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

DALLAS — N.C. State just won’t go away, will it? The Wolfpack just refuses to go home.

The Pack started playing elite basketball in Washington. D.C., winning the ACC championship, and has taken it on the road in the NCAA Tournament.

And keeps winning.

The Wolfpack, seeded 11th in the Southern Regional, turned back No. 2 seed Marquette on Friday, taking a 67-58 victory at American Airlines Center.

That leaves the Pack — has it now become “America’s team”? — one win away from its first Final Four since 1983, when N.C. State won its second national championship. The Wolfpack (25-14) will face Houston or Duke in the regional final, N.C. State’s first since 1986.

No NCAA win comes easily and this one didn’t. D.J. Horne had 19 points, making some clutch second-half shots. Casey Morsell had 15 points, and some big baskets of his own, while Mohamed Diarra again was so vital, with 11 points and 15 rebounds.

The Golden Eagles (27-10) trailed nearly the entire game. Kam Jones had 20 points and Tyler Kolek 17, but the Pack worked hard to limit the damage.

The Pack led by 13 at halftime and by as many as 16 early in the second half. But with both teams playing defense that was much like hand-to-hand combat, open looks were hard to find and every pass contested.

The Golden Eagles were within 48-38, its cheering contingent loud, and had nearly forced a shot-clock violation before D.J. Horne knocked down an off-balance 3-pointer.

Diarra, so active around the boards, then scored on a put-back and the lead was 51-38.

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.