Late Rally Falls Short as Kansas Edges NC State in Overtime

No. 19 Kansas escaped Raleigh with a 77 76 overtime victory over NC State on Saturday, spoiled by a historic shooting night from Melvin Council Jr. Council scored a career high 36 points including nine three pointers, a sharp contrast to his season mark before the game of 5 for 27 from long range. He opened the overtime with another long range shot and knocked down enough threes to carry Kansas past the Wolfpack before the home crowd at the Lenovo Center.

The loss dropped NC State to 7 4 and extended its skid against opponents from the top five conferences to 0 4, a category that includes earlier setbacks to Seton Hall and Texas at the Maui Invitational and a road loss at Auburn. Those outcomes matter for the Wolfpack s NCAA Tournament worthy resume as the program under coach Will Wade seeks to translate early season promise into marquee victories. Wade has been framed as the guarantor of the reckoning and an NCAA Tournament berth in his first year, and he urged his team to take the next step after the game. "We haven t won some of these bigger games that we ve scheduled," he said. "We haven t won those, but I do think we re close to winning them. I don t think every game is a referendum, but we certainly got to start winning some of these. At the end of the day, we got to start winning some of these. We let an opportunity slip by [Saturday]."

NC State produced late comeback moments, including three important three pointers from Darrion Williams down the stretch, but Williams missed a potential game winning three in overtime. Quadir Copeland finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists while committing six turnovers. Ven Allen Lubin recorded 16 points and 11 rebounds for his 13th career double double.

The game underscored tensions between early season expectations and tangible results for Wake County fans and ticket holders who packed the Lenovo Center. Wade acknowledged the fans directly after the loss. "Are we where we want to be? Absolutely not," he said. "I appreciate our fans [Saturday]. I m disappointed for them. I m disappointed that we haven t been able to put a better product out there for them. But we will. We will. And I feel like in short order, this team is going to continue to get better."

NC State will return to Reynolds Coliseum to host Texas Southern and will play Ole Miss in Greensboro on Dec. 21 before beginning Atlantic Coast Conference play, carrying the pressure to secure higher profile wins that can change perceptions of the season.