NC State falls at Pittsburgh, 71-69

NC State and Pittsburgh aren’t often going to impress anyone with their shot-making ability, and certainly neither did so this afternoon, but the Panthers had the decided edge in physicality, which was the difference in this latest unpleasant installment of Wolfpack basketball.

The Pack got some surprising bench contributions that were much-needed and even pushed the team out to a five-point lead at the break, though that first half is never going to be mistaken for good basketball.

Given that neither Dereon Seabron nor Terquavion Smith made much impact offensively in the first half—while Jericole Hellems spent 15 minutes on the bench with two fouls—the halftime lead was a pleasant surprise.

Naturally, it evaporated almost immediately, and Pitt pushed ahead by 10 in the second half before State started figuring things out again. The game was tied with five minutes left, and Seabron again tried to carry his teammates across the finish line—again to no avail. This damned team is more formulaic than an episode of Home Improvement.

Anyway, close game, couldn’t make plays down the stretch blah blah but almost et cetera and yada yada.

At this point it’ll be surprising if State, which has 12 league losses while no other team has more than 10, doesn’t finish dead last.