Upstart N.C. State braces for Marquette
North Carolina State appeared ready to call it a season when it dropped its last four regularseason games.
A swift reversal ensued, and now the Wolfpack are surprisingly stationed in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
Next up, No. 11 seed N.C. State (24-14) will look to run its winning streak to eight games when it battles second-seeded Marquette (27-9) on Friday night in the South Region in Dallas.
Wolfpack big man DJ Burns Jr. noticed the bandwagon that emptied a few weeks back is quickly filling back up after the school reached the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015.
“I’m just saying welcome back,” Burns said. “They didn’t really believe in us. They probably still don’t, but that doesn’t matter to us. We’re just going to stay together. If you’re supporting us, thank you. If not, that’s what it is.”
It surely wasn’t just N.C. State fans who had low expectations for the program this March.
The four losses, by an average of 9.8 points, were an extension of a dreadful stretch in which the Wolfpack dropped 10 of 14 games.
But suddenly, N.C. State won five games in five nights to win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and has added two NCAA Tournament victories — 80-67 over sixth-seeded Texas Tech in the first round and 79-73 in overtime over No. 14 seed Oakland in Saturday’s second round.
Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts maintains the impressive turnaround is not a surprise to him.
“I just think we’ve come together,” Keatts said. “Like, we’ve been a good team all year long. We just hadn’t stacked games. We hadn’t stacked opportunities. You think about — a lot of people put so much into our last four games.”
Now people are noticing N.C. State’s past seven games and are well aware the Wolfpack are one hot team.
Burns had 24 points and 11 rebounds in the win over Oakland and is averaging 20 points in the two NCAA victories. Mohamed Diarra had double-doubles in both games and is averaging 14 points and 12.5 rebounds in the tourney.
Marquette recorded victories of 87-69 over 15th-seeded Western Kentucky in the first round and 81-77 over No. 10 seed Colorado in Sunday’s second round to reach its first Sweet 16 since 2013.