NC State Basketball: Highs and Lows of Wolfpack's 2014-15 Season

Summing up NC State basketball this season is actually quite easy to put into words—one heck of a roller coaster ride. The team undoubtedly experienced the highest of highs and also the lowest of lows. From dominating the second-ranked Duke Blue Devils at home in January, to losing to a three-win Boston College team just last week, the Pack knows how to tug at every emotion in the book.

With the regular season finale coming up this weekend and the ACC tournament on the horizon, let's take a quick look back at the ups and downs of NC State's satisfying, yet tumultuous season. 

Low: Losing to Wofford at Home

Associated Press

Who could ever forget Trevor Lacey's game-winning shot that didn't count? With the Wolfpack down one point with 1.9 seconds to go, Lacey caught a long inbounds pass and put up a miracle shot that sealed an absolutely crazy victory for the Pack—or so everyone thought. 

As the officials reviewed the play, it immediately became clear that something was not right. Craziness ensued. Somehow, the game clock and the buzzer were not synced up correctly. The game clock showed the ball out of Lacey's hand with time remaining, yet the buzzer on the backboard was lit up before the ball left his hand.

It's something that likely can't be completely explained even to this day. The officials ended up waving the shot off and the Wolfpack suffered one of their most crushing losses of the season up to that point. On top of that, it signaled quite a strange pattern for NC State moving forward—every time it won a game, it'd lose the next one, and vice versa. This went on for 11 straight games. Talk about not being able to string some momentum together.

In the end, the loss was just a relatively small blip on the radar. 

High: Beating Duke

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

The atmosphere was electric, as it always is in PNC Arena. The No. 2 ranked Duke Blue Devils were in town, anointed as an ACC juggernaut early on in the season. The Wolfpack proved to be the far better team on that January day, thoroughly dominating the Devils in just about every facet of the game. 

The team shot lights out (55 percent from the field) and neutralized Duke's outside shooting, as it made just seven of its 27 three-point attempts. The guard tandem of Trevor Lacey and Ralston Turner combined for 37 points and center BeeJay Anya was a force off the bench (14 points, four blocks). 

The game was never really close down the stretch, as the Pack went up by as many as 19 points and never really looked back. It was a growing up game for a young team on the rise, and it was a game that truly built confidence.

The Wolfpack knew then that they could beat any team in the country on any given night. And that's exactly what they did. 

Low: Blowing a Big Home Lead Against Notre Dame

Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press

It was a game that the Wolfpack let slip away. Surely, after leading by 12 at halftime of a home game and holding Notre Dame to under 30 percent shooting from the field, NC State would be able to hold on. Even with just 1:12 remaining, it held a five point lead. 

Unfortunately, the Fighting Irish just refused to go away. The Pack faltered in the final minute and never recovered. This was a game that felt like NC State outplayed its opponent, at least for about 39 minutes. The Pack had taken control early and built a 15-point lead. They were the aggressor, not the Irish.

This game was not the case of a middling ACC team playing up to their level of competition. No, this was a team playing significantly better than the eighth-ranked team in the country. In some ways, that's why it was so tough to swallow. 

High: Buzzer-Beater Against Georgia Tech

John Bazemore/Associated Press

It was the shot that saved a season.

With NC State once again on the verge of another collapse against lowly Georgia Tech, Trevor Lacey decided he would not be denied a second time. With the Pack down two points and 4.9 seconds remaining, Lacey sprinted up the middle of the court after a missed free throw and sunk a running three-pointer to win the game in overtime. 

The win proved to be incredibly crucial at the time for NC State, as it was on a three-game slide and about to fall to 4-6 in ACC play. A loss in that moment against the Yellow Jackets very well could have derailed a once promising season. But the game-winning shot hit nothing but net, and the Pack survived.

Point guard Anthony "Cat" Barber was unbelievable, leading the Pack with 23 points (a career high at the time), seven assists and only one turnover. It was a game that sparked the young sophomore's season—he followed that effort up with 28 points in the following game and went on to notch double-digit scoring efforts in seven of the next eight games.  

Low: Losing to Boston College

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

There were more than a couple of "lows" in NC State's season. But this? This was the lowest of them all.

Coming off a huge road win against UNC-Chapel Hillin which the Wolfpack held the Tar Heels to a record-breaking low of 46 points, the team did the unspeakable. It traveled to Chestnut Hill to play a lowly Boston College team and got beat. No, not just beat—blown out. 

The Pack looked gassed less than four minutes into the game when Boston College jumped out to an 11-2 lead. The Eagles never relinquished the lead and rode Oliver Hanlan's 24 points to just their third win of the season and their first ACC home victory. 

Surely, after beating three top-15 teams in the country this season—including two of those victories coming on the road—this couldn't be a foreseeable outcome. But it was, and the repercussions could have been disastrous. The Pack already had their share of bad losses to that point in the season (home against Wofford and Clemson, on the road against Wake Forest), and didn't need to leave any doubt in the eyes of the selection committee. 

Instead of comfortably closing out the season, the Pack needed to win at least one, if not both of their remaining two games. They did their part on Tuesday, taking care of a Clemson team that's tough to beat at home. Now they'll turn to Syracuse in their final home game of the season, as the Wolfpack hope to gain some momentum as they head into the ACC tournament. 

High: Beating Louisville on the Road

Timothy D. Easley/Associated Press

NC State's tournament hopes looked all but lost heading into a road matchup against a top-10 team in the country. The Pack were sitting at just 6-7 in the ACC (15-11 overall) and hadn't beaten a top-10 team on the road since 2002. Consider that streak over.

Trailing by just one point at halftime, the Pack went punch for punch with the Cardinals until about ten minutes to play in the second half.

And that's when they started to pull away.

Led by suffocating defense, and 21 points from Cat Barber, NC State neutralized Louisville's Montrezl Harrell. So much so that he was essentially a non-factor, scoring just seven points (eight below his season average), most of which came after the game was well in hand. 

The game notched the second signature win of the season for NC State and checked off the ever-elusive road victory against a top team in the country. The win greatly bolstered the Pack's resume, and an NCAA tournament bid was back in the discussion. 

High: Beating UNC at the Smith Center

Gerry Broome/Associated Press

For the first time since 2003, NC State secured a win against UNC at the Smith Center—and they did it in historical fashion. The Pack held the Tar Heels to their lowest offensive output ever in a game, allowing just 46 points. This was the first time in ages that NC State was even remotely competitive in a game played at Chapel Hill.

For head coach Mark Gottfried's Wolfpack, this win further eradicated the "little brother" stigma that's been attached to NC State for so long. In fact, the Pack now boasted wins over both of their Tobacco Road counterparts in the same year. That's the second time Gottfried has done that in his four-year coaching tenure. 

NC State was absolutely sensational in this game, putting together a total team effort to shutdown one of the ACC's best players in Marcus Paige, while also limiting the Tar Heel's front court to just 16 points. 

The signature win solidified the Pack's season and was likely the final domino that ultimately catapults NC State into the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in four years.