NC State basketball rolls to 76-61 win over Butler
NC State basketball did not accomplish the ultimate goal of winning the Bad Boy Mowers 4 Atlantis Tournament in the Bahamas, but the Wolfpack achieved maybe the next best thing. NC State followed up an impressive 76-64 win over Dayton on Thursday afternoon by rolling past Butler, 76-61, on Friday evening.
“You’re fortunate if you can get out here with one win. Two is great, and then three is over the top,” NC State head coach Kevin Keatts said.
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Similar to a 17-0 run that provided NC State with a cushion over Dayton, the Wolfpack used a spurt to open up a lead on Butler. This time, Keatts’ squad reeled off 13 unanswered points to break a 20-20 tie in the first half and seize a 13-point advantage with 1:19 left in the first half.
Butler would not get within single digits the rest of the game
NC State would stretch the advantage to 20 points at 60-40, and then had to survive one uncomfortable stretch when the Pack went cold and missed 11 straight shots. A 64-46 Wolfpack advantage was trimmed by an 8-0 Butler run.
A familiar face to NC State basketball fans, Butler super senior center Manny Bates, had a chance to cut the margin to single digits with a 1-and-1 at the line with 4:23 remaining. Bates, however, missed the front end, and a three-point from NC State fifth-year senior forward Jack Clark stopped the brief bleeding.
Bates would finish with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocked shots against his old team.
“I’m proud of Manny. Manny is a tremendous kid,” Keatts noted.
The NC State post duo of super senior Dusan Mahorcic and fifth-year senior D.J. Burns Jr. however were up to the task against Bates. Mahorcic finished with 13 points and 6 rebounds, while Burns added 14 points and 3 boards off the bench.
They were 2 of 5 players for NC State to reach double digits in scoring. The team was led by 15 points from super senior guard Jarkel Joiner, who was strong at the line making 7 of 8. Sophomore guard Terquavion Smith and Clark each added 10 points. Smith also led the Pack with 5 assists and added 5 rebounds while having just 1 turnover. Clark contributed 8 boards.
The balanced scoring pleased Keatts, but the coach was most proud of a building culture centered around hard effort and high energy.
“We can make an argument that we played really hard for three nights, and that’s hard to do,” Keatts noted.
The victory improved NC State basketball to 6-1 on the season. The Pack will host William & Mary on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in PNC Arena ahead of an ACC opener next Friday vs. Pittsburgh, also in Raleigh.
