NC State Collapsed, Kept Syracuse Undefeated (25-0)

NC State looked as if it were going to upset undefeated, No. 1 ranked Syracuse on the road Saturday night, and then inexplicably handed the Orange the game in the final :10 with a terrible turnover. Final: Syracuse 56, NC State 55.

The Wolfpack led 55-53 with just over a minute to play, and then Syracuse’s CJ Fair made a free throw to cut it to 55-54. NC State’s TJ Warren had a breakaway and appeared to score a layup plus the foul, which could have iced the game. But refs ruled the foul was on the floor, and the Wolfpack had to inbound the ball with less than :20 left.

You know what happened next – ill-advised pass to the corner, good trap by Syracuse, terrible pass that was stolen, and as you can see above Fair easily scored a layup with :06 left for the win.

Earlier this week, Syracuse won on a 30-footer at the buzzer from Tyler Ennis.

The Orange are an atrocious offensive team by several statistical measures, but continue to win close games – five wins by 5 points or less in the 2014 calendar year. I still have my doubts, but we’ll see what happens at Duke, Virginia and Florida State.