NC State upsets Marquette, continues magical tournament run to Elite Eight

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DALLAS — DJ Burns Jr. and his teammates ran over to the NC State fan section and posed, Burns putting his hands out and doing the Michael Jordan shrug. As the Wolfpack turned to head back to their celebratory locker room, a fan kept repeating “Can you believe it?”

The miracle run continues.

DJ Horne kept hitting clutch shots down the stretch, Burns kept dropping dimes and the Wolfpack somehow keep winning.

Make that eight straight for a team that never won more than four in a row during the regular season. The latest was a 67-58 win over second-seeded Marquette on Friday night in a Sweet 16 game that was all about defense.

NC State will send both its men's and women's teams to the Elite Eight this year 🐺

◽️ Men's team: Seventh Elite Eight appearance
◽️ Women's team: Third Elite Eight appearance@PackMensBball | @PackWomensBball pic.twitter.com/XDPbltY4j2

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 30, 2024

The Golden Eagles were a mental mess all night. They somehow hung around and were within range when Kam Jones had a shot to cut the lead to three in the final minutes. The ball came off his left hand with funky spin and ricocheted off the rim right toward Oso Ighodaro. Ighodaro couldn’t get his hands up to catch it, instead the ball hitting him in the face and causing his nose to bleed.

It was that kind of night for Marquette. A 4 for 31 3-point shooting game. Junior David Joplin went 2 of 10 from the field, his only buckets a runout dunk and an uncontested layup. Joplin missed all seven of his 3-point shots, most of which were wide open. Eventually NC State just quit guarding him close on the perimeter.

The Wolfpack also cheated off Stevie Mitchell, who missed all four of his 3-point attempts, and made it so Ighodaro had to play in a crowd and couldn’t get to the rim. The senior star big man had only six shots — making two — and scored six points.

Marquette senior guard Tyler Kolek was the only Golden Eagle who didn’t seem to be in his own head shooting the ball. Kolek scored 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Everyone else from Marquette: 12 of 47 from the field.

Horne led NC State with 19 points, the dagger coming on a late shot clock 3-pointer when Mitchell ran into a Ben Middlebrooks screen and fell to the floor. He made two other late-clock shots, including a 3 off a filthy crossover that shook Joplin.

Marquette tried to double team Burns almost anytime he touched it, and he scored only four points but dished out seven assists.

NC State will try to make its first Final Four on Saturday since the 1983 national title team. The Wolfpack will play the winner of Duke–Houston.

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(Photo: Kevin Jairaj / USA Today)