Highlights! Markell Johnson’s late three propels NC State past Syracuse

NC State picked up a much-needed win at Syracuse on Wednesday night, and did it despite struggling in a few ways I thought would be essential: State didn’t take good care of the ball, didn’t rebound well at the defensive end, and Omer Yurtseven was mostly a non-factor. Sports!

But Sam Hunt picked a hell of a night to make an impact—he hadn’t scored in double figures since Christmas. I will take it.

NC State probably could have made life a little bit easier in the last few minutes, but hey, they won anyhow, and sometimes outcome trumps process. The biggest key for State was selective three-point shooting—instead of panicking and settling for a ton of jump shots, NC State was able to create decent shots through its offense, and that was a significant difference-maker.

State made well over 40% of its three-point attempts, highlighted by those shots from Hunt and Markell Johnson down the stretch. When the team is functional like this, it’s pretty fun.