Pack Gets Lackluster Win (Updated 10 am)

06-07 Basketball General Sidney Lowe64

Well, the one benefit to staying inside wrapping Christmas presents was the opportunity to listen to the Pack’s 80-65 win over Mount St. Mary’s.

Hopefully, it was just an exam-related hangover, because the Pack was mostly sloppy and ineffective. State’s transition defense sucked, and the defensive rebounding (against an undersized and poor rebounding team) was even worse. After falling behind 20-6 early, the Mountaineers actually outplayed the Wolfpack for most of the rest of the game, getting as close as 3 before NC State pulled away late.

The always-analytical Section Six tells us that Saturday’s game was Bryan Neiman’s best statistical game of the season and Brandon Costner’s worst of the year.

Is there a pattern to the team’s performance as it relates to Gavin Grant’s workload? This is something I’ll be keeping an eye on. I’m not putting any stock in these numbers yet, because Gavin’s high workload games have come against the toughest part of the schedule, but here’s what we’ve got so far:

Grant %Poss Under 30.0: 4 games (Woff, Del St., Sav St., Mt. St. Mary’s)
Grant’s Average %Poss In These Games: 24.7
NCSU Average Offensive Efficiency In These Games: 118.5

Grant %Poss Over 30.0: 5 games (Valpo, G-W, Mich, UVA, WVU)
Grant’s Average %Poss In These Games: 32.5
NCSU Average Offensive Efficiency In These Games: 105.2

The N&O’s blog said:

Every N.C. State player — all six of them — scored at least 11 points in the Wolfpack’s 80-65 win over Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday afternoon. Courtney Fells led the Pack (7-2) with 16 points, including a critical 3-pointer when the Mountaineers (2-7) made it a three-point game early in the second half.

The Mount gave State trouble with a 2-3 zone and on the offensive glass. They finished with 20 offensive rebounds, compared to eight for State, and with an overall 39-34 rebounding margin.

The Pack made up for the boards discrepancy by shooting 56.3 from the floor (27 of 48) and by making 21 of 28 free throws, compared to seven attempts for Mount St. Mary’s.

Saturday marked the fourth straight game senior guard Engin Atsur missed with a hamstring injury. That’s why the Pack has had to go with just six players.

Even though State shot fine from the floor (on Saturday) without Engin Atsur, the Turk’s return and ability to shoot the three will play a major impact on the Wolfpack’s ability to combat zone defenses. The N&O also ran a very nice blog entry on the importance of Engin Atsur.

One silver lining – Sidney Lowe will have no problem getting his team’s attention heading into Wednesday night’s home tussle against #9 Alabama. Hope to see everyone there and hear you get loud.

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06-07 Basketball General Sidney Lowe

64 Responses to Pack Gets Lackluster Win (Updated 10 am)

  1. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 12/18/2006 at 12:49 PM #

    The RBC was a mistake from the days of V’s Centennial Center. It is nothing more than a cushy place for white hairs to enjoy the games. It can be a fun place but Reynolds should never of been replaced just so the well healed or heeled donors can sip brandy while watching a bball game. Any way that arguement was lost 15 years ago an nothing can be done about it now except to win a lot of games to get people interested in State basketball again. State has never had great turnout in November and December but Sendek along with the RBC made it much worse and Sid will have to work hard to change it.

    As far as the game Saturday, we won so why cry about not looking great? New coach/system and young players will be the reason for some bumps in the road this year. Better to get those out of the way when playing MSM instead of UNC.

  2. crackdog 12/18/2006 at 2:13 PM #

    I maintain that poor attendance in November/December can be improved by lowering the ticket price. Right now, it’s just not worth it to a lot of people. Downstairs may be “sold out” (I bet it’s not) and rife with no shows, but upstairs, even the cheap seats cost so much that big chunks are unsold. We can get into all the particulars of how to increase demand, but empty seats are an indication that supply is out of wack with demand.

