After nine exciting wins, the Wolfpack ran into a team it could not find way to beat

There is no easy way to bow out of the NCAA Tournament.

Winning in the tournament can provide the ultimate highs, especially when reaching the Final Four, but losing is harsh.

The game ends. A season ends. Visions of a national championship end. There is that harsh finality that can have some players leaving the court in tears while others can salute their fans, proud of what has been accomplished even with a final defeat.

So it was for N.C. State on Saturday. While it will always be a special season for Wolfpack fans who have waited so long for something this good, for another ACC championship and an NCAA Tournament run to savor and party like it was 1983, it ended with a 63-50 loss to Purdue in the national semifinals at State Farm Stadium.

After nine consecutive victories, after emerging as the most endearing if inspiring story in the NCAA Tournament, the Pack found an opponent it could not beat. Purdue has the best player in the country in 7-4 center Zach Edey. It has a team full of 3-point shooters, ready to fire away when Edey is swamped inside. It came into the game with a 33-4 record and was a No. 1 seed.

It was too much for the Wolfpack this day. For the first time since March 9, it could not find a way to win, unable to hit the critical shots or make that strong second-half surge that again was needed.

“To think, we made nine other teams feel like we do today,” Wolfpack guard Jayden Taylor said. “It makes for a roller coaster of emotions today for us.

“But we definitely did something special here. I’m happy for the university and happy for this group of guys because we’ll always be remembered at N.C. State.”

Truth is, the Pack (26-15) could have lost its NCAA Tournament opener to Texas Tech and long be remembered. Winning its first ACC title was the first in 37 years, after five wins in five days in the ACC Tournament, after beating North Carolina in the title game, that would have been enough for Wolfpack fans to savor.

But the Pack continued to push, taking four in a row in the NCAAs as a No. 11 seed, beating Texas Tech, Oakland, Marquette and then Duke for its first Final Four appearance since the Pack’s fabled ride to the 1983 NCAA championship under the late Jim Valvano.

“Every win we’ve gotten, it felt like a championship,” guard D.J. Horne said.

Did it hurt that Wolfpack point guard Michael O’Connell injured a hamstring in the first half? For the Pack, a lot. It took away the guy who smooths things out on offense while also producing some huge baskets – the buzzer-beating 3-pointer against Virginia, the driving 3-point play against Oakland – that helped fuel the nine-game win streak that’s still a bit hard to fathom.

“My leg kind of buckled and I went down.” O’Connell said.

O’Connell tried to play, saying, “In my mind, I was coming back. There was no chance I wasn’t going to step back on the floor. It’s a Final Four game and I was going to do whatever I could to get back, unless I can’t walk.”

O’Connell could walk. He just couldn’t push off his right leg, playing 12 minutes.

The Pack missed 20 of its 28 shots in the second half, including a few easy ones. It never put any real game pressure on the Boilermakers down the stretch, never made them uneasy or uncertain.

Horne, doing his best to keep State in it, had 20 points in his last game but was 2-of-10 in the second half. D.J. Burns, who became a national sensation with his size, touch and personality, had foul problems and finished with eight points in his last game in Wolfpack red.

“We felt like we were right there with them for a good portion of the game, but every time we tried to fight and cut it close, they’d hit shots,” forward Ben Middlebrooks said. “They were the better team today.”

The game over, the players slowly left the raised floor at State Farm Stadium. Wolfpack fans cheered and many of the players flashed the wolf sign their way in appreciation. Among the State fans: David Thompson and Tom Burleson, heroes of the Pack’s 1974 NCAA champs, and Terry Gannon from the ‘83 champions.

“I don’t know that I could be prouder of a group of men that I’ve coached in my life,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. “Adversity, you name it. Situations, you name it. Hard times, you name it. They found a way to win the ACC, found a way to make it to the Final Four.

“These guys always believed. They trusted. Even when we wasn’t having success, they believed in me and they believed in the staff. They stuck together. We’re going to leave out of here because Purdue won the game, but we’ll walk out of here with our heads up, as champions.”