Revenge is a dish best served cold.
For the No. 2 North Carolina State Wolfpack, they redeemed themselves Thursday night at Assembly Hall, winning 66-58 against the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. NC State was upset by Indiana in the Sweet 16 of last year's NCAA Tournament.
NC State’s top two scorers, Diamond Johnson, 19 points, and Kayla Jones, 17 points, didn’t play in March when NC State was bounced by Indiana. Johnson was not on the roster and Jones was out when the teams played in San Antonio.
“Diamond Johnson is a hard guard,” head coach Teri Moren said. “She’s exceptional with the ball. She can make you pay if you miss or don’t fight hard over ball screens. She has a lot of stuff to her game.”
The game got off to a very slow and sloppy start in terms of scoring. Indiana led 25-21 at the half despite shooting just 25% from the field. Moren emphasized that her team got the looks they wanted throughout the game, but they did not fall. Indiana went 7-24 from beyond the arc and missed 12 layups, something she said is inexcusable.
Something that may have contributed to the slow start is the fact that both teams had not played since the Baha Mar Hoops challenge Saturday. Both teams also played against ranked opponents on Thanksgiving in the Bahamas.
The Wolfpack, now 7-1, turned it up in the second half, scoring 45 points. All 17 of Jones’ points came in the final 20 minutes. The dagger was a Jones 3-pointer with under 3 minutes remaining as the shot clock was winding down.
Mackenzie Holmes led all scorers with 24 points, but Indiana’s bench could only muster 8 points, a key reason the team fell short in their biggest non-conference game of the season. No. 6 Indiana will drop in the rankings for the second straight week. They fell last week after losing to the then-7th ranked Stanford Cardinal on Thanksgiving.
NC State, who lost their first game of the season to the top team in the country, South Carolina, haven’t lost since collecting wins against two top-10 Big Ten Teams, Maryland and now Indiana.
Indiana will begin Big Ten play on Monday at home against Penn State. Tip off is slated for 6 PM, and the game can be heard on WIUX 99.1 FM with Josh Bode and Sammy Connors on the call.
PHOTO COURTESY OF IU ATHLETICS
