After seeing potential, NC State set to take on Pitt
After North Carolina State played its worst game this season, it rebounded with its best performance Tuesday.
It's been a bungee cord experience for the Wolfpack (13-6, 4-2 ACC), who look to steady themselves Saturday when they visit conference foe Pittsburgh (8-11, 1-5).
More than halfway through the season, first-year coach Will Wade has no idea what to expect from his team from game to game.
Even after an 80-76 win in overtime Tuesday to end No. 18 Clemson's nine-game winning streak, Wade expressed more exasperation than joy.
"Hopefully this gives us some pop, but shoot, you just don't know with this group we got," Wade said.
Ven-Allen Lubin scored 22 points for the Wolfpack, Darrion Williams had 17 and Quadir Copeland added 16 points with six assists.
The enigmatic Wolfpack are 0-2 at home this month and 3-0 on the road. After they blasted host Florida State 113-69 on Jan. 10, they followed up with a dismal 78-74 loss at home to Georgia Tech.
"The best part of our resume is blemished," Wade said afterward. "We're gonna have to punch above our weight class a couple times here to get this thing back where it needs to be."
That happened against Clemson as Williams drilled a 3-pointer with 2:40 remaining in overtime to put NC State up for good at 74-72.
The Wolfpack lead the ACC in 3-point accuracy (39.6%) and will look to exploit their marksmanship against Pitt, which ranks last in the conference in defending shots from behind the arc at 35.1%.
NC State's top threats from deep are Copeland (48.8%), Paul McNeil Jr. (41.1%) and Tre Holloman (40.6%).
Pitt lost for the fifth time in its last six games when it fell 65-62 at Boston College despite getting double-doubles from Cameron Corhen (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Roman Siulepa (13 points, 11 rebounds).
It was a particularly frustrating defeat for the Panthers as Damarco Minor (9.6 points per game) was ejected in the first half. They also missed 10 of their final 13 free-throw attempts.
"You have to make free throws to win, especially on the road," assistant coach Jason Capel said afterward on Panthers' radio.
Brandin Cummings is Pitt's top scoring threat with an average of 13.3 points per game. He scored 11 points against Boston College.