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NC State sees progress in bounce-back win over Boise State

Jacey Zembalby: Jacey Zembal4 hours agoJaceyZembal

NC State turned up the defense during the second half to pull away from Boise State 81-70 on Tuesday in the Maui Invitational.

NC State will play the winner of Texas and Chaminade at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2. The Wolfpack lost 63-59 in a defensive battle last year against Texas on Dec. 4, 2024, if it ends up a rematch. Chaminade fell 90-85 to Washington State on Monday, while Texas lost to Arizona State.

NC State coach Will Wade called Monday’s 85-74 loss against Seton Hall a “horrific” defeat, and was looking to see how his new team would respond, particularly on the defensive end.

“Just be more aggressive,” NCSU senior power forward Darrion Williams said. “I think we got punked yesterday to be blunt about it, so we wanted to come out and be aggressive today.”

NC State held Boise State to 33.9 percent shooting, with 33 of the 56 field-goal attempts coming from three-point land. NCSU blocked nine shots and forced 15 turnovers.

Wade said Boise State had much better post players than Seton Hall, and the Wolfpack held a 26-14 advantage in the paint. NCSU still has much work to do to improve, but it was a good first step.

“I think we played better, tougher defense in the first half was really good,” Wade said. “We were more physical. But not as good as we need to be, but we were better than we were. Give our guys credit, we were able to turn it around pretty quick against a really good Boise team. It was a good win. We needed it.”

NC State’s defense came through with some big blocks in the second half that helped swing momentum.

Houston small forward transfer Terrance Arceneaux blocked a corner three-pointer from Pearson Carmichael, who is a quality shooter for Boise State. Carmichael finished the game with three three-pointers. That was the first of two Arceneaux blocks.

NC State pushed the ball down the court and senior center Ven-Allen Lubin got the dunk to make it 54-47 with 8:56 left in the game.

“He [Arceneaux] covers up some mistakes,” Wade said. “He blocked that corner three. He covers up some mistakes and helps us there. But we’ve still got to be better than we were today.”

Another key reserve also came through with a block. Freshman power forward Musa Sagnia got a block on Javan Buchanan while leading 57-47 with 6:51 left.

Boise State made one field goal during a 7:10 stretch that allowed the Wolfpack to reach a lead by as much as 13 points. The Broncos made 11 free throws during that stretch.

Arceneaux, who had missed some time with an Achilles’ injury, finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

“It was hard, but I knew what I had to do for myself to get better, and coach understood that,” Arceneaux said. “Big credit to him. It was hard watching my guys out there playing, not being able to. I knew I had to sacrifice a couple games just to get where I wanted to be.”

Wade said the next step is to cut down on allowing 14 offensive rebounds.

“We’ve got to cut down — we can’t give up 14 offensive rebounds,” Wade said. “We gave up three team offensive rebounds to them just where we’re fumbling the ball out of bounds and that sort of stuff. We’ve got to be able to go get rim-level rebounds, two hands at the rim.”