NC State gets its revenge in 69-54 win over Wisconsin

NC State avenged last season’s loss in Madison with a decisive win over Wisconsin on Wednesday night, and that was a sight for sore eyes in more ways than one. The Wolfpack outscored Wisconsin by 13 points in the second half to secure the comfortable victory.

A comfortable win in which Brad Davison was a non-factor—he was just 1-5 from the field—was the best-case scenario coming in. I’m gonna enjoy this one.

Neither team managed much separation in the first half, which went back-and-forth from the jump. And NC State was staring at a one-point halftime deficit before Markell Johnson decided to step in and work some magic.

The Wolfpack seemed to take that jolt of energy right on into the second half, and started to build a decent lead thanks to Jericole Hellems, who scored the first eight points for State out of the break. And what a performance for him: 23 points on 8-13 shooting. For the second straight game, he set a career-high in points scored.

The Pack pushed its lead to nine about seven minutes into the second half, prompting a Wisconsin timeout to regroup. But the Badgers fired up too many duds to mount a comeback and never cut the margin below nine points the rest of the way. NC State led by double figures for the majority of the final 10 minutes.

Wisconsin was just 2-11 from three in the second half and shot only 40% (eFG) overall. The Badgers compounded that with an unusually poor night at the free throw line, which NC State happily accepted.

The lack of talented scorers on this Wisconsin team was pretty apparent, and the Badgers weren’t able to compensate elsewhere for their rough shooting night. They dictated the pace they wanted—a 58-possession game, gross—but that’s about it.

NC State had no such problems shooting the ball, and also committed a mere six turnovers. Good recipe for success and it came at a much-needed time.