Gutcheck time. Trailing late in the second half in a game where little was going its way, after losing its best player and starting center in the first half, NC State could have rolled over against Pittsburgh Saturday. Instead, the Pack stepped up with a 33-22 run down the stretch, and thanks to huge contributions from Eric Lockett, DJ Funderburk and Devon Daniels, game up with a come-from-behind 86-80 win against the Panthers. This win showed a lot about the mental makeup of this Wolfpack team. Here's a few key takeaways from the victory. Cardiac Pack- Pitt took its largest lead of the game at 58-53 with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game, but the Pack scored four unanswered to cut the deficit to one. After Au’Diese Toney hit a 3 to give Pitt a four-point lead with 6:28 remaining, Lockett drained back-to-back 3s to put NC State up 63-61 with five minutes and change to play. After Pitt tied the game, Lockett got fouled and hit two free throws before Torin Dorn nailed a shot from behind the arc to push the lead to five with 4:19 to play. The Pack would not relinquish that lead, and Beverly extended it to six with another late 3 with three minutes and change left. NC State ended up closing the game on a 33-22 run after Pitt went up five, and Kevin Keatts’ team showed some serious resilience in a comeback victory minus its best player and one of its only true big men. Playing shorthanded- NC State’s depth took a major hit Saturday, with Wyatt Walker being ejected for a flagrant technical less than three minutes into the game, and Markell Johnson exiting after taking a hard fall on his tailbone. The loss of the team’s best player and starting center took a major toll on the Pack as the game went along, and allowed Pitt to close the first half on a 14-6 run and carry that momentum into the second half. Johnson returned to the bench in the second half but did not return to the game. Lockett returns- After not playing against UNC, Eric Lockett came through in a massive way in this one, with a season-high 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting (3 for 4 from 3) and seven rebounds. Down two players, NC State needed all hands on deck, and Lockett answered the call, particularly on the boards with Walker’s ejection. Lockett hit a couple massive shots in the second half, including back-to-back 3-pointers to erase a four-point deficit late. Lockett ended up scoring eight straight points for the Wolfpack to spark the late run, and was instrumental in the comeback. Funderburk steps up- Obviously with Walker out, the Pack needed someone to step at center, and that man was DJ Funderburk. Funderburk ended up playing 34 minutes, and put up a season-best 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Perhaps just as impressive, Funderburk, who has had an issue with getting into foul trouble (and the team as a whole did on Saturday) committed just two despite the increase in minutes. Daniels’ big first half - With the personnel losses early in the game, NC State could have unraveled. However, Devon Daniels kept the Pack going with a strong performance in the opening 20 minutes. He put 15 points on 7 of 8 shooting, including 1 for 1 from 3-point range in the opening frame. Everytime NC State needed to answer Pitt’s momentum with a score, Daniels was there to do it, and things could have slipped away worse in the first 20 minutes if not for his performance.<doc-sep>NC State Basketball came up short against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday night. Here’s a look at three keys to victory against Pittsburgh. After reeling off seven straight wins, the NC State Wolfpack’s winning streak came to an end on Tuesday night in an 80-72 loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels. They look to get back to their winning ways on Saturday against a guard-heavy Pittsburgh Panthers squad. The Wolfpack are still the 15th ranked team in the AP Poll and a victory here will allow that number to hold true against Pittsburgh. The Panthers are coming off an 89-86 overtime victory over the Louisville Cardinals on the road, so NC State is sure to get all they can handle. Both teams are 1-1 in ACC play as they look to create some distance in the standings between each other. The Wolfpack are 13-2 on the season while the Panthers are 11-4 on the year, with three of their four losses coming by a combined total of 12 points. The young Pittsburgh guards are sure to pose a challenge for the Wolfpack, but NC State has an experienced backcourt of their own looking to avenge their first loss in ACC play. Markell Johnson is coming off a 4-of-12 shooting performance that saw him put up just 11 points while turning the ball over five times. With four days to prepare for this one, here’s a look at three keys to victory for NC State against the Panthers.