Nothing meets your face so cleanly as the cold hard slap of necessity. NC State could not afford to lose at home to Boston College. And NC State didn’t lose to BC, but it took overtime. That’ll wake you up.
State took a nine-point lead into the break and extended that lead to double figures on several occasions over the first half of the final 20 minutes, but as it turned out, Boston College decided to try to win, too. And BC held a lead late in the second half, made the final minute dicey, and forced State to force overtime and also forced a rueful grin from all of us.