NC State guard DJ Horne leaves Pitt loss early with injury
NC State graduate guard DJ Horne left the Wolfpack’s 81-73 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday night early in the first half with what was described as a “lower extremity” injury. He did not return to the court.
Horne played just 12 minutes before he departed for the team’s locker room at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. He logged 3 points on 1-for-3 shooting from the field with a pair of rebounds.
“I don’t have it yet,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said of an update on Horne’s injury during the postgame radio broadcast. “I just know that he couldn’t go.”
The Cary, N.C., native hit an open corner three-pointer less than three minutes into the game. He took his final shot attempt, a missed three, with 12:55 left in the half. Horne was then subbed out with 9:17 left in the first half before he returned to the floor with 5:01 remaining in the period. He exited with 3:49 left in the half and did not appear on the floor after that.
Horne did not appear to return to the bench after he was ruled out with the injury at halftime after he walked with a limp.
The 6-foot-1 guard led the Wolfpack with 17.2 points through the regular season, including a six-game stretch where he averaged 28.5 points a night. Horne also averaged a 42.1% clip from distance, which was the team’s best mark in the regular season.
While Horne was out, junior guard Jayden Taylor stepped up to carry the Wolfpack’s offense in the second half. He scored a career-best 28 points, which included 22 points in the final 20 minutes, in an effort to get the Pack back in the contest.
Taylor scored 9 points on NC State’s 11-0 run late in the game, which cut the deficit to 3, but the Wolfpack could not pull any closer than that.
Though NC State had life without Horne on the floor for the second half, if the guard has to miss any more time, that could prove to be costly with the ACC tournament on the horizon next week.
Horne has scored in double figures 23 times this season, including 12 20-point efforts in his only season with the Wolfpack.
NC State, which will be the 10th seed at the league tournament., is set to face 15th-seeded Louisville in the first round on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.
