NC State basketball outlasts Oakland in OT as Wolfpack’s charmed March continues
There are so many factors that go into winning an NCAA Tournament game.
It’s adjusting to an opponent you have not played. It’s often adjusting to different officials. As much as anything, it’s adjusting to the pressure that builds each round, that builds within the games.
The teams that can handle it, that are tough enough to handle it, move on, keep playing. Those who don’t, go home; shake hands with the winning team and go home. It’s that simple.
It’s the brutal reality of a one-loss-and-done kind of tournament and N.C. State was on the winning end Saturday in the second round of the South Region at PPG Paints Arena, earning a 79-73 overtime victory over Oakland.
The Wolfpack (24-14), the No. 11 seed, advances to the Sweet 16 in Dallas on Friday, following up its ACC championship with two NCAA victories that further validate the Pack’s five-wins-in-five-days run in the ACC Tournament. It State’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 2015.
“It’s just amazing,” the Pack’s D.J. Burns said. “To do what we’re doing, it’s just amazing. To us, it’s just basketball. Nobody inside of this locker room thinks of it as a ‘magic carpet ride.’
“It’s what March is all about. Some teams got here by winning their conference, just like us, and that doesn’t mean they’re a bad team. We just keep playing for each other.”
Jayden Taylor’s corner 3-pointer late in overtime might have been the Pack’s biggest basket of the game. D.J. Horne, who had a relatively quiet game, hit two free throws with 31 seconds left in the OT for a seven-point lead and Burns another two for a 79-70 lead.
Burns, the big man turning in another big game, had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Pack while doing some back-and-forth jawing with some vocal Oakland fans.
“I enjoy things like that,” Burns said. “That’s a part of the game. The fans, they’re really going to come at you. You’ve got to have some fun with it.”
Burns’ game offset a 30-point, 13-rebound game by Oakland’s Trey Townsend, a dynamic 6-6 forward who carried the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies (23-12) in the second half.
“I knew they needed me, man,” Burns said. “When we were in the huddle before overtime, Coach (Kevin Keatts) was like, “I need you to rebound, I need you to be aggressive.’ He said, ‘Don’t let up.’ I started saying that to myself.”
But this was a night when the Wolfpack needed contributions from everyone. Mohamed Diarra gave the Pack another double-double (11 points, 13 rebounds) and Michael O’Connell had 12 points and eight assists.
Diarra and Ben Middlebrooks were given the defensive task of taking turns battling Townsend. a strong, slippery type with elusive moves. Both fouled out.
“We really had no answer for him,” Keatts said.
The final minute of regulation was as tense as it was suspenseful.
With the shot clock running out, O’Connell drove to the basket for a twisting layup and a foul with 55.6 seconds left. His 3-point play gave the Pack a 66-64 lead.
“One of the biggest plays of the game,” Keatts said.
The Golden Grizzlies’ Jack Gohlke hit a pair at the line with 41.5 seconds left for a 66-66 tie.
After a Wolfpack timeout, Burns missed inside with 18 seconds showing and Oakland used a time to set up its possession. But the Grizzlies turned the ball over. The Grizzlies’ Chris Conway, pressured by Diarra, made a pass that bounced past Townsend at the key. and then out of bounds.
Did Diarra touch the ball last? After an officials review confirmed the call -- N.C. State ball with 1.7 seconds left -- the Pack’s Casey Morsell got off a long heave that hit the backboard and rim as time expired.
“It’s just terrible we didn’t get a shot,” Oakland coach Greg Kampe said. “That’s on me. I’ll carry this with me the rest of my life.”
Townsend, the Horizon League player of the year, was the near-total focus of the Oakland offense in the second half and he delivered.
“He’s a pro,” Kampe said. “He proved it tonight.
It was a Townsend 3-pointer from the left wing over Diarra with 4:29 left in regulation that pulled the Grizzlies within 59-57. His three-point play with 2:49 remaining gave Oakland a 63-61 lead — its first of the game.
Gohlke was a constant 3-point threat, just as he was in the shocker over Kentucky in the opening round. He didn’t completely go off, as he did in draining 10 of his 3s and scoring 32 points against the Wildcats. But the threat was there.
Gohlke had a 4-point play in the second half, drawing a foul from O’Connell as he made a 3 from the wing. He finished with 22 points, going 6-of-17 on 3’s after hitting 10 of 20 against Kentucky.
The Golden Grizzlies had to play a catchup game against the Pack, who led throughout the first half and first seven minutes of the second.
A 3-pointer by Hohlke, then a putback basket by Townsend, pulled Oakland into a 42-42 tie with 12:49 left in regulation, A 3 by Chris Conway later tied it a 45-45. Morsell answered with 3 for the Pack, then O’Connell drained another. It became punch/counterpunch, with neither team backing down or away.
“We made big plays when we had to make big plays,” Keatts said. “It felt like a boxing match.”
The Pack got the start it wanted, getting out to an early 9-2 lead and staying in front the rest of the first half for a 32-29 edge.
Gohlke again was an instant energy producer for the Grizzlies. He’s not a starter but makes things happen once in the game and did again Saturday, knocking down his first 3.
The Pack did what it could to make it hard on the sniper of a guard, rotating defenders – Morsell, O’Connell, Taylor, Horne – on him to give him different looks.
“To kind of slow him down you’ve just got to be in shape and aware where he is at all times,” Morsell said.
The game strategy was set early by the Pack: pressure the Oakland point guards with and make the Grizzlies use up a lot of the shot clock trying to get into their sets.
“They made us earn the court and they shortened our time,” Kampe said.
This story was originally published March 23, 2024 at 9:38 PM with the headline "NC State basketball outlasts Oakland in OT as Wolfpack’s charmed March continues."
