1. 5* recruit Marcus Smart had struggled from the field in the first three games of his career. But in front of a national audience he had his best game. He made 5-6 2s (83%) and 3-9 3s (33%). In a 1:12 span in the first half Smart scored eight straight for the Cowboys, giving them a 13-9 lead which they would hold for the rest of the game. He also had 7 assists, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals.
2. Oklahoma State had excellent ball movement against the Wolfpack. Early on they penetrated and dished to jump shooters, and then later in the game they had a number of quick strikes down low on offense. In total they had 14 assists on 24 made baskets (58% assist rate), after a 38% assist rate in their previous two games.
3. I'm not sure why Scott Wood's position is listed as an '*' in the official boxscore, but that about sums up how he played. He was just one of six from beyond the arc (17%) after entering the game as a 50% shooter from deep. With NC State's offense bogging down, Wood tried a few times to drive and shoot off the dribble, but was 0-5 on 2s.
4. NC State fans should be happy with the play of TJ Warren (and Rodney Purvis). When the rest of the team appeared to give up in the 2nd half, these two continued to hustle and play hard on every possession. Warren and Purvis combined for 31 of NC State's 56 points.
5. This was a 69 possession game. NC State scored just 0.81 points per possession, which is their 2nd worst offensive game under Mark Gottfried (0.77 last year at UNC). Defensively, they allowed 1.10 per possession, which is just the 2nd time in their past 11 games that an opponent scored more than a point per possession.
