DALLAS — Everything's bigger when it comes to March Madness, so the NC State basketball team has decided to minimize at least one aspect of the overall experience.

Shutting down the 3-point line is a difficult task, especially for a team that struggled in that category much of the year. Entering the postseason, with their NCAA Tournament dreams hinging on an ACC Tournament title, opponents were shooting 35% from 3 against the Wolfpack, which ranks about 267th out of 351 qualifying teams, per the NCAA's official stats.

Since the postseason began, NC State has made tremendous strides in that regard, and it became even more apparent in Friday's 67-58 Sweet 16 win over Marquette that it's not a fluke.

"I thought when we defended the 3-point line," NC State coach Kevin Keatts said, "that made a huge difference."

ABOUT THE GAME: NC State basketball holds off Marquette to advance to Elite Eight of NCAA Tournament

Marquette shot its worst 3-point percentage of the season (12.9%) and had tied its fewest made 3s (four) on the year on Friday. Many of Marquette's misses were open, though it's also not a coincidence the Golden Eagles were ice cold. It's part of the Wolfpack's March Madness DNA.

"We just wanted to kind of shrink the floor," Jayden Taylor said, "and close out to shooters and run them off the line and see if they can get to the next level of our defense. That was a big emphasis for us, eliminate 3s."

Friday's poor shooting from Marquette follows the recent trend of opponents having their worst shooting nights in quite a while against the Wolfpack. Here are some of the recent outside shooting exploits of teams during NC State's eight-game postseason winning streak.

• Marquette, NCAA Tournament Sweet 16: 4-of-31 for 12.9%; the worst percentage and fewest made 3s for the Golden Eagles all season.

• Texas Tech, NCAA Tournament first round: 7-of-31 for 22.6%: the worst shooting percentage for the team since Nov. 16 against Texas A&M Corpus-Christi.

• North Carolina, ACC Tournament championship game: 8-of-30 for 26.7%; the Tar Heels' second-worst outside shooting night of the season and worst percentage since Dec. 2 against Florida State.

• Duke, ACC Tournament quarterfinals: 5-of-20 for 25%; tied for the Blue Devils' worst night from 3 and the worst showing from distance since Feb. 7 against Notre Dame.

During the team's eight-game winning streak, opponents are shooting just 28% from 3 against NC State. Much like the rest of the Wolfpack's run, players don't attribute this increased success to anything other than sticking to what they've done all year, just amplifying it.

"I think we're just executing the gameplan a little better," NC State guard Michael O'Connell said. "I think guys are really locked into what the coaches are telling us to do in the scouting report, how we want to approach the different players. Obviously they're phenomenal players, but for us to try to limit what they can do well is gonna be big for us down the stretch in these games."

SUPER SWEET 16: NC State women's basketball completes comeback vs. Stanford, advances to Elite Eight

The team is also trying not to make too big of a deal out of making its first Elite Eight since 1986. As always, it's taking things one game at a time.

"... we don't have to take about that history now because we celebrate it the entire time," Keatts said. "It's been talked about since I've been here, and it's going to be talked about as long as we ever are going to remember."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: NC State basketball's key defensive stat extends NCAA Tournament run