Paul McNeil Jr. stays hot as NC State surges past Ole Miss

Paul McNeil Jr. scored most of his 19 points on six 3-point baskets and North Carolina State used a strong first half on the way to beating Ole Miss 76-62 in a neutral-site game Sunday afternoon at Greensboro, N.C.

Quadir Copeland provided 16 points, nine assists and seven rebounds for the Wolfpack. Tre Holloman, who made four shots from 3-point range, also scored 16 points and Ven-Allen Lubin finished with 15 points for NC State (9-4), which won its second game in a row.

Travis Perry poured in 21 points and Malik Dia racked up 18 points for Ole Miss (7-5), which had a two-game winning streak end. Perry accounted for five of the Rebels' eight 3-point baskets, but the team was 8-for-30 on 3-pointers (26.7%) and committed 15 turnovers. Ole Miss is 0-5 vs. major-conference teams this season.

McNeil, fresh off a career-high 47 points on Wednesday against Texas Southern, missed his first three 3-point attempts and then connected on four of the next five by the end of the first half. He ended up 6-for-12 on threes.

NC State put together a 15-2 run for a 40-17 lead, with McNeil connecting on four 3-pointers in a stretch of slightly more than 2 1/2 minutes.

It was an impressive victory despite NC State's Darrion Williams, the Preseason Player of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, going 0-for-8 from the field and finishing with one point.

Lubin had seven of NC State's first 11 points.

The Wolfpack built a double-figure lead less than 13 minutes into the game. After McNeil hit two 3-pointers in a 62-second span, the gap grew to 28-15.

By then, NC State had drained six 3s while the Rebels were 2-for-11 from beyond the arc.

The Wolfpack's 45-26 halftime lead came with 53.3% shooting from the field. Ole Miss was at 34.8% shooting at the break, hitting only 3 of 14 attempts from 3-point range.

--Field Level Media