No. 22 NC State tops BC 92-62, Smith gets 1K career points

BOSTON -- — Terquavion Smith didn't realize he had reached 1,000 career points until North Carolina State coach Kevin Keatts announced it in the locker room after the game.

His teammates were waiting and ready, drenching the sophomore guard with water after he scored 17 points to hit the milestone in the No. 22 Wolfpack's otherwise unremarkable 92-62 victory over Boston College on Saturday.

“It was crazy for him,” said Jarkel Joiner, who scored 26 points to help N.C. State bounce back from a loss to No. 8 Virginia. “It was like he came out of a pool.”

Smith bypassed a chance to go to the NBA after his first year and returned to Raleigh, where he is leading the Wolfpack and is second in the ACC in scoring with 18.5 points per game. He needed 17 points to reach 1,000 — and hit it exactly — in his 58th career game,

“He scores so much, he doesn’t even worry about how many points. I mean, as far as he knows, he might have had 1,000 six games ago,” Keatts said. “But you’re talking about a good kid, who has given everything he could to N.C. State.”

Smith hit the milestone on a 3-pointer about one minute into the second half that gave the Wolfpack a 15-point lead. He didn't celebrate then — because he didn't know.

“Coach just told me after the game. He surprised me, myself,” said Smith, who accepted the congratulations of his teammates with a smile. “I got water all over me. It was very cold.”

Joiner made 10 of 17 shots — including five of 11 from 3-point range — and added six rebounds to follow up a 2-for-14 shooting performance against Virginia. He went 1-for-6 from the floor the previous game, against Georgia Tech.

“We know what Jarkel is capable of,” Keatts said. “It was so good to see him bounce back.”

D.J. Burns Jr. scored 18 points with 10 rebounds for the Wolfpack, who led nearly the entire game.

Quinten Post scored 20 points for Boston College (12-14, 6-9).

N.C. State led 10-9 after five minutes before using a 13-4 run to open it up. It was a six-point lead when Joiner hit back-to-back 3-pointers. N.C. State went into the halftime break up 44-32.

Casey Morsell and Joiner hit consecutive 3s early in the second to expand the lead to 21 points. Morsell was 5 of 8 from 3-point range, and the Wolfpack made 15 of 30 from beyond the arc in all.

BIG PICTURE

N.C. State: The Wolfpack are off to their best start since 2006. They have won nine of their last 11 games to climb into The Associated Press Top 25 for the first time since 2019. They have three games against teams behind them in the ACC standings before facing No. 20 Clemson and then Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Boston College: Fell to 2-5 against ranked teams this season, with victories over then-No. 21 Virginia Tech in December and then-No. 20 Clemson last month. The Eagles haven’t beaten three ranked teams in a season since 2010-11.

UP NEXT

N.C. State: Visits Syracuse on Tuesday night.

Boston College: Visits Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP--Top25