It capped off what had been a disappointing stretch, in which a promising 5-1 start in conference play ended with losses in 10 of their final 14 games. The final losing streak dropped NC State to 10th in the ACC standings, meaning they'd need to play in the opening round of the conference tournament and do something no ACC team had done before: win five games in five days.
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"It's great to dream about it, even in the moment as it goes along. When we beat Syracuse (in the second round) as handily as we did, that was a little surprising," said Bob Fuhrman, a Pennsylvania native who graduated from NC State in 1978. "And then we're playing Duke and it's close and we pull out to a little lead and I'm thinking, 'Whoa, it looks like we're going to win.' And then we pull the little thing that, you know, is what they call 'NC State' stuff.' And it's like, Oh God, here we go. But we held on to that one. The next night, when O'Connell made that shot, I have not jumped out of a chair like that in at least 20 years. And then the Carolina game, we came out flying. I was amazed and the longer it went on, it was like, 'Wow, we might really do this.' And then it happened and it's like, 'Oh, this is unbelievable.'"
Fuhrman stopped by PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday afternoon, where he picked up an NC State NCAA tournament shirt. He'll be in attendance Thursday night, one of several local Wolfpack alums grateful for the team's trek back to Western Pennsylvania.
"I was shocked. I was actually looking at my phone the whole time," said David Jolly, who lives in Pittsburgh and graduated from NC State last May. "I saw some projections saying we would come to Pittsburgh, but I was like, 'There's just no way that everything aligns for me to have a great opportunity to come here.' It was about 6:30 (Sunday night) when I saw the news, and I was shaking. I was sweating, texting all my buddies, like 'Who's coming to Pittsburgh?' I have a buddy from Cleveland who went to NC State. He's coming down on Thursday, another buddy flying in. He's staying at my place Thursday night after we win. So it's just great."
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Julie Murphy and Jeanne Vuchenich lead the local NC State alumni chapter and organized a watch party for Thursday night's game.
"Pittsburgh and NC State have a lot in common. They share a foundation of grit, determination and just hard work, so it's a marriage made in heaven," said Murphy.
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Vuchenich added: "I'm from North Carolina born and raised like, it just makes me feel closer to home and now this is my home. So everybody's excited."
Vuchenich said NC State's visibility in the area increased markedly after Pitt joined the ACC in 2011, with the Wolfpack making numerous trips each year across several sports to the Steel City.
"We would go to bars thinking that our game would be on, and we'd sit and watch them on our phone around a table. There'd be 20 of us watching our phones because they wouldn't have live coverage here. So we've come a long way," Vuchenich said.
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Saturday's win marked NC State's first ACC Championship in 37 years and evoked memories of the famed 1983 national champion team, led by legendary coach Jim Valvano.
"There have been some big wins in those 37 years, but I don't know if anybody's ever going to jump out like that one," said Fuhrman.
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"You never give up. Never give up. I mean, that is the mantra. And there's just a grit and determination to this team like we saw back in '83. And I think the why not us," said Murphy.
"I was pacing back and forth (during the game vs. Virginia) right when the 3-point buzzer-beater happened. I was like, 'yeah, there's there's something different now. We're going all the way,'" added Jolly.
For Fuhrman, the winning streak, immediately following a rough stretch, presents the perfect juxtaposition of fanhood.
"There are two of my favorite emotions in life, joyous and passionate, and that joy is I'm not going to say it's incomparable, but it's its own special kind of joy," he said. "That passion is always there. You know, any of the people that you meet here, there's going to be that passion. Obviously, it's going to be there, but it's going to be there next year, too when State comes to play again, when we were here last weekend, and things were looking bleak in general, but the passion (was) still there and it's always going to be."