Notre Dame Falls in OT Thriller: 5 Takeaways From NC State’s Win Over the Irish

NC State 101, Notre Dame 94

5. The NC State and Notre Dame Free-Throw Shooting Was Otherworldly

 Notre Dame had a rough day from three - at least by its standards - but both teams shot well, the Irish takeaways were there, and both sides battled in a fantastic game.

The free-throw shooting was insane.

Notre Dame is good on the line and went 8-for-10. NC State is awful on the free-throw line. It’s 312th in the nation, averaging 65.8% from the line, and …

It hit everything.

There were two overtime misses that didn’t matter, but for the game the Wolfpack made 24-of-26 tries.

  It took NC State doing everything right on the highest of levels to pull this off against the No. 1 team. But it could’ve made things easier on itself …

4. Seriously, NC State, FOUL THE IRISH

This should’ve never gone into overtime.

NC State head coach Wes Moore might be great, and the Wolfpack might have pulled it off, but up three in the final seconds there were several chances to foul the Irish and keep the best three-point shooting team in America from firing one off. But nope.

For some unfathomable reason the Wolfpack didn’t even try to foul, they let the Irish pull up from three, and …

HOLY NOTRE DAME! Sonia Citron sends us to OT. ACC Championship on the line. TURN ON ESPN pic.twitter.com/xJ59wXkAp4
— Holly Rowe (@sportsiren) February 23, 2025

3. Sonia Citron’s Three-Point Shot

 Big picture time.

No, the Irish didn’t win, and they weren’t able to come through in the second overtime after NC State got their second wind and their energy boost, but the team found a way in a tight game to keep things alive in the crazy environment against a strong NC State team.

Citron got a little bit of room, put it up, and forced OT. This team didn't buckle until the end.

2. The Irish Offensive Rebounding Was Massive

 What to take away from a loss, any loss, for a team with national title dreams?

The Irish were all over the offensive boards.

The stats are a bit skewed because Notre Dame is so good from the field - there aren’t a lot of offensive rebounding chances. It’s 209th in the nation in offensive rebounds, but it stayed alive by being more active on the offensive glass with 17 offensive boards.

Games will get tougher like this over the next few weeks - just keep attacking and getting those second chance points.

final from Raleigh

we'll be back at Purcell on Thursday#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/Zn1WPNDIIO
— Notre Dame Women's Basketball (@ndwbb) February 23, 2025

1. Notre Dame’s Loss to NC State Really Might Be A Plus

 It’s a regular season college basketball game.

Notre Dame will still likely be the ACC regular season champion, and if it isn’t, so what? It’ll almost certainly be a No. 1 seed in the tournament, and now it’s battle-hardened.

The Irish hadn’t been stress-tested since November. It needed a game like this. It needed to be pushed for a full 40, and beyond. It needed to be shown why the bench must get more involved even this late in the year - at least when possible.

It took a brilliant day from NC State to pull this off, and even with its great performance, Notre Dame was 0.1 of a second away from almost certainly winning - a foul in the first overtime was way-to-close to ending it.

This was a fantastic game against a top 15-caliber team. Of course it would’ve been great to win. It didn’t happen, but this is the game that got the Irish ready for what’s coming.