Bummer: NC State loses to Va. Tech 73

NC State (10-4) opened ACC play and the New Year with an overtime loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies (9-5) 73-68.

If I were Mark Gottfried, I’d be spittin‘ fire. Despite all of the second half mistakes, ie. defensive letdowns, offensive put-backs and poor shooting by the Wolfpack, IF anyone other than Maverick Rowan and Anthony “Cat” Barber had hit their free throws down the stretch , the NC State Wolfpack would be one win richer right now. They are called “freebies” for a reason.

NC State played an awesome first half of basketball ripping Virginia Tech’s defense going on an 11-1 run to open up a 32 – 16 lead just before the half. The sparse crowd of only 4,971 at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Virginia was stunned. Amazingly, the Hokies would fight back and somehow regain their composure averting the blowout. They would end the half with an 8-2 run of their own to cut the Wolfpack lead to 10 points.

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HALFTIME: NC State 34 – Va. Tech 24

NC State leads the overall series 39-14 and had won the previous five meetings against the Hokies, so they had to be feeling pretty good about their second half chances. For most of the second half the Wolfpack continued to dominate and kept a double-digit cushion.

Somewhere around the 6 minute mark the game changed. Seth Allen and Jalen Hudson, who each scored 23 points for the game, took over and catapulted the Hokies into the lead and the win. The final minutes of the second half were not without clutch shots by both teams, but ultimately it came down to a series of free throw misses that kept the Pack from securing the win. Most notably Beejay Anya’s woeful foul shooting (4-10 for the game) became a major liability. Since that critical 6 minute mark of the second half, the Wolfpack missed 11 free throws, some of which were the front end of one and ones.

This was one game that definitely got away from the Wolfpack.

FINAL: Virginia Tech 73 – NC State 68 -OT

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QUICK STATS

Anthony Barber- 21 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 assists

Caleb Martin- 14 pts, 4 rebounds

Abdul-Malik Abu- 8 pts, 8 rebounds

NC State finished 21 of 33 for the game in free throws (63.6%)
NC State was 5 of 23 from 3pt (21.7%)

UP NEXT: Louisville @ PNC Arena

WHEN: January 7, 2016 @ 7:00pm

TV: ESPN2

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Bummer: NC State loses to Va. Tech 73 – 68 in OT

By A. Zach Williams | Jan 4, 2016

NC State (10-4) opened ACC play and the New Year with an overtime loss to the Virginia Tech Hokies (9-5) 73-68.

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