NC State returns to Pittsburgh, starting point of Pack’s last memorable postseason run

It has been a while since N.C. State went on the kind of run it went on in Washington last week, winning five games in five days to claim its first ACC title in 37 years. That much goes without saying.

Before that, you have to go back to 2015’s memorable trip to the Sweet 16, and while it ended in what for four decades was typically infuriating fashion, it started with two incredible wins in Pittsburgh, the same place this team will attempt to add to its growing legacy.

There were good vibes for the Wolfpack in Pittsburgh. And they led to unforgettable moments, from BeeJay Anya’s buzzer-beater to knock off Louisiana State to Villanova’s crying piccolo player after the Wolfpack upset the No. 1 seed.

Great vibes. At least one member of the 2015 squad hopes they’ll carry over.

“The way they’re playing right now, you could put them in Dubai and they’d be OK,” said Ralston Turner, the sharp-shooting wing who was a key player on that 2015 team.

That year, N.C. State came into Pittsburgh with a tough assignment: An 8-9 game against LSU followed by a potential matchup with top-seeded Villanova.

Turner, who had transferred from LSU to N.C. State, thought that LSU’s big forwards would pose a huge challenge, but the Wolfpack had a decided advantage in the backcourt, both in talent and depth, with Trevor Lacey and Cat Barber and Trevor Lewis and Des Lee and himself. And that team looked at Villanova as the weakest of the No. 1 seeds. If N.C. State was going to be a No. 8 seed, Pittsburgh was where it wanted to be.

N.C. State’s not the only Triangle team to have success there, with Duke winning a pair of games over Iona and Rhode Island in 2018, and the arena had a different name back then — CONSOL Energy Center then, PPG Paints Arena now — but it felt right.

“To me it’s one of those things, when you get in an arena, it’s either going to be good or it’s going to be bad,” Turner said. “I don’t like domes. I never liked domes. … And when you play Pitt, the school is kind of outside the city, and we were in the city, in the midst of everything. I liked the arena. We felt comfortable in there. Some of it too had to do with our confidence. We were playing really good basketball.”

The first round

That first-round game against LSU was tortuous, with N.C. State coming back from 16 down in the second half before Anya — a sort-of proto-D.J. Burns listed at 295 pounds — took the shot Mark Gottfried and the coaching staff had been begging him all season not to take, a left-handed toss-hook.

The play called in the huddle was an iso for Lacey, one of the ACC’s clutchest players, on the right elbow. But LSU packed the lane and Lacey pump-faked, then tried to take a shot in close quarters. While in the air, In desperation, he was forced to shovel the ball to Anya, presumably to get it right back for a reset.

With Lacey holding his hands out for the ball at the free-throw line, Anya lowered his shoulder, dribbled once to the right, spun back to his left and did exactly what he wasn’t supposed to do with his left hand. The ball bounced around the rim for an eternity, finally falling with 0.1 seconds on the clock.

“It looks almost like it’s about to come out, and here comes (Abdul-)Malik Abu flying in there about to touch it, try to tip it,” Turner said. “I remember in that moment thinking, ‘Malik, do not touch it!’ He pulled his hand away, and the ball goes in. To come back like that, whew. And against LSU? Shoot, sign me up.”

Knocking off No. 1

Enter the Wildcats. At the open practice the day before, Villanova had been on the court before N.C. State, and as the teams passed in the tunnel, Turner said the Wildcats tried to send some kind of a message. So when the teams actually played, the Wolfpack had some extra motivation.

“They just looked at us with this look, kind of disrespectful, kind of intimidation,” Turner said. “They were looking at us like, ‘We bad.’ We were thinking, ‘First of all, we believe y’all’s league ain’t that good. It’s not the old Big East.’ We also believed of all the No. 1 seeds, they were the weakest. In the ACC, they’d be top of the middle third. We got pissed off. We were determined to kick them in the butt.”

Forwards Abu and Lennard Freeman both had double-doubles as the Wolfpack pushed the Wildcats around, snapping their 16-game winning streak. N.C. State led by as many as 12 in the second half before Villanova got within two late, but held on for a 71-68 win.

When the CBS cameras caught Villanova band member Roxanne Chalifoux sobbing as she played the piccolo after the game, the Wolfpack had inadvertently created one of the NCAA tournament’s enduring images of defeat. The score, with N.C. State on top, was forever embossed on the bottom of the screen.

“For a few ways, that win was sweeter than most,” Turner said. “I liked Pittsburgh. Kind of felt like Batman.”

The win over Villanova sent the Wolfpack to Syracuse, N.Y., which did not prove as hospitable. In the regional semifinal against fourth-seeded Louisville, Raleigh native Anton Gill came off the bench for the Cardinals, scored seven points in one second-half burst to lock down a 75-65 win, and promptly entered what is now called the transfer portal before the Final Four even started.

It was the kind of thing that used to happen to N.C. State all the time, a legacy this year’s team may finally have put to bed. But it was also the Wolfpack’s second trip to the Sweet 16 in four years, and both of the wins seemed to be conjured out of nowhere, just like last week’s long-awaited ACC title.

And Pittsburgh proved to be a magical place for the Wolfpack nine years ago.

“I hope this team has equal the magic,” Turner said. “Or more.”

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