Instant observations: NC State cruises past Syracuse behind balanced effort

With his former team on the other side of the court for the first time since he left two years ago, NC State coach Will Wade wanted senior guard Quadir Copeland to treat it like any other game.  It was NC State vs. Syracuse, not Copeland vs. the Orange.  Copeland, an energetic player that isn’t afraid to let his opponents know how he feels with his trash talk on both ends of the floor, appeared to take that to heart. Not only did Copeland play within himself, even though he had a pair of early turnovers, he was able to help the Wolfpack offense shred the Orange’s iconic zone defense for most of the night.  NC State never appeared to be rattled by Syracuse throughout the 40-minute chess match with Copeland running the offense. In turn, it was able to use a dominant second half to roll to an 88-68 win over the Orange on Tuesday night at the Lenovo Center.  Copeland, who was recruited to Syracuse by legendary coach Jim Boeheim as a three-star prospect in the 2021 cycle, led NC State with nine assists — his sixth straight game with at least a half dozen dimes.  Senior forward Darrion Williams led the Pack with 23 points, while Copeland added 19 and senior forward Ven-Allen Lubin chipped in with 18. Here are TheWolfpacker.com’s observations from the third straight ACC win.