NC State Athletics’ week in review: Nov. 26 – Dec. 3

The semester is coming to a close for NC State students as classes end and exams begin, but the world of NC State Athletics never sleeps. There is always something going on with the Wolfpack, which has recently seen overtime wins, trips to Las Vegas and Pop-Tarts.

Here is the week in review as we roll into the final month of 2023.

Men’s basketball suffers humiliating defeat then wins ACC opener

After a relatively easy first three games of the season, NC State men’s basketball has been tested much more considerably in its most recent four, all of which have been played away from Raleigh. While the team played well for the most part in the Vegas Showdown, the same can’t be said about the Pack’s first true road contest of the year: a rather embarrassing 72-52 loss to Ole Miss in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

Looking to avoid an early three-game losing stretch, NC State needed a win to put a jolt of life back into the program, and it got one with an 84-78 overtime win at Boston College in the ACC opener. After leading for most of the game, the Pack couldn’t quite pull it out in regulation, but the team found a way in the extra period. Led by 21 points from graduate guard DJ Horne, NC State picked up a critical win in the team’s young season.

Read more about the Pack’s no-show against Ole Miss.

Read more about the Pack’s thrilling win in Chestnut Hill.

Women’s basketball keeps on rolling

Returning home from an impressive outing in the U.S. Virgin Islands — which saw the team shoot up to No. 5 in the AP Poll — NC State women’s basketball remains unblemished through the first four weeks of the season, taking down Vanderbilt in the ACC/SEC Challenge and beating Illinois State to improve to 9-0.

Vanderbilt came into Reynolds Coliseum a perfect 7-0 on the season, but the Pack handed the Commodores their first loss behind 22 points from junior guard Saniya Rivers. The game was much more lopsided than the score indicated as NC State led by as many as 26 before letting its foot off the gas in fourth quarter, allowing the Commodores to narrow the final margin to 70-62.

The Pack did much of the same against Illinois State, although this time the team didn’t take its foot off the gas at the end, securing a 79-61 victory.

Read more about the Pack’s wire-to-wire win over Illinois State.

Read more about the Pack’s impressive showing against Vanderbilt.

Football is going to Disney World

Later this month, NC State football will be eating Pop-Tarts for breakfast with Mickey Mouse and friends. After weeks of speculation, it’s finally official; the Wolfpack will be playing in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28 in Orlando, Florida, the home of The Walt Disney World Resort.

While this marks the first year it will be played under the name of its current sponsor, the bowl game itself has been played for over 30 years, and NC State has been a participant five times before. The Pack’s most recent appearance in Orlando was in 2010, when Russell Wilson led the team to a 23-7 win over West Virginia at the then-Champs Sports Bowl.

This time, NC State will play Kansas State from the Big 12 and will look to win 10 games for just the second time in program history.

Hidlay and Orine win championships for wrestling in Las Vegas

Men’s basketball wasn’t the only NC State athletics team to pay a visit to Sin City this year. For the second year in a row, NC State wrestling competed in the Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas, taking fourth place in the competition.

The two-day event was highlighted by the performances of redshirt senior Trent Hidlay and redshirt junior Kai Orine, who each took home individual championships in their respective weight classes, Hidlay’s coming in 197 and Orine’s coming in 133. Hidlay’s championship win marked the second year in a row he has won the top prize at the event, with last year’s win coming in the 184-pound class.

Juniors Ryan Jack and Ed Scott, redshirt freshman Dylan Fishback and sophomore Jackson Arrington also secured podium finishes. The four of them, plus Hidlay and Orine, will see to it that the success they had in Vegas does not stay in Vegas.

Read more about the Pack’s time out in Las Vegas.

Swimming competes at U.S. Open in Greensboro

The NC State swim team competed alongside some of the best swimmers in the country at the 2023 U.S. Open, which was held in Greensboro, North Carolina. A total of six Wolfpack swimmers recorded top-10 finishes in the event, including graduate student Katharine Berkoff, who added to her already illustrious college career by finishing third in the 100-meter backstroke.

Berkoff was the only member of the Pack to garner a podium finish. The team will not hit the pool again until 2024 when it will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee.

Read more about the Pack’s showing at the U.S. Open.

Track begins 2023-24 indoor season

Fresh off their third-straight national championship, several members of the Wolfpack women’s cross country team got right back to it by beginning the 2023-24 indoor track season. NC State sent a handful of athletes to events in both Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Boston over the weekend, marking the start of the season.

From women’s cross country, graduate student Sam Bush came in 12th place in the women’s 3000-meter in Boston. Junior Amaris Tyynismaa also finished 24th in the event, and sophomore Grace Hartman took 29th in the women’s 5000-meter. On the men’s side, senior Brett Gardner finished 22nd in the 3000, also in Boston.

Like swimming, the track team will not compete again until after the start of the new year.

Read more about how the Pack began the 2023-24 indoor track season.