RALEIGH — The Wolfpack proved they were fighters Tuesday, holding on long enough to pull ahead of visiting Wake Forest right at the end of an 83-76 victory at PNC Arena.
It was a wild game that was nearly overshadowed by the ACC’s officiating crew.
The referees called 50 fouls during the 40-minute contest, and not only was NC State coach Kevin Keatts kicked out of the game in the first half, so too were two key players from each team in the final minute.
“Did I like the fact that we had a bunch of technicals or that DJ Horne was so excited at the end that he was waving to somebody?,” Keatts said. “No, I don’t. But what I will say is that I’m telling you now, we’re not going to get pushed around. It’s just not going to happen.”
Keatts was ejected with 3:32 remaining in the first half after coming out to half-court to argue that a foul — a moving block by Matthew Marsh on NC State’s Dennis Parker Jr. as he went for a layup — was not called.
“I deserved the technical because I thought the call was awful,” Keatts said. “I thought they missed a call. I thought Dennis got fouled in comparison to the way all fouls had been called. I didn’t think I deserved to get tossed. I didn’t see the second one coming that quick. I absolutely knew what I was doing on the first one, but not the second one.”
And then in a three-point game with 48.6 seconds remaining and a ton of emotion in the building, the officials started handing out technicals after an altercation following an and-1 basket by Ben Middlebrooks.
It took over eight minutes of review at the monitor to sort it out, and NC State’s Mo Diarra and Wake’s Hunter Sallis were ejected while Middlebrooks received a technical, causing him to foul out. It left NC State with no bigs and Wake down one of its best players.
Officiating aside, it was an intense and close contest between Tobacco Road rivals.
While the Wolfpack trailed the entire game until the 2:17 mark of the second half, the Deacons were never able to capitalize on their leads.
Coming out of the half, Wake shot just 33% from the field and made only 64.3% of its free throws.
“Over the past three years, that was the worst half of basketball that we’ve played since I’ve been a head coach,” said Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes. “That second half was embarrassing. Completely lost our composure on offense and defense, we got whipped on both ends of the court.
“They stepped up the pressure and just bully-balled our guards, and we just kept over-dribbling,” Forbes said. “We kept telling them, ‘Drive it. Look opposite. Wide open.’ And we just didn’t. It’s sad because we’re better than that.”
The Wolfpack kept the game within reach despite not hitting a single 3-pointer the entire night, and NC State used its defense to creep closer until it overtook the Deacons.
“They did a tremendous job throughout the game,” Keatts said. “These young men believe and they’re fighting and the message that we want to send today to everybody is we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight.”
With DJ Burns apparently dealing with a stomach bug — the Wolfpack’s top post player still managed 10 points and two assists in 20 minutes — Diarra and Middlebrooks picked up the slack. The duo combined for 22 points, 19 rebounds and three steals until both fouled out.
“It shows that we’re growing,” Keatts said. “We got 30 points off the bench. Then we had 50 points in the paint. This is on a night where we didn’t make a 3-pointer and on a night where DJ Burns wasn’t DJ Burns. I think this gives our guys confidence.
“We’ve talked about winning all types of games. You’ve gotta win games on the road and you’ve gotta win games where you don’t make shots. Well, this was a game where we were home, didn’t make shots and we had a ‘refuse to lose’ mentality. I think this team is growing in a lot of ways.”
Horne led the way offensively for the Wolfpack with 21 points, and Wake’s Andrew Carr had a career night, putting up 28 points on 10-for-13 shooting. But he was about the only Wake player who made shots, especially down the stretch.
“I’m completely frustrated,” Forbes said. “This was a big game for me to see how we would handle growing up from Florida State to NC State on the road, and I thought we were tougher against Florida State, to be honest with you. We just imploded in the second half.”
While the Deacons struggled to make shots, it was the Wolfpack’s half-court defense that overwhelmed them. Led by assistant coach Kareem Richardson, NC State stuck with their game plan and never let their early shooting struggles get to them.
“I have a great staff,” Keatts said. “The staff that we put together was really good and instrumental in us getting 23 wins last year. Full confidence in them. I talked at the half and told the team what I expected, but I wanted those guys to put their own imprint on the game. I’m not one of those guys who was back in the locker room sending notes from a manager. I don’t do that. I thought they did a good job with execution.
“It was an exciting moment for me. I turned into the ultimate fan. I was sitting back there and I was a fan. I was jumping up and down and mad when we missed a free throw and mad when we did a couple of crazy things at the end. It was a weird game, nothing was going our way, and it didn’t feel like we were getting much help in any area and certainly we found a way to win a game.”
A fiery Keatts added a closing message.
“We’re the least talked about team in the league that was 4-1. We’re the least talked about team that was 3-0. Our area has really good basketball, and I told our team that we’re the least talked about out of everybody. But when you look up the stats, we have the same record as everybody. So it’s a fight.
“I’m tired of this s–t. I’m tired of people talking about how we’re not tough enough. Hey, we were pretty damn tough today, right?”
NC State continues its homestand Saturday when it hosts Virginia Tech at noon, while Wake Forest will return home to face Louisville on Saturday at noon as well.
