NC State, Florida State look to bounce again in ACC openers

Host North Carolina State and visiting Florida State will bid to bounce back from losses to Southeastern Conference teams on Saturday when they face off in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams in Raleigh, N.C.

NC State (5-3) is coming off a 63-59 home loss to Texas, while Florida State (7-2) was defeated 85-75 earlier this week at LSU. Both losses came in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

The Seminoles led the Tigers at halftime, but LSU opened the second half with an 8-0 run to take the lead and outscored Florida State by 13 in that half to seal the win.

For the Seminoles, the bright spot was a breakout performance by Malique Ewin, who tallied his first career double-double with a career-high-tying 17 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Ewin shot 7 of 14 from the floor, and 11 of his rebounds came on the offensive end. Ewin, a 6-foot-11 forward, came to Florida State this offseason after stops at Ole Miss and South Plains Community College.

Ewin’s rebounding total against LSU was the most in a single game by a Seminoles player since 2001.

“I just look to wherever the offense is shooting the ball.” Ewin said of his rebounding skills. “I run to that spot, box out and a go up and get it. Nothing really special, but rebounding is about effort and extraordinary effort on defense is what is expected of every player on this team.”

Against Texas, Dontrez Styles stood out for NC State as he totaled 17 points, two rebounds and two blocks in an off-the-bench effort.

The game was decided by small margins. Texas won the rebounding battle by seven and knocked down three more 3-pointers than NC State.

“I certainly loved our guys’ fight,” NC State coach Kevin Keatts said. “We don’t take moral victories in this program but at the end of the day, we have a lot of things we can build on. I thought starting with the big lineup — we did some good things with that — but I was very happy to see Dontrez Styles come off the bench and put the ball in the hole.”

Florida State and NC State rank first and second in the ACC this season in blocked shots and 3-point shooting defense.

–Field Level Media