Pack Takes Control in Second Half to Win at Pitt, 81-72

Saturday, January 24

Pittsburgh, PA

12 PM

NC State

14-6,5-2ACC

Pitt

8-12,1-6ACC

NC State

Pittsburgh

Quadir Copeland and Ven-Allen Lubin at Pitt 1/24/26

Pack Takes Control in Second Half to Win at Pitt, 81-72

1/24/2026 2:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH Pa. – The NC State men's basketball team (14-6, 5-2 ACC) went on a 15-2 second half run to take control of the game and defeat Pitt (8-12, 1-6 ACC), 81-72, Saturday afternoon inside the Petersen Events Center.

NC State is now 4-0 in conference road games this season. It's the first time since the 1973-74 season that NC State has won its first four ACC road games.

Quadir Copeland led NC State with 20 points and nine assists in the win. The Philadelphia, Pa., native was 6-of-11 from the field and 8-of-9 from the foul line.

Ven-Allen Lubin posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Paul McNeil, Jr., made five three-pointers and finished with 15 points. Tre Holloman was the fourth and final NC State player in double figures with 10 points.

NC State started slowly as Pitt got out to a 13-4 lead as NC State only made one field goal in the first nine minutes of the game.

A three-point play by Darrion Williams gave NC State its first lead of the game, 19-16, with 5:53 left in the first half. The three-point play was part of a 12-5 stretch that saw the Pack take its largest lead of the first half, 27-21, with 3:19 to before the break. The Panthers though responded with 12-5 run of its own to take a 33-32 lead right before the break, but Copeland streaked down the floor and beat the halftime buzzer with a lay-up to give NC State a 34-33 advantage at the break.

The second half started much like the first as NC State struggled to make a field goal and Pitt scored nine of the first 11 points to take a 42-36 lead. The Pack battled back to tie the game at 43, but the Panthers went on another run, this is a 9-2 spurt, to take a 52-45 lead with 12:55 to play.

Pitt's lead was still five, 56-51, with under nine minutes to play when NC State went on a run to take control of the game.

The run started with a McNeil three-pointer after Pitt scored on the other end to go up 58-54, Lubin cleaned up a McNeil miss with a layup to get NC State back within two.

Copeland scored on NC State's next possession to tie the game and then McNeil made back-to-back three-pointers to give the Pack a 64-58 advantage with 5:50 to go.

After another defensive stop, Copeland made two free throws to give NC State a 66-58 lead with 5:10 to play.

Pitt made three-pointers on its next two possessions to stay close, but NC State was responding on every possession as the Panthers never got closer than five the rest of the way.

The Pack closed the game by scoring on 14 of its final 15 possessions.

NC State won despite being outrebounded 52-31 by Pitt. The Panthers had 26 offensive rebounds in the loss. The 26 offensive rebounds are the most allowed by NC State since Wake Forest had 27 offensive rebounds in the Pack's 68-54 win over the Demon Deacons on Feb. 20, 2010.

The -21 rebounding margin is the most the Pack has been outrebounded by since Feb. 26, 2022 when North Carolina outrebounded NC State by 21.

NC State made up for the rebounding margin and the 24-8 second chance points deficit by outscoring Pitt 22-3 in points off turnovers and also made 22 of its 27 free throw attempts while Pitt only made 11 of its 25.
Pitt was led by Roman Siulepa (15 points and 13 rebounds) and Cameron Corhen (10 points and 10 rebounds) who both posted double-doubles for the Panthers.

NC State is back in action Tuesday when it hosts Syracuse inside the Lenovo Center. Tipoff against the Orange is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPNU.