No sweat: Three takeaways from NC State’s big win over Rider to close non-conference play

Jayden Taylor wrote a letter to Santa as part of an N.C. State promotion. The guard promised that N.C. State would score a million points and rebounds if the team could get a dog, PlayStation5 and trip to Paris.

The Wolfpack (8-4, 1-0 ACC) didn’t get any of that Sunday at Lenovo Center, but was still clearly on Santa’s nice list as it ended its non-conference schedule with a bang. N.C. State defeated Rider, 89-63, and handed the visitors their seventh straight loss.

“When we play together and we’re connected, there’s not really anything teams can do,” Taylor said. “We just look much better, the offense flows, we get stops, then we run.”

The Broncs (4-9) took a three-point lead 1:13 into the game on an and-1, but an 8-0 run gave the Wolfpack a lead that ultimately turned into a 34-point advantage in the second half.

The win was a full team effort that featured every scholarship player — and an eye-popping stat sheet.

On offense, 13 different players scored, 12 pulled down a rebound and five finished with multiple assists.

Taylor led the scoring effort with 16 points, while Dennis Parker Jr. topped the team off the glass, finishing with eight points, five rebounds and three assists. Marcus Hill finished with 10 points, a relatively low number, but he contributed a season-high six dimes. Breon Pass went 2 of 2 from deep, and walk-on Jordan Snell cut through the lane for a layup at the end.

“I think the biggest thing is that we need each other,” head coach Kevin Keatts said, echoing Taylor’s sentiments. “This group needs each other to be good, and that’s OK. Look at our stat sheet, when you’ve got a bunch of guys getting 10, 11, 12 points a game, sometimes that’s the hardest team to guard, because you don’t know who to focus on. The one thing I’ve learned is that when we play together, we can be really good, and we really need each other.”

N.C. State’s defense has been the team’s strength this season, but its offense found a rhythm that worked. It shot 55.8% from the field, far above its 45.7% average, and recorded 21 assists on 29 made shots (72.4%). Additionally, it got into transition — its comfort zone — to score 18 points. The Wolfpack averaged 17.9, ranking No. 9 in the nation and No. 1 in the ACC, and that will certainly rise.

The defensive effort was also nothing short of impressive. The Pack held Rider to fewer than 65 points while adding eight steals and five blocks. The defensive pressure forced a handful of bad pass turnovers and shot clock violations, too. Rider ended the night with 14 turnovers. There’s always still room to grow — the team emphasized that it has not arrived — but it’s pleased with the way it finished this portion of the schedule, especially after losing to Kansas by 15.

“It was good. All the hard work we put in this whole week, it paid off,” Hill said. “It was definitely a fun game, for sure.”

Here are three takeaways from the Wolfpack’s final non-conference game of the season:

First half is full of drama

On the first day of Christmas, the N.C. State and Rider men’s basketball game gave to me: One flagrant and two technical fouls in the first 14 minutes of play.

Broncs forward and Wake Forest transfer Tariq Ingraham was called for a flagrant foul on Wolfpack post Brandon Huntley-Hatfield seven minutes into the game. Ingraham hit Huntley-Hatfield as they fell to the ground after a missed shot. Huntley-Hatfield hit the floor but continued play.

Approximately two minutes later, officials issued a technical foul on the Rider team.

The first-half drama wasn’t over, though. Ingraham was called for a contact technical foul against Ben Middlebrooks with 6:35 remaining in the first period.

N.C. State has been involved in multiple games this season where players were called for technical and flagrant fouls — Middlebrooks was on the receiving end of a flagrant foul at Kansas last week — but having both in one game, much less a single half, was a first.

When asked if he’d been in games with similar theatrics, Keatts was confident in his response:

“Oh, I’m sure I have. I’ve been in some games where a bunch of people have gotten thrown out of the game. One of them was a hard foul at the other end, and then Ben was playing defense, and the guy whacked him pretty good. Sometimes that happens.”

Pack controls the pace

After the Wolfpack’s 66-56 win over Coppin State, N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts complimented the Eagles’ ability to control the pace.

“I just didn’t think we played like we needed to,” Keatts said. “We can say, ‘Hey, did you play down to the level of competition?’ I would say no. I just think they controlled the tempo and we kind of fell into that mode and got behind a little bit.”

That wasn’t an issue for N.C. State on Sunday.

Rider entered the afternoon as one of the slowest teams in the nation. According to KenPom.com, the Broncs average 64.2 possessions per game. They also don’t get into transition very much and score 5.4 fast-break points per game.

N.C. State is also one of the slower teams in the nation, averaging 65.9 possessions per game. It ranks in the bottom 70 nationally. It played at a slower pace than usual, but it didn’t allow the Broncs to slow things down further. Keatts said the team is comfortable running, hence its success in transition, and its losses drop the average number of possessions.

The Pack recorded 33 possessions in the first half and finished with 63. Its ability to control the tempo played a key role in the team’s win.

“We gotta get it up a little bit. I feel like we’re down, but we’re working on it,” Hill said. “I think today we did a little bit better. It’s a work of progress.”

MOC finds groove again

Graduate student Michael O’Connell remains one of the best point guards in Division I basketball, ranking in the top 20 for his assist-to-turnover ratio, but his efficiency had dropped in recent weeks. He struggled to find the basket and facilitate for his teammates.

O’Connell looked more like himself against the Broncs.

The point guard wasn’t the leading scorer, but he finally scored more than three points, in part because of his ability to draw fouls. O’Connell finished with eight points, including six from the free- throw line.

Additionally, O’Connell successfully moved the ball and directed the Wolfpack’s offense. He contributed five assists without a turnover. What changed?

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” O’Connell said. “So, the biggest thing is, you’re gonna go through ups and downs. It’s part of basketball. For me, it’s just staying consistent in the gym.”

It was more than that, though. Keatts reminded the graduate student to have fun. This is his last season of college basketball; there are a limited number of games remaining.

“(I said) you don’t have to carry the load, because the team won the ACC Tournament and went to the Final Four last year,” Keatts said. “I don’t know if that’s what he was thinking, but just go play and have fun. He looked like the Michael that we’ve all grown to love, and he did some really good things tonight.”

The graduate started the year with 30 assists and four turnovers, picking up a staggering 7.5 ratio.

He entered the game with 43 assists on 12 turnovers for a 3.6 assist/turnover ratio.

He was shooting 40.3% from the field, including 12 of 23 (52.2%) from the stripe — the lowest efficiency out of all players with at least eight attempts. O’Connell hadn’t finished in double digits since the team’s loss to BYU, when he scored 16. Since then, the guard scored a combined 14 points. Coppin State held him to one point, while he scored two against Kansas.

The Wolfpack relies heavily on his leadership and on-court direction, and it needed O’Connell to get back into a groove.