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NC State basketball holds off Marquette to advance to Elite Eight

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3 days ago

March 30, 2024

NC State basketball holds off Marquette to advance to Elite Eight

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DALLAS — The Eleventh-seeded NC State basketball staff is headed to the Elite Eight for the primary time since 1986 after holding off 2-seed Marquette 67-58 in Friday’s Candy 16 spherical of the NCAA Match in American Airways Heart.

The Wolfpack (25-14) dominated the primary 20 minutes of the sport and held on down the stretch to maintain its March Insanity run alive with its eighth win in a row. The Golden Eagles (27-10) completed 4-of-31 from 3-point vary to finish the season.

DJ Horne completed with a team-high 19 factors to tempo the Wolfpack within the win.

North Carolina State guard DJ Horne (0) fouls Marquette guard Stevie Mitchell (4) during the first half of their game in the semifinals of the South Regional of the 2024 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Friday at American Airlines Arena in Dallas.

Marquette makes DJ Burns choice early

Coaches who’ve seen DJ Burns Jr. all through March Insanity have famous the troublesome choice they should make. Both let the 6-foot-9, 275-pounder go one-on-one in opposition to a a lot smaller, bodily overmatch opponent and hope for the perfect, or double him and drive the ball out of his fingers.

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Marquette confirmed its hand early, opting to double Burns even out by the 3-point line to drive different Wolfpack gamers to beat him. It backfired in a giant approach.

Within the first 20 minutes, Burns had 5 assists and simply two factors, and it led to a 37-24 lead for NC State on the half. Burns did luck out when he was whistled for his second foul of the half with 5:47 left, although officers rescinded the foul after reviewing it for a possible flagrant scenario.

Wolfpack perimeter defensive plan works

One key to NC State’s success within the postseason has been holding opponents to poor exterior capturing video games. It began with limiting Texas Tech to its worst exterior capturing sport in 4 months and continued to elevate the staff in opposition to Marquette.

In contrast to the Texas Tech sport, although, NC State wasn’t precisely being aggressive in holding the Golden Eagles from firing up 3s. In reality, Marquette had plenty of clear, open appears, although the Golden Eagles have been simply 2-of-13 from the skin within the first half.

NC State led by 13 on the half, however the margin felt a lot greater attributable to Marquette’s often potent offense being rendered ineffective past Tyler Kolek, who was 6-of-8 on the break for 14 factors. The remainder of his teammates have been simply 4-of-21 from the sphere.

Chilly spell lets Golden Eagles again within the sport

The Wolfpack had a way more relaxed effort by way of the primary 13 minutes of the second half. For almost all of that stretch, the Golden Eagles did not make up any floor.

Then got here a three-minute stretch of no scoring for the Wolfpack. In that point, Marquette went on a 7-0 run to make it an eight-point sport with 7:26 left, the closest the Golden Eagles had been for the reason that 2:59 mark of the primary half.

Wolfpack end the job

Simply because it appeared like Marquette may get again into it, the Wolfpack had the reply.

First it was Horne along with his fourth 3-pointer of the sport to reply one on the opposite finish by Marquette’s Kam Jones. Then following a Golden Eagle turnover, Casey Morsell received a tough layup to rattle across the rim and thru the online, placing the Wolfpack again up by eight with lower than two minutes to go.

Michael O’Connell put the exclamation level on the win with a 3 to make it a double-digit lead and fewer than 90 seconds remaining.