NC State exerts energy on defense and shares the ball well on offense. Everything else clicked as you can see in the box score – like NC State’s 36-21 rebounding advantage. The Wolfpack wins 80-63 and Mark Gottfried improves his record to 3-0 vs Virginia Tech.
The game was close (State down 27-28) until the five minute mark of the first half when the Wolfpack started pulling away by converting turnovers to fast break points and when Virginia Tech couldn’t maintain torrid three point shooting that had carried over from the teams’ first game in Raleigh. State shot 12 of 14 from the free throw line in the second half and therefore never opened the door for the Hokies to make a run.
Mark Gottfried advances to 3-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
State plays Virginia at 2:30 tomorrow in the tournament quarterfinals. The Wolfpack defeated the Cavaliers 67-64 in the exact same Friday 4 vs 5 game in last year’s ACC Tournament.