% of their 33 two-point tries. They were -4 in the turnover category, attempted 11 fewer free throws than NC State, and were outrebounded. They didn't win any of the four factors--albeit the margins were small in some cases--relying almost completely on the three-ball to be their equalizer.

They didn't quite have enough of those in them.