NC State's NCAA Tournament run continues as Wolfpack stuns Marquette to reach Elite Eight

Marquette wasn’t done. A 3-point play by big Oso Ighodaro made it a 53-45 game and it quickly would have been closer had Jones not missed an open 3.

The Golden Eagles looked to double team and trap each time a Wolfpack player picked up their dribble. It was effective in tightening the game.

A driving basket and 3-point play by Jones with 3:39 remaining pulled Marquette within 58-52. But Morsell’s twisting drive with 2:20 remaining made it 60-52 and Michael O’Connell’s high-arcing 3 with 1:34 left made it a 63-52 cushion.

The Wolfpack did a lot of things well — or well enough — in taking a 37-24 halftime lead.

The Pack shot the ball well — 53.6% from the field. It kept the Golden Eagles from getting second shots as Diarra had 11 rebounds, 10 on the defensive end.

D.J. Burns was more distributor than a shooter, taking just two shots in the half. He had five assists in the opening half and would have had more had some of teammates been more alert.

Burns also got a big call — for the big man, a rarity this season when he has faced double- and triple teams when he has the ball.

Trapped along the baseline, he was called for his second personal foul. With Horne already on the bench with two, the Pack was in the position of having to sit both.

But after a video review, the call was reversed. No foul on Burns. Marquette’s Stevie Mitchell was tagged with a foul for flopping, just as NC State coach Kevin Keatts strongly insisted after the initial call against Burns.

The Golden Eagles, aggressive in their man to man, forced the Pack into some mistakes and seven turnovers with their defense. The Pack, in fact, turned the ball over on its first two possessions.

But Marquette was awful on 3s — it missed its first eight before Jones made one and was 2 for 13 in the opening half. The shots were there but would not drop.

A Morsell 3-pointer from the left wing early in the second half pushed the Pack’s lead to 40-24, its biggest of the game to that point.