N.C. State moves to Friday's quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament after a strong victory in the opening round.
The Wolfpack took down Virginia Tech Thursday afternoon, 80-63. N.C. State took control after going on an 11-0 run in the second half. Coach Mark Gottfried says guard Lorenzo Brown shut down Virginia Tech's Erick Green, the leading scorer in the nation.
"Lorenzo made his mind up he was going to do a good job on him and I thought he did," Gottfried said.
"I thought our team's defense was better. We were active, we were quick and we rotated better, and so I thought that was probably the key to the game."
Green was held to 15 points and made just 26 percent of his shots. Richard Howell scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Pack. The win sets up a match with Virginia Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Wake Forest is out of the tournament after falling to Maryland Thursday night, 75-62. Maryland faces Duke and North Carolina will prepare for Florida State Friday night.