North Carolina State is coš¦ntinuing its Cinderellaš March run.
After five victories in five consecutive days capped off by a surprise win in the ACC Tournament, the 11th-seeded Wolfpack took down No. 5 seed Texas Tech, 80-67, on Thursday night in a South Region first-round NCAA Tošurnament game at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Four players scored in double figures, with forward Ben Middlebrooks leading with wayā for NC State with a team-high 21 points to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
āWe heard a lot about fatigue,ā Middlebrooks said after the win. “It seems like weāre getting stronger every game we play.ā
Middlebrooks, a 6-foot-10 forward, found plenty of room to šwork inside against the smaller Red Raiders.
āWe completely played the game through our post,ā Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said. āWe really went inside out šand it worked out foš»r us.ā
The 6-footš“-9,š 275-pound Burns finished with 16 points.
š Mo Diarra had 17 points and 12 rebounds for N.C. State, and Dź¦J Horne also scored 16.
The Wolfpack, who dropped fourą± straight gamesš at the end of the regular season to play themselves off the tournament bubble, have now won six straight.
āWhen youāve got transfers, people think itās supposed to happen right away. We lost 34 points from our guards (from last year),ā Keatts said. āIt tookš¦ a little time for us to get clicking on both ends of the floor.ā
On Saturday, North Carolina will face No. 14 seed Oakland Grizzlies, who pulled off a huge upset over the third-seeded Kentucky šWildcats.
NC State led vš±irtually wire-to-wire, rolling ahead with 43 second-half points in the victory.
ā with AP