Greensboro Holds Good Memories for Johnson, Wolfpack
GREENSBORO -- The first thing Markell Johnson did when he came out onto the court for practice at Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday was grab a ball and fire up a shot from halfcourt.
Of course, he made it.
The halfcourt heave has become something of a trademark shot for the NC State point guard this season. He's made three of them to beat buzzers so far, none bigger than the one he made on this very floor against UNC Greensboto back on Dec. 15.
With the score tied at 77 and time running out, Johnson took an inbounds pass under his own basket, dribbled once and left fly on the run from just beyond the midcourt line -- hitting nothing but net.
Even though Tuesday's practice shot went into the opposite basket and may have been a step closer than the one three months ago, returning to the scene of his dramatic game-winner brought back some good memories for Johnson.
He's hoping they carry over into Wednesday's game, especially since the the fifth-seeded Wolfpack should have a decided homecourt advantage when it returns to the Coliseum to take on No. 13 Pittsburgh in its ACC tournament opener.
"It’s a different feel," Johnson said. "I feel like there’s going to be a lot of NC State fans here cheering us on. It can help us a lot, just being in Greensboro."
Johnson's heroics and the three-point win it helped produce aren't the only good karma the Wolfpack will have going for it in the Gate City.
Just last weekend on the very same floor, its women's team ended a 28-year drought by beating Florida State for its first ACC tournament championship since 1991.
"I want to congratulate Wes Moore and our (women's) team," coach Kevin Keatts said. "What a tremendous job that those guys did. They won the tournament and got a chance to go compete for a national championship. Wes has done a tremendous job. He’s got a great program over there."
Keatts' men's team will have a much tougher road to a potential title than did the victorious women.
For one thing, this Wolfpack will have to win four games in as many days to bring home the trophy -- not an easy task for a team that has had a hard time putting together two good efforts in a row.
“We’ve got to come out here and play with a sense of urgency,” junior forward D.J. Funderburk said. “We’ve got to be locked in from start to finish.
“There’s games where we look like the No. 1 in the country and then there’s games when we look like the 350th team in the country. We just have to stay patient, stay locked in, trust everybody on the team and focus on consistency.”
State (19-12) beat the Panthers less than two weeks ago at PNC Arena. Even though the Wolfpack didn't need any halfcourt heroics from Johnson in that game, it did have to battle from behind for most of the game before finally taking charge late.
The Wolfpack can't afford to look past the Panthers (16-16) to have any chance at sneaking into the NCAA tournament as one of the final few seeds on Sunday.
