TRI-PARTISAN: Devon Daniels May Have Saved NC State's Season

Each week I submit a Tri-Partisan column to WRALSportsFan.com, and here is this week's feature where I take a look at how sophomore guard Devon Daniels came up big in the Wolfpack's win over Boston College.

This was supposed to be the “light” part of NC State's basketball schedule with four of the final five games coming against the bottom tier teams in the ACC, including three at home. This was when NC State would be making a move up the standings.

However, Boston College didn't get the memo and battled all night before falling 89-80 in overtime in PNC Arena.

A loss Wednesday night would have been disastrous for NC State. The Wolfpack would have slipped to two games under .500 while adding a bad, bad home loss to a NCAA Tournament resume which isn't littered with big-time wins. State has managed to keep the bad losses to a minimum (really just one, at Wake Forest), but this one would have definitely fallen into that category.

At least at Wake Forest NC State didn't have Markell Johnson. He played 30 minutes against Boston College, but he wasn't the difference. The player that came up huge for the Pack was sophomore guard Devon Daniels.

A starter at the beginning of the season, Daniels has mainly served as a reserve in ACC play. He has struggled with his three-point shot all season while also fighting turnover issues, but Daniels has consistently done two things at a high level: defend and rebound.

On Wednesday he seemed to take defending Boston College All-ACC point guard Ky Bowman personal. A dynamic athlete capable of scoring on all three levels, Bowman is the top assignment defensively for every Eagle opponent.

Daniels more than accepted that challenge.

He helped limit Bowman to 16 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the field. It was Bowman who sparked the Eagles in the second half during a period when Daniels was on the bench, hitting back-to-back three-pointers to give his team a one-point lead with 7:15 remaining.

Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts inserted Daniels back into the lineup at the next timeout, and he served as the primary defender of Bowman the rest of the game. Bowman went scoreless over the final seven minutes of regulation and all of overtime. It was Daniels who grabbed a steal and converted a layup with 1:10 remaining to give the Pack a 1-point lead. It was Daniels who forced Bowman to take a tough, contested three-pointer at the end of regulation.  It was Daniels who limited Bowman to just one shot attempt in overtime, a contested layup that wouldn't fall.  READ FULL STORY HERE: LINK