WASHINGTON — Jayden Taylor had 18 points and nine rebounds as 10-seed North Carolina State won its second game in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, beating 7-seed Syracuse 83-65 on Wednesday night.
The Wolfpack (19-14) now advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals where they’ll face rival Duke, seeded second in the tournament and ranked 11th in the latest AP poll. The Blue Devils beat NC State by 15 points on March 4.
On Wednesday, NC State received a boost from DJ Horne and Michael O’Connell, who each scored 16 points, and DJ Burns Jr., who added 15 points. Mohamed Diarra had team-highs with 14 rebounds and six assists.
Syracuse (20-12) was powered by 21 points from Judah Mintz, while Maliq Brown added 11 points and 12 boards.
Neither team led by more than five points in the first half, and NC State had a three-point advantage at the break. The Wolfpack got 10 first-half points from Taylor.
Syracuse briefly led by two points early in the second half, and then NC State responded with a 23-4 run to take a 19-point advantage. Horne powered the Wolfpack during that crucial stretch with 11 points and two steals after not scoring in the first half. Horne punctuated the run with a dunk at the 12:35 mark.
The Orange trimmed the deficit to 10 points, but the Wolfpack pieced together a 23-9 run to push their lead to 24 points with under three minutes to play. O’Connell poured in eight points in that span.
NC State went 20-of-24 from the free-throw line while Syracuse made just five shots from the line in six trips. The Wolfpack won the rebounding battle 40-31 and scored 30 points off 19 Syracuse turnovers. The Wolfpack outscored the Orange 19-8 on fast breaks.
Syracuse is now 2-4 in the ACC tournament since 2021.
–Mitchell Northam, Field Level Media