PITTSBURGH — D.J. Burns Jr. knows he has a choice most nights. The North Carolina State forward can pout about the constant pushing and shoving he receives in the post — the cost of doing business when you’re 6-foot-9 and 275 pounds — or he can battle back.
Burns said there was a time earlier in his basketball career when, if the calls didn’t go his way, he would turn inward and focus on his disappointment.
Turns out taking the fight to the other team is way more fun.
The versatile big man with the decidedly under the rim game scored 24 points, including a go-ahead putback basket that ignited a 9-0 run in overtime, and the South Region’s 11th-seeded Wolfpack beat 14th-seeded Oakland 79-73 in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday night.
Burns pounded his chest as he left the floor after two-plus hours of tussling in the lane and good-natured jawing with Oakland supporters, one of the reasons he nodded when N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts likened his team’s victory to a boxing match.