Raleigh, N.C. — Julius Hodge jokingly compared himself to Terrell Owens and then declared he should be the Heisman Trophy winner of college basketball.
Just being himself was good enough.
Hodge had 22 points to offset some horrible shooting by his teammates, leading No. 16 North Carolina State to a 60-53 victory over Purdue on Monday night in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Playing in his 100th career game, Hodge added eight rebounds and five assists, while Ilian Evtimov scored 12 points and Cameron Bennerman had 11 for N.C. State.
"Just missing shots," was how Hodge explained the poor performance. "That's going to happen. I'm going to keep going to my guys, though."
That he did. Praised by his coaches for his unselfishness after the Wolfpack cruised through to the title in the BCA Invitational to start the season, Hodge kept sharing the ball while the rest of the team struggled.
Then, when Purdue did get close, he took it upon himself to score.
"He's a big-time player," Boilermakers guard Brandon McKnight said. "He might be national player of the year. Whenever they needed a big basket or anything, it seemed like he came through for them."
The Wolfpack (5-0) won their first four games by an average of 37 points but never could pull away from the Boilermakers (1-3), who are off to their worst start since 1962-63 in coach Gene Keady's farewell season.
Purdue's David Teague (2) shoots over N.C. State's Jordan Collins. The Wolfpack won, 60-53, Monday in Raleigh, N.C.
Carl Landry led Purdue with 18 points, and McKnight added 14.
"We're not going to throw in the towel, I don't care if we get to 1-13," McKnight said.
Through four games against mostly undermanned opponents, the Wolfpack shot 58 percent from the field, and only Bennerman (48 percent) made less than half his shots. They were nearly as effective from beyond the three-point arc, making 47 percent during that span.
Nothing was that easy against Purdue. N.C. State missed its first eight threes and shot 33 percent in each half, including Hodge's 8-for-15.
"I think we used up all of our made shots in the first four games," Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said. "We didn't have any left."
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