Wolfpack Suffers Another Tech-nical Knockout
ATLANTA -- All the grit and toughness the NC State basketball team displayed last Monday in overcoming a mountain of adversity to score a key road win at Virginia was nowhere to be found Saturday at Georgia Tech.
And it ended up costing the Wolfpack.
Instead of putting the Yellow Jackets away after going up by five with about six minutes to go, State sputtered to the finish -- scoring only three more points the rest of the way in a momentum killing 64-58 loss to the Yellow Jackets at McCamish Pavillion.
With its fourth straight close defeat to Tech and second this season, its longest current losing streak to any ACC opponent, it would be easy to simply say that the Yellow Jackets simply have State's number.
Or that the Wolfpack ran out of gas playing its second straight game with only seven available scholarship players.
But that's not what point guard Markell Johnson had to say about it afterward. As far as he's concerned, there are no excuses for a result he said he and his teammates earned.
"I'm going to totally put this one on us," said the senior point guard, who with 21 points was perhaps the only Wolfpack player that was on his game. "(Tech) went out there and played a good game, but this one is on us for real."
There was clearly something missing right from the start for the Wolfpack, which struggled to figure out Tech's trapping zone defense while playing only a hint of the defense that had held its previous three opponents under 40 percent shooting.
State (14-6, 5-4 ACC) fell behind 19-8 before finally beginning to some signs of life.
A 10-0 run late in the first half, in which Johnson scored eight of the points on a series of aggressive drives to the basket, gave State its first lead and put it in what has become a familiar position against a Yellow Jackets team that was also playing without a key player.
While the Wolfpack was missing big man Manny Bates and forward Pat Andree for the second straight game, Tech was without its leading scorer Michael DeVoe because of a foot injury.
It was the fourth straight meeting between these teams that the State has led at halftime. But as was the case with the other three, Keatts' team wasn't able to close the deal.
And, putting it lightly, the third-year coach wasn't very happy about it.
"I'm pissed off, but I'll get over it," he said. "The reason I feel the way I do is because we've had three great games and I've seen what this team is capable of. We went on the road and beat a very good Virginia team.
"I don't think any (ACC) team except one or two has that much separation. With that being said, you have to finish plays. I think you have to do the little things. Today we didn't and Virginia we did. That was the difference in the ballgame."
The contrast in the final 6 1/2 minutes was stark.
On Monday, with big man D.J. Funderburk having already fouled out, the Wolfpack found a way to battle back from a four-point deficit and win by locking down on defense and making big shots under pressure.
Saturday, with virtually everyone on the court playing with four fouls but still in the game, State squandered a five-point lead by missing shots, turning the ball over and allowing Tech point guard Joe Alvarado to terrorize it on both ends of the court.
Alvarado scored 26 points, had eight rebounds and eight steals -- the most ever against the Wolfpack by an opposing player.
He was especially menacing during the final stretch, in which he led the Yellow Jackets on a 14-3 closing run.
"I just thought he was aggressive," Keatts said of Alvarado. "Jose did everything for his team. It was an impressive night for him.
"If you look at our side, very comparable was Markell Johnson. I thought everybody else on our team and their team were just okay today. When you don't have everybody playing (well) on both teams, it comes down to the little things. The hustle plays. I didn't think we finished plays. ... When it came down to getting some key rebounds and some key stops, we just didn't get those."
Saying that the other Wolfpack players other than Johnson were "okay" might be something of a stretch.
Because while Devon Daniels finished with 12 points and eight rebounds and Braxton Beverly had 11 points for only his second double-figure scoring effort since early December, there weren't many performances to write home about.
Funderburk scored only eight points, the first time in 10 games he hasn't reached double figures while Jericole Hellems went 1 of 8 from the floor on his way to just six points.
And then there was C.J. Bryce, who took only four shots -- all in the first half -- while going scoreless for the first time in his two seasons at State.
Keatts was at a loss to explain why Bryce disappeared the way he did.
"I don't know if it was because he missed his shots in the first half," he said. "I'm not sure what happened to him."
Much less of a mystery if what happened to the Wolfpack on the final few positions.
It's becoming something of a tradition against Tech.
The beginning of the end came shortly after Beverly made a tough floater in the lane to tie the score at 58 with 44 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, the Wolfpack forced Alvarado to miss a tough shot in the lane.
But as always seems to happen in these situations, James Banks -- who scored the winning basket in each of his team's two previous wins against State -- grabbed the rebound and scored to put Tech back ahead.
Alvarado then took over by ripping the ball from Bryce's hands in front of the Wolfpack bench with eight seconds left. Then after making two free throws, he put an exclamation point on the Yellow Jackets' win with one final steal and a layup.
"I thought Georgia Tech was the better team today," Keatts said. "I didn't think we showed lot of fight. I didn't think we stuck together when we needed to in this game. In order to have a good road win in the ACC, we've got to be better."
