NC State teeters on brink of missing ACC Tournament. Can it turn things around?
North Carolina forward Armando Bacot spoke candidly on Feb. 13, 2023, about the Tar Heels’ chances of making the NCAA Tournament after a late-season loss to No. 15 Miami.
“Oh, I’m stressed the hell out,” Bacot said at the time. “I want to get back to the NCAA Tournament. That’s our goal. … Yeah, on a level of worry, I’m 100 percent worried. We all know. Everybody in the building knows what’s at stake.”
Two years later and N.C. State sits in a similarly precarious position — just one year after going on a miraculous run to the Final Four.. Except the Wolfpack is not worried about the NCAA Tournament; it’s worried about getting into the ACC Tournament.
When Bacot talked to the media, the Tar Heels needed to win the ACC title to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. That’s how N.C. State made the Final Four last year; five games in five days to win the ACC Championship. This time, that might not be an option.
Last February, the conference announced that only the top 15 of 18 teams would qualify for the tournament, beginning this season. The ACC Tournament is scheduled for March 11-15 at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte.
N.C. State (9-14, 2-11 ACC) is firmly outside of March Madness contention, pending another extraordinary streak, and currently sits among the bottom three alongside Boston College and Miami. Its final stretch is no cakewalk, either.
Four of the final seven games are on the road (UNC, Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Miami). Three are against teams with winning records (UNC, Wake Forest and Pitt).
N.C. State head coach Kevin Keatts said earlier this week he doesn’t think there’s panic.
“We have to play the schedule that’s left in front of us,” Keatts said. “I can only prepare them for the next game. We need to play well down the stretch, and I think our guys understand that without putting extra pressure on them.”
Keatts followed up his statements on Wednesday after the Wolfpack’s 91-66 blowout loss to Louisville by emphasizing anything is possible.
Senior guard Breon Pass, who was part of the ACC Championship and Final Four, admitted he is concerned.
“I’m definitely worried,” Pass said on Wednesday. “Seeing where we stand in the rankings and stuff, you definitely get worried in the head.”
Pass said the team has to focus on the factors it can control, stay together, keep showing up and try to have fun.
That doesn’t make this stretch easy. Pass, one of the rare four-year players, has been with the program through the highs and lows. The nine-game losing streak — the longest of the Keatts era — and 25-point loss at home? He doesn’t think he can rank the lows, but this stretch is one of the worst.
“I ain’t gonna give a rank right now, just definitely a hard time,” Pass said. “But, me being here four years, this definitely one of the lowest (points while) I’ve been here.”
Freshmen Trey Parker and Paul McNeil said they’re not worried. McNeil said he doesn’t know how his teammates feel but spoke of his own Christian faith.
“I’m not worried. My faith was not just off man, it’s on God,” McNeil said. “Whatever he got planned for us, that’s what he got planned for us. We’re gonna just go out there.”
The Wolfpack needs every win it can get. Boston College and Miami are the most likely victories, considering their records. Miami’s lone win was against Notre Dame, which the Pack also beat.
Boston College’s wins came against Florida State and Miami. N.C. State plays Boston College (10-13, 2-10) at home Saturday.
Those are must-win games, but they won’t be enough to push the Pack into the top 15.
Notre Dame, Syracuse and Georgia Tech all rank ahead of the Wolfpack but not by much. Those are tough, but winnable games.
If it can pick up wins over the Orange and Yellow Jackets, which — assuming it beats the Eagles and Hurricanes — that would not only boost its resume, it would give N.C. State the head-to-head over the teams teetering at the bottom.
Additionally, N.C. State likely needs help from the teams that have tough matchups remaining on their schedules. For example, Notre Dame still has to play at Wake Forest and at Clemson. Miami will face Duke, UNC and Florida State.
Wins over other teams like UNC and Wake Forest would be more than welcomed, too. With Carolina’s own skid, and the way teams have garnered their own upsets in the Dean Smith Center, that might not be a lopsided matchup next week.
The biggest issue, which Keatts mentioned again on Wednesday, is his team’s inconsistency. N.C. State has shown its ability to play with most top teams in the conference, including Duke and Clemson, but it needs to actually finish those contests down the stretch. It needs multiple veterans, not just one or two, to step up every time they step on the court.
In 13 ACC games this season, the Wolfpack has: possessed a second-half lead in 11 games and nine of its losses; led in the final four minutes of four losses; and been within one possession in the final four minutes of seven losses.
“The one thing last year taught me is that anything can happen,” Keatts said. “If you get playing basketball at the right time, then anything can happen. We gotta just start our right time, right now.”
With seven games remaining in the regular season, time is running out. There are no more games to waste. No more one-possession losses to give.
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "NC State teeters on brink of missing ACC Tournament. Can it turn things around?."
