NC State Loses at Auburn 73-83

Overview:

Clearly, the Auburn scouting looked at the Texas game and thought, “We can do better than that.” Texas shot great and Pope scored 28, scorching us from 3PT. Auburn shot even better in all three categories (FG + 3.2%/ 3PT +5.0% / FT +1.2%) and had 2 players that scored as well as Pope. Coach Wade is going to have to figure this out, otherwise the better teams are going to repeat this model.

Game Summary:

The first half didn’t start well, Holloman turned it over immediately followed by Williams picking up a foul. But things settled down and at the first official timeout, NC State was up 8-3 and Auburn had 3 turnovers. There was an Ebube sighting at the 11:14 mark, in his one minute of court time the Tigers hit a 3PT shot in his face and he fouled going after a rebound. Auburn then went on a 17-2 run to build a 12-point lead, including going 4-6 from 3PT. Out of the timeout the Wolfpack went on their own 13-0 run to take the lead, 29-28. The Pack forced 13 turnovers, however the Tigers shot 59% / 45% / 100% and the Pack (38% / 29% / 83%) couldn’t keep up with that. Quadir Copeland was the hot man, 15 points in 15 minutes. Both he and Matt Able had 3 of the Pack’s 10 steals.

Starting the second half, Auburn pulled out to an immediate 9-point lead. NC State got it within 2 on a couple of occasions but were never able to tie or take the lead. The Wolfpack kept the rebounding close and were only down 5 at the half, but they ended up losing another rebounding battle 35-22, the Tigers dominating the defensive rebounds 30-14. But the story of the game was the Pack could not contain Hall (28 pts, 10 rebounds, 5-7 from 3PT) and Overton (29 pts, 9 rebounds, 6-9 from 3PT).

Final 83-73.

Overall Takeaways:

• There was more defense played than in any previous game. NC State forced 20 turnovers (Auburn averages 10.7) including 14 steals. The Wolfpack had 22 points off turnovers.
• 8 Wolfpack players had at least one steal
• Auburn blocked 9 shots
• NC State won offensive rebounds 8-5 but lost defensive rebounds 14-30.
• The Wolfpack only had 9 turnovers
• NC State took 20 more shots than Auburn, but just couldn’t hit them

Four Factors

Individual Highlights

• Quadir Copeland had another great game. He led the team in scoring with 22 points (8-12/2-3), and had 3 assists, 3 steals and only 1 turnover
• Paul McNeil led the team in rebounding with 4
• Tre Holloman led the team in assists with 4
• Copeland and Able each had 3 steals

Box Score