Seventh seed NC State took control midway through the first half and coasted past #10 seed Pitt, 81-70, in the second round of the 2015 ACC Tournament on Wednesday.
State (20-12, 11-8 ACC) advances to Thursday’s quarterfinals to play #2 Duke (28-3, 15-3 ACC) at 7 p.m.
There was never any doubt Wednesday night. An 8-0 Wolfpack run broke an 8-8 tie, and then after the Panthers (19-14, 8-11 ACC) closed to 20-15, another 7-0 NC State run pushed the lead to 12.
The Pack led 37-23 at halftime and maintained a double-digit lead for most of the first half.
The game was viewed by some as a de facto play-in game for an NCAA Tournament berth, though NC State was viewed before the tip as being in the field even with a loss, and Pitt, with a win, would have still had work to do.
NC State shot 53.1 percent from the field for the game and was paced by Anthony Barber’s 34 points.
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