NC State played poorly on offense on the road at Syracuse last night, missing 25 of 34 three-point attempts and only managing three made free throws. Yet its defense kept the Pack in the game, with the team pulling ahead in the final minutes.
However, a series of ludicrous calls predictably happened to go against the Wolfpack, gift-wrapping the game to the Orange and leaving coach Kevin Keatts and 'Cuse retirement-refuser Jim Boeheim sniping at each other in the handshake line.
Look, State was overly three-point reliant in this one, which certainly contributes to a foul disparity (11 fouls and 17 attempted free throws for the home team, 19 fouls and five attempted free throws for the home team). But even putting that aside, in the deciding moments, it was clear that the officials tilted the contest to Syracuse.
From a flop by the Orange that was somehow called a charge to a clear blocking foul under the basket called a charge against D.J. Burns to a phantom foul called against Ebenezer Duowona (one of roughly four invisible infractions Ebe got tagged with) and a stunningly uncalled hacking call on a Jarkel Joiner shot that went uncalled, the last couple of minutes were a clinic in stealing a game from the visiting squad.
The officiating ineptitude was so egregious that no one really noticed that Joiner had posted a triple-double (15 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists) until well after the game. In particular, it would appear that some jackheimer named Bert Smith has a personal vendetta against the Wolfpack.
Unfortunately, NC State has had to lean into biased officiating based on multiple games this season, but Keatts's postgame comments lead one to believe that he's almost ready to put the league on blast.
Not that it will help, but it should make for a little added drama down the stretch as the ACC does its best to keep its foot on the Pack's neck.
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