NC State Falls to William & Mary 85-68

Friday, November 13

Raleigh, NC

8 p.m.

NC State

0-1

William & Mary

1-0

William & Mary

NC State

11/13/2015 10:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

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RALEIGH – The NC State men's basketball team fell in its season opener to William & Mary 85-68. Caleb Martin led the Wolfpack with a career-high 21 points, but it wasn't enough as the visiting Tribe gave the Pack its first season-opening loss since 1993.

Key Stats:
Martin's career-high 21 points led all scorers in the contest. He also added four steals, three rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Abdul-Malik Abu added 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Freshman wing Maverick Rowan scored 16 points in his collegiate debut. After missing his first four attempts, Rowan shot 6-for-11. William & Mary, which won 20 games and a share of the CAA regular season title last year, shot nearly 52 percent from the floor and had six different players score at least eight points.

Turning Point:
Shortly after NC State picked up its only lead of the contest at 3-2, William & Mary shot 6-for-7 from the floor and added five free throws to build a 23-5 lead. NC State was unable to come back from the deficit.

Photos from Friday night's game vs. William & Mary (Photos by Jack Tarr)
Posted by NC State Basketball on Friday, November 13, 2015

Gott Said It:
"Let me say we're disappointed and we've got a long way to go. We learned tonight that we have a long way to go. The first thing we have to understand is that the Sweet Sixteen run is a year in the past, it's in the rearview mirror and we've got to figure out this team and how we have to play. And we better learn quick. Tonight you saw a very experienced, well-oiled machine playing against a very inexperienced team that didn't handle adversity well. They jumped out to a 23-5 lead, they're making every shot and playing very well and I think at that point we began to get really hurried. We began to try to score too much off the dribble, not trusting our offense. We had some breakdowns defensively and it's at that point in time where you have to execute even better. We were trying to make a ten point shot every trip; we were trying to get it all back. We became rushed and we dug ourselves in a deeper hole. We need to learn to have some poise, no matter the score, and respond better. I'm talking about executing your offense, making defensive adjustments. Those are the type of things that we need to learn how to do. We looked like a very inexperienced young team today. We've got to get a lot better, and we're going to get a lot better. That's a good team too; I have a hard time seeing those guys losing a lot of games in their conference. They played awfully well tonight. They play like that and they're a potential NCAA Tournament team."

Up Next:
NC State will be back in action Sunday at 6 p.m. in PNC Arena against South Alabama. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.