By Phillip Murray

In a stunning a show of sheer focus and dominance, the Wolfpack beat 15th ranked Miami Saturday at home for its second conference win of the season. Miami came into this game as the hottest team in the ACC aside from UNC. Even though they were on the road, the Hurricanes were the clear favorite to win.

NC State on the other hand was coming off a loss against Georgia Tech. It was the last home game of the 3 home game stretch for the Wolfpack and they indeed made it count with a statement win. From the start NC State was dialed in, taking the lead early in the first half.

NC State showed off balanced scoring early, spreading the ball among its starters. Cat Barber was the impact player on the floor the entire game. The star guard had 14 points in the first half and led all players. Angel Rodriguez led Miami, keeping the Hurricanes close to NC State. Despite Miami shooting extremely well from beyond the arc, NC State still maintained the lead. The key point was that the Wolfpack were shooting decent on floor, 44.8 percent, but most importantly they were out rebounding Miami 22-14 in the first half.  Going into the half the Wolfpack had a 37-32 lead.

Coming out for the second half, Miami continued to be out rebounded by NC State. The Wolfpack were not allowing Miami second chance shots and were obtaining theirs through aggressive offensive rebounding on the other end of the floor. Along with Cat Barber adding to his first half point total, hitting 3 consecutive shots, NC State extended their lead shooting 4-5 early in the 2nd half, while Miami only shot 2-4 on its attempted shots. Miami did get within 3 points by hitting 6 consecutive shots but Maverick Rowan’s three pointer helped keep NC State’s lead.

With little under 4 minutes to go NC State continued to win the battle of the boards over Miami. The Wolfpack rebounded 87.1% of Miami’s missed shots and 34.5% of its own. The effort paid off as N.C State held off Miami to get the win. The was arugably the most balanced and efficient game the Wolfpack has played all season. N.C State dominated in key areas of the floor; shooting 51% over Miami’s 40% for FG, 41% over Miami’s 31%, and out rebounding the Hurricanes 41-23. Cat Barber led all players with a game high 30 points, followed by Abdul Malik-Abu with 19 points and 7 rebounds. Sheldon McClellan led the Hurricanes with 18 points followed by Angel Rodriguez with 15 points. A great way for State to end it’s homestretch, with not only a conference win, but a win over a ranked opponent.  NC State will face Florida State on the road Monday night.

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