NC State survived Boston College’s best three-point shooting night of the season, a performance from the Eagles that made the game far more interesting than anyone would have liked. That’s always the fear with teams that take a bunch of threes, even if they’re not good at making them on average, because anything can happen on any given night.
Fortunately for State, DJ Funderburk was back, and he was taking out his pent up energy on an undersized BC frontcourt.
DJ was 8-9 inside the arc and as a team NC State made 67.6% of its two-point shots, which was good enough to carry the Pack past an unusually sloppy (24.3 TO%) effort on a night where the threes weren’t falling.
State was good on the offensive glass, too, grabbing 37% of its missed shots. Basically, BC’s interior defense proved exactly as bad as it looked on paper, and that’s where NC State found enough of an advantage to win this game.
You make two-thirds of your twos, grab 11 offensive boards, and get to the free throw line 26 times, then you’ve made a mockery of the other team’s interior defense. NC State’s dominance inside the arc carried the day.