Gameday Live Blog/Open Thread: State at Miami
With nine games remaining in the regular season and the NC State basketball team trending towards the wrong side of the NCAA tournament bubble, there's little to no margin left for coach Kevin Keatts and his shorthanded team.
To have any shot at getting back into the field of 68 after missing out a year ago, the Wolfpack (14-8, 5-6) is going to have to win all the games it's supposed to win and steal at least one of its remaining Quad 1 opportunities.
And this is a game it's supposed to win. Even with Jericole Hellems out with an injury.
Miami is a team State has already beaten this season and at 3-8 in the ACC, it is even more banged up than the Wolfpack -- with two of its top three scorers not expected to play tonight.
It's put up or shut up time for State.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am not in Coral Gables tonight. I am here at home watching on television like the rest of you. But stick around for live updates and observations as we see it unfold together.
Before tipoff, here is some reading from the past few days to keep you busy:.
Wolfpack Offensive Slump More Than Just Missed Shots
Keatts: Earlier Win No Advantage in Rematch With Miami
Wolfpack Signee Hall Names to Iverson Classic Roster
Wolfpack Tipoff: Game 23, At Miami
PREGAME
With Hellems out for the game, Keatts has opted to start his big lineup against the taller Hurricanes tonight. Manny Bates will make his first start since suffering his concussion against Clemson on Jan. 17 in Hellems' place. The other four starters are the same -- Markell Johnson, Devon Daniels, C.J. Bryce and D.J. Funderburk.
Neither Lykes nor McGusty are in the starting lineup for Miami, so the assumption can be made that both are still sidelined and won't play tonight, either.
Ron Groover, Jeffrey Anderson and John Gaffney are the men in stripes for this one ...
FIRST HALF
State has shot just 38.7 percent from the floor in its last seven games and is off to another frigid start tonight. Wolfpack missed its first six shots before Bryce finally breaks the ice on an assist from Johnson ....
And now Daniels misses a dunk. ...
Miami up 9-2 and Keatts wants a timeout just 3:02 into the game. State 1 for 9 from the floor. Not the kind of start the Wolfpack wanted or needs. ...
Johnson slashes to the rim for two. As poorly as he's shooting from the perimeter, he needs to do that more. Same with Daniels. ...
Miami's Rodney Miller limps off the court after falling while chasing a rebound. Hurricanes are already down two starters. This one has the makings of a war of attrition ...
Not sure whose photographer is using the strobe at Wetsco Arena, but I wish they'd stop. It's highly annoying ...
Wolfpack 4 of 15 from the floor.
Under 12 TV timeout: Miami 15, State 10
Come out of the timeout, forget how much time is left on the shot clock and turn it over on a 35-second violation? Totally unacceptable. Talk all you like about injuries and shooting slumps. That's a lack of concentration, plain and simple. NCAA tournament teams don't do things like that. ...
Well, at least one Wolfpack player has showed up. Daniels has made his last three 3-pointers to pull his team back to within one ...
State's offense is starting to show signs of life, but defensively, the Wolfpack has been horrible. Miami has made its last six field goal attempts, most of them layups. ...
And now Funderburk comes out of the game and heads right to the locker room. From where he was holding, hopefully he just took a shot in a bad place and doesn't want to rub it in public. An extended injury would be disastrous. ...
Beverly hits now and the Wolfpack has made its last six 3-point attempts. Tie game at 24 ... Bates with a putback and State has its first lead of the night ...
Under 8 TV timeout: State 26, Miami 24
State is 7 of its last 10 from the field ... Daniels attacks the basket and one ... Wolfpack on a 10-0 and is now up 31-24 ...
Daniels having himself a night ... Another drive to the hoop following a Miami turnover and it's a 12-0 run and a nine-point State lead. Daniels has 14 of his team's 33 points. Miami timeout ...
While the officials review something (not sure what), they'll take the under 4 with 4:29 left in the half ... State 33, Miami 24
Beverly called for a flagrant 1 … Miami with two free throws and the ball. Now a basket That's one way to kill momentum ...
Funderburk back on the court after going to the locker room with an injury ...
Huge rebound and putback by Bryce. State needed a bucket bad there. And one restores lead back to 8 ... Bryce has 17 points and five rebounds. He and Daniels have 31 of the Wolfpack's 40 points ...
