NC State 88 Wake Forest 74 (Updated 11:30am Sunday)

06-07 Basketball General129

Joel Coliseum was half empty Saturday afternoon when the chant came echoing out of the upper deck. At the free throw line with 1:46 to play, Wake Forest freshman L.D. Williams had to double-take to make sure he was still playing in the Demon Deacons’ home arena. “For as long as I’ve been a basketball player, never have I heard another team’s chant on my home court,” Williams said. “That just sent me over the edge.”

Sidney Lowe gets his first ACC win as the Wolfpack take down rival, Wake Forest!!

I don’t care how bad Wake is this season – this win means a lot. In the history of NC State Basketball, ONLY Les Robinson and Herb Sendek had losing records against Wake Forest. It is imperative that NC State exercises its dominance over the Demon Deacons again. So on Saturday – despite Skip Prosser’s FIVE YEAR head start on Sidney Lowe – the Pack’s new coach starts on the right foot in this important intra-state rivalry.

* Take a quick look at some of these statistics about the history of sweeps in this series and note the discrepency in the long term history of the rivalry compared to the recent performance of the last 16 years.

On Saturday the Wolfpack didn’t waste another great shooting night by playing good defense and improving our performance on the boards. The Pack shot a blistering 60% from the floor, 45% from three point territory and 79% from the free throw line!! Unreal shooting and kudos should go out to most of the usual suspects with extra credit to Dennis Horner!

Boxscore | S6’s Analysis < = is always super!

Great comments in our comments section of the blog. Thanks to all! I thought that we would elevat the following:

I was thrilled to see Sidney go to the bench so much. Stealing minutes as I call it. We created so much offense with the 1-3-1 that it really took some pressure off of our half court game. Lengthening the bench sends a message to our guys to play hard, because you can take a seat for a while to catch your breath. The effort on our part was so much better today. We can be competitive when we work like this, although I don’t expect Mr. Fells to shoot like that every game. Dennis Horner is going to be a nice player. I don’t think a superstar, but a nice solid player for us.

I even got my wish for the new year that I posted earlier – 5 scrubs on the floor for the conclusion of an ACC road victory. Sidney Lowe – I think this guy can coach.

Some more Sunday morning comments:

* I don’t care how

* You can click here for some video highlights from WRAL-TV that includes Brandon Costner’s dunk. Surely someone will get this and Courtney Fells’ slam on YouTube in the coming days!

* Don’t ignore this entry on Sidney Lowe’s inclusion of David Thompson yesterday.

* Don’t miss GoPack’s hard work and great coverage. (Link here)

Some of our ‘live blog’ comments from the first 10 minutes of the game follow. We LOVE THE recognition of State’s recent inability / unwillingness to draw charges right before the Pack turned it around and had its best defensive half of the year in drawing at least three or four charges in the second half!

Additionally, the Trevor Ferguson comments foretold the playing time that Darrell Davis inherited as the game evolved. I think Coach Lowe may have altered his strategy for the rest of the year as the lack of offensive firepower that Davis, Neiman and Ferguson provide is outweighed by the other positive impacts of their presence on the court.

1st Half comments —

Not an all out liveblog. Just some comments during the game.

* Watching us just dribble can be awfully painful. Grant and Fells are just scary with their dribbles and the lack of fundamentals of some of their initial passes.

* When was the last time NC State took a charge? I just watched Gavin Grant literally RUN away from the opportunity to stop penetration and help Dennis Horner by taking a charge. The result? Two free points for the Deacs. You won’t see that in the boxscore.

* Nice to see Fells shooting so well and asserting himself offensively. Four three pointers in the first 16 minutes of the game. Wow! A shooting guard that can shoot (and slash the way that Fells can slash) will do wonders to free up everyone else on the court.

* Nice to see Grant slashing a little more and generally making better decisions than in recent games.

* Wake has generally worked hard to keep Costner somewhat quiet. Nice to see everyone else stepping up.

* Give State credit for significant improvement on our defensive boards.

