The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1519757
32 ■ THE WOLFPACKER two days before the Wolfpack headed to Greensboro to face UCLA in the 1974 NCAA semifinals. Five days earlier, Thompson lay in a puddle of blood at Reynolds Coliseum, after tumbling from the sky trying to re- venge-block a shot by a Pittsburgh player in the NCAA East Regional final. He caught his foot on teammate Phil Spence's shoulder and landed with a thud on the wooden floor, with many thinking he had fractured his neck. He spent time in the hospital and the on-campus infirmary with what team doctors called "a mild concussion" and lacerations that needed 15 stitches in the back of his scalp, but on Tuesday after- noon he was at practice with his team- mates. Though he made some shots, fans in the building thought he looked a little gun-shy. On Thursday, two days before the Wolfpack faced the seven-time national champion Bruins, there were still ques- tions from the 5,000 spectators who filled Reynolds to see the Pack's final practice. Thirty minutes into drills, as the team worked on its three-on-two fast break, head coach Norm Sloan blew his whistle to stop practice. Dribbling down court, Thompson let fly a perfectly launched jumper, some 35 feet away. The ball cleanly swished through the net with ease. "If there had been a dime on the edge of the hoop, it would probably still be there now," a Technician reporter noted. The crowd went bonkers. Sloan called off the rest of practice. More than half of the spectators stuck around to cheer the team bus as it left in a spontaneous pep rally. Everyone knew Thompson was well enough to strike down the Bruin dynasty. He scored 28 points and leaped for 10 re- bounds in the Saturday semifinal, which the Wolfpack won in double-overtime, 80-77, and posted 21 more points in the 76-64 victory over Marquette that gave State the first NCAA team title in school history. 3 PLAYER: Michael O'Connell RESULT: NC State 73, Virginia 65 (OT) DATE: March 15, 2024 This was a shot of great fortune that led to even greater rewards. All Virginia needed to seal a victory against NC State in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament in Washington, D.C., was one free throw with five seconds to play. Isaac McKneely, an 85 percent free throw shooter, stepped to the line to finish the Wolfpack's season. Except … he missed. NC State's Casey Morsell grabbed the rebound and passed to O'Connell, who pulled up just in front of the Wolfpack bench. The senior guard had little time to think about his shot, he just arched it high over McKneely's arms and hoped something good would happen. Something good did happen. The shot banked off the backboard, made two- and-a-half rotations around the rim and fell through to tie the score at 58-58 as the buzzer sounded. After that, the Wolfpack was all but destined to win, scoring the final nine points of overtime. The next night, NC State completed its five-wins-in-five- days sweep by beating top-seeded North Carolina. The Pack kept rolling, winning four more games and advancing to the Final Four for the first time since Valvano's Cardiac Pack won its unlikely 1983 cham- pionship. 4 PLAYER: Julius Hodge RESULT: NC State 65, UConn 62 DATE: March 20, 2005 One shot is not enough to tell the story of what Hodge meant to NC State's bas- ketball program, a legacy that remains strong some 25 years after he first stepped on campus. It happened in the final win of his career, in a game against Connecticut, which had claimed the national champi- onship the year before. The road was not easy in the Pack's fourth trip to NCAAs with Hodge. It had opened the tournament with a win over Charlotte, but few people gave NC State a chance against the defending champion Huskies in the second-round matchup in Worcester, Mass. Nevertheless, with the game clock tick- ing off the final seconds, the score was tied, 62-62, and the Wolfpack had the ball. Most importantly, it was in Hodge's hands. He drove against UConn's Rudy Gay and then put up a layup against Hus- kies forward Ed Nelson, the very player who had beaten out Hodge for the 2001 ACC Freshman of the Year honor when Nelson was at Georgia Tech. Hodge's ensuing free throw gave 10th- seeded State its first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1989. 5 PLAYER: Rodney Monroe RESULT: NC State 110, Wake Forest 103 (4OT) DATE: March 4, 1989 Monroe is still the Wolfpack's all-time leading scorer with 2,551 points, so he obviously could have appeared multiple times on this list. The one that stands out the most, however, was his offensive rebound after teammate Kelsey Weems intentionally missed a free throw at the end of regula- tion in the regular-season finale against Wake Forest in Greensboro. In a game that featured 13 lead changes and 11 ties, the Wolfpack allowed a dou- ble-digit lead to slip away in the second half and trailed by three when Weems Lorenzo Charles' dunk against Houston in 1983 is remembered as one of the most dramatic moments in NCAA Tournament history. It broke a 52-52 tie in the final seconds and gave the Wolfpack a national championship. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS