Wolfpack Flashback: Great Games You Probably Don't Remember
The only Madness going on this March is taking place off the court, with the NCAA tournament cancelled in response to the growing coronavirus crisis. With no actual games to report on, SI All Wolfpack is looking back in time to remember some of NC State's best postseason games from the past. Since the Wolfpack has never played on this date, we instead focus on some of the Wolfpack's best individual postseason performances you might not remember.
Every NC State fan remembers -- or at least heard of -- the dominance of David Thompson and Tom Burleson in the 1974 NCAA tournament, Lorenzo Charles' dunk to beat Houston for the 1985 national championship, the 40 points Rodney Monroe hung on Iowa in a double overtime win in 1989 and Julius Hodge's heroic 2005 performance in an upset of UConn.
Since the Wolfpack has never played a postseason basketball game on this date, March 29, here's a look back at some great Wolfpack individual postseason performances you might not recall:
1950
The 32 points Sam Ranzino scored against Holy Cross in the opening round of the NCAA tournament were going to be a school record no matter what, since that game was the first one State ever played in the event.
It also happened to be the most points scored by an individual player in the tournament's short history to that point. Ranzino, whose No. 77 hangs from the rafters at PNC Arena, went 12 for 30 from the floor and 8 of 10 from the free throw line to lead his team to an 87-70 win against Bob Cousy and the Crusaders to advance to the semifinals of the eight-team tournament.
1965
Larry Lakins had one of the longest careers in ACC history, having played on the Wolfpack's freshman team in 1957-58 before entering the Army and serving an 18-month tour of duty in Korea. He returned to State briefly, but was recalled because of an international crisis. He finally came back for good in 1962 and eventually earned first-team All-ACC honors as a senior.
The 6-foot-6 center capped that 1964-65 season off by scoring 33 points and pulling down 14 rebounds in an NCAA tournament consolation game against St. Joseph's -- a game that has since become a footnote in Wolfpack history.
1970
Vann Williford is one of the most underappreciated players ever to play for State. He was largely overshadowed in the ACC during his career by the likes of South Carolina's John Roche and North Carolina's Charlie Scott. But he was a first-team all-conference performer who earned MVP honors in the 1970 ACC tournament.
Williford followed that up by putting together two of the best games ever in the NCAA tournament by a Wolfpack player. First, he hit for 36 points and 11 rebounds to lead his team to a 108-88 first round victory against Niagara in Columbia, S.C. State was eliminated two days later by St. Bonaventure, but not for a lack of trying by Williford, who finished with 35 points and 12 rebounds.
2004
Elian Evtimov did everything he could to will the Wolfpack to a second-round victory against Vanderbilt and a trip to the Sweet 16 in Phoenix. He scored a career-high 28 points and helped State score on 16 of 18 possessions during one stretch in the second half to build an 11-point lead with 3:40 remaining.
But his effort was wasted when the Wolfpack let the lead slip away into a 75-73 loss that hit Evtimov hard. "This is the worst way to lose," he said afterward. "It doesn't get any worse than this."
2018
Allerick Freeman played only one season with the Wolfpack after coming to State as a graduate transfer from Baylor. But he made his one and only NCAA tournament game count by scoring 36 points. He had six three-pointers in what remains the Wolfpack's most recent NCAA tournament game. But even that wasn't enough to prevent a 94-83 opening round loss to Seton Hall in Wichita, Kan.