Miami's Waardenburg called for a foul, then a technical for complaining about it (not sure what he was complaining about, he nearly knocked Johnson down). Now Larrañagagets T-ed up. This is an opportunity for State to open up some serious breathing room late in the half ...
Waarenburg was upset because he didn't get a call on his shot a moment earlier. He had a gripe, but he did commit a foul and then he compounded things by showing the ref up ... you just can't do that.
Bryce makes three of the four technical shots ... He now has 20. Johnson makes the front end of the one-and-one, misses the second ... five-point play for the Wolfpack. Lead up to 44-30 ...
Larrañaga's going to get ejected if he doesn't watch it ...
Bates misses two free throws, but State ends the half on a high note ...up by 12. After going 1 for its last 10 (0 for 3 from 3-point range), the Wolfpack made 15 of its final 23 shots (6 of 9 from 3) in the period ...
Halftime: Wolfpack 44, Hurricanes 32
SECOND HALF
Funderburk shoots and misses a 3 on the opening possession of the half. Probably not what Keatts drew up at halftime ... But Johnson scores to extend the lead to 14 ...
Now Funderburk takes a shot in the head from teammate Bates. Yikes, last thing State needs is ANOTHER concussion ...
Eight assists for Johnson … he's on pace for his fourth double-digit assist night of the season ...
Beverly drains a 3 in transition (on Johnson's ninth assist) and State has outscored Miami 9-4 to start the half. Lead is now up to 53-36 as Larrañaga wants timeout.
Wolfpack needs to put the hammer down here and not let the Hurricanes get back into this one ...
And now, one possession later, we get a TV timeout. #smh
Beverly hits his fourth trey of the game. First time since UNC Greensboro on Dec. 15 that he's had more than two in a game. The Wolfpack is 9-1 this season in games in which he's hit multiple 3-pointers ...
Braxton Beverly and Miami's Harlond Beverly just combined to score 11 straight points in the game (Braxton consecutive treys, Harold, a trey and a layup). ...
You know things are going well when Danny Dixon makes a tough turnaround baby hook …
Johnson now has 11 assists, his season high. His career high is 14 ... against Miami on Jan. 18, 2018 ...
Miami on a 7-0 run. State quietly letting the Hurricanes back into this. Lead down to 10 ... Bates makes a tip-in to stop the bleeding. His eight points tonight are his most since scoring at at Wake Forest all the way back on Dec. 7 ...
Wolfpack has gone more than two minutes without scoring. Miami is on a 12-2 run and about to cut the deficit to less than double digits. State had them down and out, but as it has done so many times this season is in the process of letting the Hurricanes back into this. ... 65-59 with plenty of time left ...
It's now a 16-2 run (9-0) and the 17-point lead is down to just four. State in full choke mode as Keatts calls timeout with 7 1/2 minutes left ...
And now even the officials are playing defense for Miami, literally, Johnson's pass on a 2 on 1 break hits referee Jeffrey Anderson and it leads to a Hurricanes layup in the opposite direction. It was inadvertent, but the man in stripes has to have better court awareness to get in a passing land in transition ...
Four fouls on Bryce, who has only two points in the second half after scoring 18 in the first 20 minutes ...
Johnson's 12th assist and Bates' 10th point extends State's lead back to 7 going into the under 4 TV timeout: Wolfpack 75, Hurricanes 68
First time in awhile State has had balance throughout the lineup. Five players in double figures and Funderburk isn't one of them. In fact, he's only got two points in 14 minutes and hasn't played in a loooooong time. He came up limping earlier. Could potentially be hurt. Hopefully Keatts will give an update after the game ...
Now Bryce comes up limping after banging knees with Miami's Isaiah Wong. ... And the hits just keep on coming. Beverly stays in the game. Wong heads to the locker room ...
Break for State ... ball out of bounds originally given to Miami. After review, it's reversed and the Wolfpack gets it back ... up 7 with just over a minute to play ...
Bryce popped Keith Stone in the face going for the ball. No call. I guess that's payback for them not calling on in Virginia when Funderburk took a forearm to the throat ...
Johnson converts both ends of a one-and-one ... for a change. Lead back up to 9 with less than a minute to go ...
Funderburk is on the bench and in the huddle during the timeout. He looks okay. Guess it was just Bates' night ... The freshman has 10 points, seven rebounds and four blocks ...
Johnson closes it out by going 6 of 6 from the line,. Wolfpack holds the Hurricanes without a field goal for the final 5:43 and gets a win it had to have ...
Final: State 83, Miami 72