<doc-sep>RALEIGH -- The UNC loss was what it was. The Wolfpack played well, but so did the Tar Heels. Both teams traded punches back and forth, but the Pack could never deliver the knockout blow after digging itself into an early deficit on Tuesday night. Moving forward, NC State has a chance to refocus and respond in a huge way. Currently at 13-2 (1-1 ACC), the Pack is still one of the top teams in the country. And with the opportunity ahead starting with Pittsburgh coming to town on Saturday, State can't afford to sulk after the UNC loss -- something Kevin Keatts made abundantly clear following the game. "We went to Wisconsin and lost a heartbreaker similar to that," Keatts said. "You find out a lot about a team by how they bounce back. That was the last thing I talked about with them in the locker room is that we did enough to win the game. If we had cleaned up some stuff with the basketball, rebounded the basketball, and got some 50/50 balls, there would have been a different outcome tonight.” Over the next five games, the Pack will face Pitt, Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Louisville and Clemson. With a combined 10 games played in conference thus far, those five programs have a record of 2-8 in ACC play -- including a loss for Louisville recently to the Panthers. While the Pitt game on Saturday is at home, the following three games will be on the road. But after claiming a come-from-behind victory over Miami on the road already, the team has proved it can win anywhere. And despite the loss on Tuesday night, Torin Dorn had a similar message to Keatts leading up to Saturday. "I think we'll bounce back just the way we've bounced back all the time," Dorn said. "Anytime we take a loss, it's not the loss, per se, it's how you respond to it and what you do after that. So I think we'll come back, practice really hard and get ready for Pitt." So why is this such a critical stretch for the Pack? Well, the following three games after will pit the Pack against consecutive ranked opponents. Starting with No. 4 Virginia and No. 9 Virginia Tech at home, State will then conclude the stretch with No. 12 UNC again in Chapel Hill. Heading into that stretch with a record of 17 or 18 wins already in hand and multiple games above .500 in conference play would go a long way toward the ultimate goal of being one of the Top 4 programs in the ACC in March. After being tested with two tight games and multiple comebacks to start the season already, Keatts feels his team is ready for any challenge.<doc-sep>
RALEIGH -- Can NC State rebound from its first home loss of the season? Wolfpack Nation is about to find out as Pittsburgh heads to Raleigh on Saturday afternoon for its first road game in conference play. The Panthers (11-4, 1-1 ACC) are already showing vast improvement under former Oklahoma head coach and Duke assistant Jeff Capel. Pitt was blown out in its first conference matchup against UNC-Chapel Hill, 85-60, but took down Louisville at home by a final of 89-86 to move to .500 in ACC play before heading to PNC Arena. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack is coming off its first conference loss of the season as well with a hard-fought 90-82 to the Tar Heels. It was only the second loss of the season for the Pack after a seven-game winning streak following the loss to Wisconsin -- both of which came to ranked teams. Before the two teams tip off on Saturday at noon, here's a look at the full game information along with a scouting report and player to watch for the NC State vs. Pitt matchup. No. 15 NC State vs. Pittsburgh Game Info Tipoff: Saturday at noon ET Where: PNC Arena TV: RAYCOM SPORTS Live Stream: WatchESPN Live Stats: SideArm Stats Scouting Report: Pittsburgh Capel has taken a team that had the look of a perennial cellar dweller in Pittsburgh to a relatively competitive program. Led by two freshmen guards in Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens -- who have combined to average more than 30 points per game -- Pitt relies heavily on its overall guard play to carry the team. While he doesn't average much in the main categories of points (5.5) or rebounds (4.7), Terrell Brown is a consistent defender who is averaging 2.3 blocks per game. Apart from Brown, Pitt is limited in the size department with only 6-foot-9, 225-pounder Kene Chukwuka inside playing more than 20 minutes per game this season. Pitt still ranks as a Top 5 rebounding team in the ACC at 38.5 per game, but is 10th in the conference in rebounding margin at +1.5. The Pack will have to force the issue under the basket much better than it did against UNC and will have experience on its side against a young Pitt roster. Player to Watch: Trey McGowens NC State was heavily involved in McGowens' recruitment before leaving Hargrave Military Academy for Pittsburgh -- now the Pack will get its first chance to face the former target. And given his recent streak of hot shooting, State will certainly have its hands full against the freshman guard. McGowens finished with a career-high 33 points in the overtime win over Louisville, and the Panthers needed every single one in the three-point victory. The frosh guard shot a 12-of-19 clip, including going 4-of-7 from behind the arc, in just his second ACC contest of his career. The Panthers' second-leading scorer has been on fire recently, shooting a red-hot 65.2 percent from the field and a team-high 22.5 points over the last four games. State simply can't allow McGowens to get hot if it wants to drop the Panthers to 0-3 on the season in true road games.