NC State jumped out to a 9-0 lead on Notre Dame to begin the game Saturday afternoon and did not look back. The Wolfpack never trailed in this one, and really it never had to sweat over the last 30 minutes thanks to some excellent offense that buried the Irish early. Torin Dorn led the charge with 21 points, and the Pack ran away with a 76-58 win, avenging its 30-point loss in South Bend.
Pack-Irish
Four Factors | NC State | Notre Dame |
---|---|---|
Four Factors | NC State | Notre Dame |
eFG% | 55 | 46.3 |
TO% | 19.1 | 22.1 |
OR% | 38.7 | 21.2 |
FTR | 23.1 | 25.9 |
The Wolfpack came out focused and that was evident in the passing from the guards—Markell Johnson had 10 assists, Braxton Beverly had six, and Lavar Batts finished with three. Good passing led to good looks and State didn’t miss a lot of those. The shorthanded Irish got off to a rough shooting start and couldn’t string together enough stops at the other end to make this one interesting.
NC State was much better from the field, won in the turnover column, and also out-rebounded the Irish by a significant margin. It was a pretty complete effort, and this is beginning to look like a team that is finding its comfort level. They were confident today and showed no ill effects from the week off.
Omer Yurtseven had 10 points and 10 boards, while Malik Abu played 30 minutes, which is the most time he’s seen in an ACC game this season. His performance was up-and-down, but the effort was there. I’ll take it as an encouraging development moving forward.
Al Freeman reverted to cold-shooting Al Freeman—at least from the perimeter—but obviously that was no issue. And Freeman did make some pretty tough shots around the rim to maintain the Pack’s margin.
NC State is 16-7 and 6-4 in the ACC with a road trip to Virginia Tech up next.