Highlights! (?) NC State manages just enough offense to beat Pitt

It’s not every day you win a game in which you shot 9-35 from the three-point line, but somehow State did just that in pulling out a come-from-behind victory over Pittsburgh on Wednesday night. Not a whole lot that happened made sense, from Pitt’s early perimeter brilliance to State’s late run. But I will absolutely take it, thank you.

I’ll have to check on this later today, but I suspect that road wins despite 40% (eFG) shooting is a bit of a rarity for NC State. It helps that Pittsburgh is terrible, yeah, but that is a massive hurdle that will doom you most of the time, even against bad teams.

State basically had to rebound well and be perfect at the free throw line, and it managed both of those things. NC State’s edge on the boards, plus that free throw shooting, plus a +2 mark in the turnover column created the very slim margin of victory on Wednesday. Shooting rules above all, but occasionally the peripherals can deliver you from a really bad day.