  3. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 12/18/2006 at 2:27 PM #

    The 3rd level should never sell for more than $10 a seat and should probably go for 5 bucks for the early games. The seats suck for basketball though are fine for hockey.

    For the comment about attending Reynolds for 3 games in a week and your back hurting well you deserve that for sitting. Seats are mint for standing on.
    I don’t think anyone would disagree that Reynolds would of needed serious renovation with maybe the existing roof removed so some box seats and press seats could be added up top. Also replacing the wood seats that must of fit the tiny people that lived 50 years ago before McDonalds.

  4. Rick 12/18/2006 at 2:31 PM #

    “That is total BS, and a slap in the face to all the loyal Wolfpackers, who are not corporate types, who gave very generously to the Pride Campaign. ”

    I agree with Laddie.

    This guy would not attend whether it was in Reynolds or the RBC so why is he complaining? I guess he just wants to complain.

  5. ShootingGuard 12/18/2006 at 2:46 PM #

    “The RBC was a mistake from the days of V’s Centennial Center. It is nothing more than a cushy place for white hairs to enjoy the games. It can be a fun place but Reynolds should never of been replaced just so the well healed or heeled donors can sip brandy while watching a bball game.”

    Man, I hate to disagree with you because I loved Reynolds (except for the neck pain I had afterwards if I got bad seats), but the RBC CAN be much more than it has shown so far. That Maryland game in the first season of the RBC where Thornton dunked over Mardesich was as loud as any game I remember at Reynolds—and I saw a bunch—due to all of the hope everyone had for the program at that time. The mistake was not the arena, the mistake was allowing fans disenchantment with Sendek & Co. to continue for too long and foster a sense of annual disappointment at ever being a real contender again while continuing to schedule terrible pre-season “classics” and other terrible non-conference games that nobody—including the players sometimes—had any interest in…

    As the Hurricanes have shown, if you play GAMES OF SIGNIFICANCE and WIN them, the bandwagon will fill up and the building will go nuts (and you can’t just attribute that to alcohol as there are plenty of places you can drink in the RBC before, after, and, in some places, during the games—and there are plenty of drunk people in the RBC during basketball games as evidenced by all of the airplane bottles that somehow make it into the restrooms despite all of that “tight” security).

    Reynolds was a great venue, a great building, but what made it truly great were the coaches and the players that walked through the doors. Take Case & his boys, Sloan & his boys, and V & his boys out of the equation, and you have UHall or Littlejohn, nothing more and nothing less.

    If Sid can get the boys in, schedule some big games, and win some big games, the RBC will ROCK!! Rashad McCants and Jeremis Smith already think it is better than Cameron…

    Will the RBC rock like Reynolds?? Maybe, maybe not. That was a long time ago, and we were all younger then—and nostalgia has a way of amplifying our memories.

    As far as the money angle goes, that’s just life, and you have to live with it…That money allows you the ability to get Rick Barnes’ and Bill Cowher’s attentions, even if you strike out.

    Regardless of all of that, we need to get the players in, schedule some big games, get the fans to the games, and win some big games in front of those fans—and THEN we can debate Reynolds vs the RBC apples to apples, although, if we win enough big games, I doubt anyone will care that much about the debate anymore…

  6. Woof Wolf 12/18/2006 at 5:48 PM #

    http://www.newsobserver.com/734/story/522518.html

    This time the N & O was a lot more complimentary about our team than we were.

  7. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 12/18/2006 at 5:55 PM #

    Shooting:

    I stated in my comments above that RBC can be fun and if we win the place will fill up. I am a fan of Reynolds and always will be. I miss the days of my youth sitting in Reynolds with the haze from cigarette smoke hovering over the court. Seems to me like people used to smoke in their seats but it may of just been from people smoking out on the concorse. Have times changed or what?

    I’m sure there are many loyal fans that would rather see UNC in Carmichael than the god awful Dean E. Smith Student Activity Center and Duke fans that will never want the team to move from Cameron. With that said, State plays where they play so State must now make the best of the situation and work to improve the facility.

