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Steve Victory JOURNAL – Early season 2025-26
As predicted, the Wolfpack does go 2-1 in Hawaii. The Pack beats unranked Lamar 79-66 and fifth-ranked LSU 79-70 before falling to second-ranked Memphis 67-58. At least Memphis is a decent team (note – the Tigers go on to win 31 games…)
State players take the loss in stride even though that ends their quest for an undefeated season. “That’s a pretty outrageous proposition anyway,” Victory says of the perfect season. “We’ll get back to my first goal, which is to try and win another NCT title.”
The Pack does look ready to do that, winning the next TWENTY ONE (21) games in a row – Victory’s best winning streak ever. From Nov. 20 to Jan. 30, State is untouchable. Here is the list of victims. Some pretty impressive scores in here:
THE STREAK:
1) @Texas Southern W (90-56)
2) Marshall W (91-51)
3) At #19 Alabama W (73-69) – a great game!
4) Oregon W (82-74)
5) @ Cal W (68-66) – whew!
6) #7 LSU W (79-68) – rematch from Hawaii
7) St. Peters W (82-63)
8) Nicholls State W (104-40) – Stokes, Zupic announce they are going pro early after this massacre…
9) @ Wisconsin-Green Bay W (82-57)
10) @ Ohio State W (82-70)
11) @ Oklahoma State W (91-55)
12) CS Sacramento W (88-56)
13) Florida State W (96-61) – nice start to ACC season
14) #6 Wake Forest W (98-64) – wow!!!
15) Georgia Tech W (76-43)
16) @ North Carolina W (81-57) – Tar Heels have gone way down
17) @ Clemson W (87-53) – so have Tigers; Stokes scores 30
18) #1 Duke W (78-41) – holy cow!! The Devils are unmasked
19) @ Virginia W (91-63) – Andre Baker 29 points
20) @ Maryland W (77-67) – Zupic is player of the week
21) Virginia W (79-68)
Some notables during the streak:
• Freshman reserve PG Roy Wrenn steps in nicely when 2025 Final Four MVP Andre Baker tweaks his knee early in the season (out 1 month). Wrenn scores 24 as NCSU beats Barkley’s ‘Bama boys.
• State rallies from a 44-27 deficit to win at Cal by 2!
• Jalen Hemphill leads in scoring many nights, averaging about 15 ppg
• Toni Zupic scores 26 and has 15 rebounds in rout of Wake Forest. Baker, back from injury, adds 25. Hemphill and Bailey get 14 points each.
• State moves into the top 5 in the rankings as the wins mount. By the time the ACC season starts, Duke is #1, Mississippi State #2 and the Pack #3. State takes over at #1 with the drubbing of Duke. Even Coach Victory was in shock over that one. The day after Christmas. A 40-20 halftime lead. A 13-for-63 performance by Duke’s shooters. An impromptu party by State fans on Hillsborough Street afterward....
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