With the season on the line and tensions at an all-time high, players can let their emotions get the best of them during March Madness.
That’s exactly what happened to N.C. State star Terquavion Smith during the Wolfpack’s first-round NCAA men’s basketball tournament loss to Creighton on Friday afternoon.
Smith shined in a 72-63 loss for No. 11-seeded N.C. State, scoring a game-high 32 points, but his team shot just 37.5% from the field and spent most of the contest playing from behind.
Late in the second half, Smith let his frustrations out on a chair, prompting an absolutely hilarious play-by-play breakdown of the outburst from announcers Steve Smith and Avery Johnson.
NC State's Terquavion Smith was HEATED and punched a chair 👊 pic.twitter.com/FiMWL0iH9Y
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 17, 2023
As they point out, Smith appears to consider flipping the team’s supply of Powerade before thinking better of it. That’s when the chair — a perfect target — came into sight.
Poor chair never stood a chance.
The tantrum didn’t last long as his teammates and a staffer quickly separated the two, but it was a good summary of a game the Wolfpack had a chance to win but ultimately weren’t able to execute well enough outside of their star player.
The NCAA tournament brings out both the best — and worst — in everyone, and we saw another example of that today.