Courtesy GoPack.com
GLENDALE, Ariz. – The NC State men’s basketball team saw its season come to a close with a 63-50 loss to number-one seed Purdue Saturday evening in the Final Four held at State Farm Stadium.
The loss snapped NC State’s nine game win streak as the Pack finishes the season with a 26-15 record.
The Pack’s defense held Purdue to a season-low 63 points and the Boilers shot just 40 percent from the field, its second-lowest field goal percentage of the season, but NC State’s offense could never get on track as NC State scored a season-low 50 points and shot just 36.8 percent from the field, its lowest shooting percentage since Jan. 27.
DJ Horne led NC State with 20 points while Jayden Taylor added 11 points off the bench. DJ Burns was held to just eight points, but did pass out a team-best four assists while Ben Middlebrooks led the team with seven rebounds.
Purdue jumped out to a 9-2 lead and took its first double-digit lead of the game on a three-pointer to make it 21-11 with 10:09 left in the half.
The Boilers lead was still 12, 28-16, with six minutes to go in the opening half when NC State went on a 13-4 run to pull within three, 32-29, on a Horne jumper with 39 seconds to play.
Purdue made a three-pointer on its final possession of the half to double its lead and take a 35-29 advantage into the halftime break.
In the second half, NC State could never get closer than six as an almost six-minute field goal drought allowed Purdue to put the game out of reach.
Zach Edey, the first two-time Associated Press National Player of the Year since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson won three in a row from 1981 to 1983, led Purdue with a double-double scoring 20 points and grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds. Lance Jones chipped in 14 points while Fletcher Loyer scored 11.
Purdue shot 10-of-25 from three-point range while NC State was just 5-of-19, and the Boilers also outrebounded NC State, 41-28.
Saturday marked the final collegiate games of DJ Burns, Jr., DJ Horne and Casey Morsell. The trio wrote their names into the NC State record books with Burns finishing his NC State career 10th all-time in career field goal percentage in program history while also being named the ACC Tournament MVP and South Region Most Outstanding Player. Horne made 105 three-pointers this season to break the single season mark previously held by Scott Wood and Rodney Monroe (each with 104). Morsell closes his three-year career with NC State as the 57th player in school history to score over 1,000 career points and so tied an NCAA record this season for most starts in a single season as the Ft. Washington, Md., native started all 41 games for the Pack.
