RALEIGH, N.C. — Miami might be the ACC’s best team when all is said and done this season.
N.C. State has proven it can play with the best, and did again Saturday against the No. 16 Hurricanes.
It took overtime to decide it, but the Wolfpack clawed out an 83-81 victory at PNC Arena, refusing to be beaten on its home floor.
Fittingly this day, the game ended with the ball in hands of Ernest Ross, after a long in-bounds pass by the Pack (14-4, 4-3 ACC). The slender sophomore forward, a surprise star with 17 points and nine rebounds, snatched it and held it high in victory as the players danced about the court and Wolfpack fans thundered.
“A great team win,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “It was a great middle-of-January ACC battle.”
The final 12 seconds of overtime were ACC basketball at its best. Miami (14-3, 5-2) had the ball, trailing by two. It went to guard Isaiah Wong, who had scored 25 points and wanted more, for the final shot.
But Wong, guarded by Jarkel Joiner, never got one up. Doubled defensively by Ross as he drove the lane, Wong lost control of the ball as players from both teams madly scrambled after it.
It was a jump ball — a turnover with the possession arrow favoring N.C. State. Just two-tenths of a second remained.
“Wong is a really good player and we just wanted to contain,” Joiner said. “I think somebody got a deflection the ball and I tried to jump on top of it. We knew it was our ball. We knew it was over with.”
So ended a game that was tight and tense in the final moments of regulation and the overtime. The Pack, playing with bounce in it step after wins over Duke and Virginia Tech, led 42-32 at the half but the Hurricanes made a strong move after halftime as Wong scored 18 points of his 25.
“He just took the game over,” Keatts said. “He had a stretch where we could not guard him.”
But the Hurricanes had a hard time trying to corral Ross, who used his quickness around the basket for rebounds and follow shots. Miami came into the game with its defensive focus on guards Terquavion Smith, Casey Morsell and Joiner, and was aware big man D.J. Burns might be a factor in the post.
But Ross? Safe to say he was a small part of the Miami scouting report, averaging 2.2 points and 1.7 rebounds before Saturday, playing about 9 minutes a game.
“He’s my roommate and I love him,” Smith said. “To see him go through adversity, off the court and on the court, and not get a lot of minutes and come do that, it means he can handle a lot.
“He’s tough. He’s got heart.”
Ross, a battler in the paint, twice scored inside late in regulation, his basket with 1:52 left giving the Wolfpack a 71-70 lead. Joiner’s two free throws pushed the lead to three, but Miami’s Jordan Miller drained a late 3-pointer and it was soon in overtime.
A three-point play by Smith early in OT pushed the Pack ahead 76-74, but Nijel Pack answered with a 3-pointer for Miami. The Hurricanes maintained the lead until a put-back by Ross of a Joiner miss with 33 seconds remaining gave the Wolfpack an 82-81 lead.
“He always gives you everything he’s got and never lets the moment get too big for him,” Burns said of Ross.
Ross, fouled on a defensive rebound with 12.3 seconds left, hit one of two free throws for a two-point lead. It was up to Wong — and the Pack’s defense.
Ross and Burns, who did not start, combined for 30 points and 18 rebounds — Burns with nine boards, plus seven assists — as the Pack outscored the Canes 52-36 in the paint.
Smith finished with 20 points on 7-of-20 shooting and Joiner had 11 points while playing a game-high 43 minutes. Keatts said Joiner became a father on Friday, flying home to Mississippi for the birth of his child, and then back to Raleigh late Friday night.
For the first time in 2023 the Pack had a new experience: trailing in a game.
After wire-to-wire wins over Duke and Virginia Tech, the Wolfpack fell behind the Canes early and played from behind most of the first nine minutes. But the Pack kept pushing the ball on offense and tightened its half-court defense, and Ross came off the bench for an energy boost as N.C. State led by 10 at the half.
Keatts said it was “really too early” to start talking about the Pack’s NCAA Tournament resume, even though he mentioned it to the team in the locker room after the game.
“There’s a lot of basketball to be played,” Keatts said. “I am happy. I’m happy for our guys.”