    You have many more ‘cheap seats’ than fans so the it would be wise to figure out how to get the seats filled. No money is made from an empty seat. Even a very reduced tix price for level 3 puts people in the seats that pay for parking and food. I’ve never understood why any venue management would ever allow an empty seat even if it means charging almost nothing for the seat. You can’t make any money if people are not there to spend.

  8. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 12/18/2006 at 6:00 PM #

    …Also, in regards to Reynolds- I think a school is for the students and you will notice in most all my post I an advocate for students more so than alumni and supporters. If those groups want to participate that is great but a school first funtion is to serve the students that are attending and when you take a historic on campus venue to build a luxury box off campus venue it may be great for the alumni and supporters but it comes at a cost to the students.

  9. BigRed 12/19/2006 at 9:17 AM #

    The problem with attendance at the MSM game wouldn’t appear to have anything to do with ticket price. The upper decks were much more full than the lower sections. And there was a pretty good student turnout for a post-exams date. The media reported a sellout, excepting the Toy Drive seats outstanding.

    The problem with this crowd was non-attendance by paid ticket holders, and worse, the failure to put those unused tickets in the hands of another fan. Its great that those lower deck tickets are sold. Financial support is important. That helps the program, but there’s also the matter of turning out to help the team. Or, if someone can’t attend, taking advantage of the opportunity to both help the team and do a good turn by a fellow fan.

  10. nycfan 12/19/2006 at 10:59 AM #

    I think the Smith Center needs a face lift (and is slowly getting one), but it is not quite the pit you guys seem to describe it as. The best thing about it is that the Dome has great sight lines. Fan participation has also improved tremendously (one of the things that Doherty accomplished) and I think it is a lot tougher venue than it had been, though that is ultimately a fx of the quality of team you put on the floor.

    That last point is important; I was at a sold out and rocking exhibition for this UNC team earlier this season b/c it was a weekend game coinciding with a football game and b/c fans were so excited about this team.

    I think some hard core State fans and observers like myself may have underestimated the uphill climb that Lowe has in front of him to rebuild the passion for basketball among the larger NCSU fan base. I was stunned at the poor turnout at his first game but have come to see that is not some anomaly of scheduling, it is a sign that the program has work to do to re-engage fans who gave up somewhere during the Sendek years. No doubt, the place will be packed and rocking for a few select games (UNC and Dook), but it will be interesting to see the turn-out and support for the Alabama game (esp. considering students will have just bolted for the Xmas break).

  11. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 12/19/2006 at 2:32 PM #

    “Fan participation has also improved tremendously one of the things that Doherty accomplished…”

    I think a snow storm should get most of that credit by getting more student seating near the court.

  12. nycfan 12/19/2006 at 3:14 PM #

    the snow storm game (along with Gary Williams’ incessant whining that he lost b/c of the students making noise) helped prove the point (together with the embarrassment of having 20-25% of the people and about 90% of the noise represented by State fans in that one home game against State during the 8-20 year), but Doherty pushed the student seating issue and openly and constantly pushed the fans to be more vocal and do more. Roy has continued that pressure (and chafed a few hides with the constant comments about how great KU crowds were).

  13. redfred2 12/20/2006 at 4:43 PM #

    “Pack Gets Lackluster Win (Updated 10 am)”

    A fifteen point win is “lackluster”? I am really having trouble with that perspective right now.

    #8 Witchita State- 74, Kennsaw State 65.

    The number (((8))) team in the country, gets a nine point win, over none other than (((Kennesaw State))). And yet a team, without enough players to even run a decent practice session, wins by 15, and the header reads lackluster.

    Way beyond me. ???

  14. redfred2 12/20/2006 at 4:54 PM #

    ^Sorry about that. I guess the numbers symbol in front that 8, blew that post totally out of proportion.

    HEY, I think I might get one of those symbols tattooed just below my beltline.

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