Wolfpack Flashback: In the Beginning ...

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. Today, we go all the way back in time to the first NCAA tournament game ever played by the Wolfpack

The only Madness going on this March is taking place off the court, with the final three days of the ACC tournament and the entire 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. Today, we go all the way back in time to the first NCAA tournament game ever played by the Wolfpack or The Red Terrors, as they were known at the time.

Given the circumstances at the time the season was halted last Thursday, this year's NC State basketball team would likely have had to sweat out a Selection Sunday on the NCAA tournament bubble.

There was no such thing as a bubble back in 1950, but that doesn't mean coach Everett Case's Wolfpack -- or Red Terrors, as they were known at the time -- didn't have a few nervous moments before getting its bid into the eight-team NCAA tournament.

It came down to State and Kentucky for the one and only bid from the Southeast region. The Wildcats of coach Adoph Rupp were the two-time defending national champions, but it was the 25-5 Wolfpack that got the nod for its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.

The opponent for the game, to be played on March 24 at New York's Madison Square Garden, was Holy Cross.

The Crusaders (27-4) were led by future Hall of Fame point guard Bob Cousy, the guy for whom the award for the nation's best point guard is named. It was State's Sam Ranzino, however, that was the brightest star on this night. 

A 6-foot-1 All-American guard, Ranzino made 12 of 30 field goal attempts and eight of 10 free throws to finish with what was then a tournament-record 32 points. Teammate Dick Dickey added 25 points while doing a solid defensive job on Cousy, who still managed to finish with 24 points and five assists.

The Wolfpack won the game by getting off to a fast start and outscoring Holy Cross 44-29.

Although Cousy and the Crusaders were able to rally to within four points in the second half, Ranzino, Dickey, Warren Cartier (12 points) and their teammates held off the charge and eventually pulled away for 87-74 victory.

The win came with a cost, however.

Starter Vic Bubas, who would go on to be the head coach at Duke, injured his ankle in the game and was not at full strength for the next night's national semifinal against City College of New York.

With Bubas limping and Dickey, Ranzino and fellow starter Paul Horvath all having fouled out, the Wolfpack lost a 78-73 decision to the eventual national champions.

It was a disappointing ending to the season. At the same time, though, it was the start of a proud postseason tradition that would eventually include a pair of national championships.