DENTON, Texas — N.C. State is moving on in the NIT.

The Wolfpack defeated Davidson 75-61 on Thursday night, earning a date with either Colorado State or Buffalo next Thursday. The Rams and Bulls are set to meet Friday night.

“I thought we were great,” State fourth-year head coach Kevin Keatts said. “Our ball pressure was good. We moved the ball. We executed the game plan better than we have all year.”

The Wolfpack of the ACC and Wildcats of the Atlantic-10, separated by about 150 miles of interstate, went roughly 1,100 miles away from Charlotte to play in the COVID-19 bubble atmosphere set up by the NIT.

D.J. Funderburk led State (14-10) with 21 points, hitting 8 of 10 from the floor. He also had seven rebounds. Manny Bates had eight boards, and hit all seven shots tossing in 14 points.

Keatts’ squad, an NIT quarterfinalist in 2019, only had nine turnovers and shot a sizzling 58.8 percent from the field. Seven 3-pointers included two each by Jericole Hellems and Cam Hayes, and a 5-for-10 effort after intermission. Hellems scored 13 points.

State’s starting five of Hayes, Funderburk, Hellems, Bates and Braxton Beverly all played at least 31 minutes. The Pack got 12 points and three rebounds from its bench.

“We had our work cut out for us right from the start,” Davidson head coach Bob McKillop said. “They shot the ball exceptionally well.”

Davidson (13-8) had four players in double figures. Luka Brajkovic scored 15, Hyunjung Lee 13, Kellan Grady 12 and Michael Jones 11. Grady crossed the 2,000-point mark for his career during the game.

State led 40-32 at the break and held its largest lead, 65-44, with 8:54 to go. Davidson trailed throughout and had just one tie at 2, though the Wildcats did get within four early in the second half.

Funderburk said the Wolfpack has tried to play inside-out since Devon Daniels was lost for the season. They won five in a row before falling to Syracuse in their first ACC Tournament game last week.

“Those five games we won, the one we lost, that wasn’t like us,” Funderburk said. “We wanted to get back to that level of play.

“It’s always good to get a win.”

Keatts and his players said the movement of the Wildcats made for a tough team to defend.

“We played a very good Davidson team,” Keatts said. “A lot of folks we talked to thought they should have won the A-10. We played good, and we had to play good to beat them.”