NC State Loses at Auburn 73-83

Overview:

Apparently, the Auburn scouts watched the Texas game and thought: “We can do better.“Texas shot the ball great, with Pope scoring 28 points and scorching us from three. Auburn shot better in all three categories (+3.2% FG%/+5.0% 3-pointer/+1.2% FT) and had 2 players who scored as well as Pope. Coach Wade has to figure this out or the better teams will repeat this pattern.

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Game summary:

The first half got off to a rough start with Holloman making an immediate comeback and then Williams fouling out. But things calmed down, and at the first official timeout, NC State led 8-3 and Auburn committed three turnovers. At 11:14 of the game, Ebube was seen fouling on a rebound as the Tigers threw a 3-pointer in his face with a minute on the clock. Auburn then went on a 17-2 run to build a 12-point lead, including a 4-6 lead from three. After the timeout, the Wolfpack went on a 13-0 run to lead 29-28. The Wolves forced 13 turnovers, but the Tigers shot 59%/45%/100% from the field, while the Wolves (38%/29%/83%) couldn’t keep up. Quadir Copeland had a great performance, scoring 15 points in 15 minutes. He and Matt Able both had three of the team’s 10 steals.

Auburn immediately led by 9 points at the start of the second half. NC State closed the deficit to 2 points on several occasions but was never able to tie or take the lead. The Wolfpack rebounded hard and trailed by only 5 points at halftime, but in the end they lost another rebounding battle 22-35, with the Tigers holding a 30-14 defensive rebounding advantage. But the story of this game is that the team couldn’t accommodate Hall (28 points, 10 rebounds, 5-for-7 3-pointers) and Overton (29 points, 9 rebounds, 6-for-9 3-pointers).

Final 83-73.

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Overall takeaways:

• More defense than in any game before. NC State forced 20 turnovers (Auburn averaged 10.7), including 14 steals. The Wolfpack scored 22 points off turnovers.

• 8 Wolfpack players had at least one steal

• NC State won the offensive rebound 8-5 but lost the defensive rebound 14-30.

• The Wolf Pack had just nine turnovers

• NC State took 20 more shots than Auburn but just couldn’t make them

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personal highlights

• Quadir Copeland had another great game. He scored a team-high 22 points on 8-12/2-3, and had 3 assists, 3 steals and 1 turnover.

• Paul McNeil led the team in rebounding with 4 points

• Trey Holloman leads the team with 4 assists

• Copeland and Able each had 3 steals

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