No. 17 Pack Wins at Notre Dame, 77-73

NOTRE DAME, IND. – The 17th-ranked NC State men’s basketball team never trailed in the second half and was able to hold off Notre Dame to win 77-73 Saturday afternoon inside the Joyce Center at Purcell Pavilion.

CJ Bryce led the Pack with a season-best 23 points as NC State improved to 15-3, 3-2 in the ACC with the victory.

The NC State junior finished the game shooting 9-of-14 from the field, including a career-best 5-of-5 from three-point range.

Devon Daniels added 15 points, six rebounds and a career-best three blocked shots for NC State.

Torin Dorn and DJ Funderburk both reached double figures off-the-bench as Dorn had 13 points and nine rebounds, while Funderburk finished with 11 points and six rebounds. The Pack’s bench outscored Notre Dame’s bench, 30-4.

The Pack led for 33:01 of game time, but could never shake the Fighting Irish as NC State’s biggest lead in the game was eight points in the first half.

After leading at halftime of every single non-conference game, the Pack finally took a lead into halftime of an ACC game as NC State led 35-33 at the break.

Notre Dame tied the game at 39 early in the second half, but back-to-back three-pointers by Braxton Beverly and Bryce push the Pack’s lead out to six. The Fighting Irish would cut the Pack’s lead to one on three different occasions the rest of the game, but could never get over the hump as NC State had an answer every time Notre Dame threatened to take the lead.

Notre Dame was within one, 62-61, after a John Mooney dunk with 8:26 to play, but the Pack responded by holding the Fighting Irish without a point for over four minutes and Notre Dame would not make it a one possession game again until 12 seconds remained.

Daniels was fouled twice in one-and-one situations in the final 35 seconds of the game and made all four free throws.

The Pack only turned the ball over once in the second half and finished the game with a season-low seven turnovers.

Notre Dame (11-7, 1-4 ACC) was led by Mooney and Dane Goodwin who both scored 19 points. The Fighting Irish entered the game, averaging to hit over 10 three-pointers per game in conference play, but the Pack limited to Notre Dame to just 7-of-28 (25%) shooting from long range.

NC State returns to action Thursday when it plays at Louisville. The game is scheduled to start at 8 pm and will be televised on
Raycom.