DENVER — This is the way an NCAA Tournament game should be played.
Both teams wanting it, badly. Both teams playing hard, relentlessly. All effort, all the time.
N.C. State did not beat Creighton on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA South Region at Ball Arena. The sixth-seed Bluejays emerged with a hard-fought 72-63 victory, advancing to the second round to face Baylor, the No. 3 seed.
But the Pack (23-11), in its first NCAA game since 2018, battled to the end. It overcame a nightmarish, jittery start, took the lead in the second half and kept pushing.
Terquavion Smith, in what should be his last game for the Wolfpack, had 32 points and was the best player on the court. The sophomore guard also had the most jaw-dropping moment of the game, rising high, slamming the ball over Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner in the second half.
Kalkbrenner got his points — 31 for the Bluejays (22-12). The junior center made 11 of his 14 shots from the field and eight of nine free throws.
It looked bleak for the Wolfpack in the second half when Creighton built a 56-47 lead. But NCSU coach Kevin Keatts used a timeout and the Pack responded.
Smith hit a 3-pointer from the key, Jack Clark did the same and it was 56-53. Soon, Smith had his big dunk
It was 62-59, Creighton, and the shot clock running down on the Bluejays when Baylor Scheierman knocked down a 3-pointer. Big basket.
The Pack, after trailing 28-26 at half, used an early 11-2 run early in the second half to take its first lead. But foul trouble by the Wolfpack’s big men quickly became a big problem.
D.J. Burns picked up his third blocking out on a rebound — the ref’s whistle coming late and an angry Keatts nearly running onto the court.
A 3-pointer by Kalkbrenner, only the sixth of the season by the big guy, tied it up 37-37 five minutes into the second half and gave the Bluejays a lift. Burns picked up his fourth foul moments later and again made an exit to the bench.
The Bluejays turned to Kalkbrenner, the biggest man on the court, in their halfcourt set and slowly built a lead — 56-47 with 6:40 remaining on a Kalkbrenner layup off a lob,
The anticipated showdown between Kalkbrenner and Burns never came — it was all Kalkbrenner this game. Nor did either team crank up their 3-point shooting as some expected until the late 3s by Smith and Clark.
The Pack had a miserable start in the game, with Smith picking up two early fouls and no one able to hit a shot until Joiner scored on after a scoreless first four minutes.
Keatts decided he could not keep Smith on the bench against the Bluejays, who scored the first seven points of the game and never trailed in the first half as Kalkbrenner scored 11 points.
Call it a wise move by Keatts. Smith began to attack the basket, using the high screen to get to driving lanes. He also hit some pullup jumpers, making seven of his 15 shots in the first half.
The Bluejays like to hammer teams with the 3 but missed 12 of 13 in the opening half, Scheierman knocking down the first shot of the game.
With Smith going one-on-one a lot, and Joiner often doing the same, the Wolfpack did not have an assist in the opening half — Creighton had seven. The Pack shot 33% in the half, going 11 of 33 from the field, after missing its first seven shots.
With Burns in foul trouble, Ebenzer Dowuona was needed for 12 minutes in the half by the Pack and the 6-11 junior battled Kalkbrenner hard down low.
As with many NCAA games, the two teams had to adjust to the officiating. Some physical play was overlooked at times and then some touch fouls called, keeping Keatts and Creighton coach Greg McDormott busy on the sideline.