* Ben McCauley hasn’t been as active as State needs; but the Pack has been able to build an 11 point lead with four minutes to play in the first half. This is good news. We have to hope that the Pack doesn’t completely forget Ben in the second half when/if Wake starts to make runs. Sure points (let’s call them “highly efficient offensive possessions”) that arise from getting the ball in McCauley’s hands will be key to the Pack maintaining the lead.

* Trevor Ferguson will not get many minutes if he doesn’t do more with them.

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06-07 Basketball General

129 Responses to NC State 88 Wake Forest 74 (Updated 11:30am Sunday)

  1. Gene 01/13/2007 at 2:19 PM #

    When’s the last time an opposing team’s fans starting leaving early because we were beating them??

    Watched the BC game at Bro. J’s and no one left early, neither NCSU fans nor BC fans.

    Never seen fans leave early, when watching it at a watering hole.

  2. BJD95 01/13/2007 at 2:24 PM #

    We jumped from 12th to 8th in ACC standings!

  3. branjawn 01/13/2007 at 2:27 PM #

    I meant at the basketball coliseum. About 3 minutes left in the game, the WF announcers (that’s what I got today on XM) said that the fans has started to file out of the arena. I think that’s a good sign for us.

  4. PurplePeopleEaters 01/13/2007 at 2:27 PM #

    Wow, what a win. Wake forest may be horrible but Sid sure shook up the lineup. Our defense was astounding and Fells was just.. wow. Where was this fells and grant 2.0 combo all year? We really needed it.

    horner is awesome. His defensive intensity is great and he really screws up the PG’s trying to match up on him with his height advantage.

    Davis and Nieman did a good job filling in. Ferguson sucks.

    Hopefully Atsur can come back for the duke game after the week off. I feel really confident about us taking it to duke this year.

  5. dawgitall 01/13/2007 at 2:28 PM #

    great win! Maybe this will be the start of good things for Fells. Let’s remember that Ferg has only played what 5 or 6 games here. Give him a chance to develop and build some confidence. Folks were giving Fells so much grief here the last few days you would have thought that he was a scrub. What will be said about him in the next few days? Ferg might come out in one of these next few games and hit a few jumpers, pick up a steal or two, give out a handful of assists he’s just a kid out there trying to contribute.

  6. tvp 01/13/2007 at 2:31 PM #

    There’s actually a really succinct, insightful comment on the PP free board, that I’ll repeat here:

    “It’s a small thing, but I love how Lowe doesn’t wait until a team runs off 10 point unanswered to call a timeout.”

    A-freaking-men. If there is a 4-0 run brought on by a few sloppy plays, Sid is immediately on it.

  7. dj9686 01/13/2007 at 2:34 PM #

    Seems like the team was reading the blogs this week or listening to the talk radio shows… I read several times and agreed with how the Pack was playing lazy on D and not agressive on getting out on the 3-point shooters are any shooter at all for that matter. Today they were out there almost every time except for the end of the game. I think there were some comments as well about Courtney Fells enjoying his playing time this year because he wouldn’t get any next with the players coming in. Pretty coincidental that he comes in and plays his most complete game of the year–although, he still takes some misadvised shots. Thought we could have taken a little more time off the clock at the end before we shot, but you know… last year we run the clock down to nothing and get no shot off. In this game State scored almost every time it needed to do so. Then there was something I think I heard on 850 the Buzz, maybe I read it here, but it was about Sidney Lowe going to his bench and playing some of the football players. That made me kind of chuckle because I knew he wouldn’t do it, but he did. He got a lot of good minutes out of Nieman, Davis, Ferguson (still needs to do something offensively) and the second football player No. 45. I think Sidney needs to use the same kind of bench rotation against Duke. I believe the Wolfpack has the quickness edge, easily, on the Blue Devils, but having fresh legs would certainly make a difference in the second half. And you know Duke will get the favorable foul calling.

  8. VaWolf82 01/13/2007 at 2:48 PM #

    There’s nothing like watching a WF game to really see what bad defense looks like. How many teams trying to press will let Costner go one-on-one against another forward?

    It’s get to get an ACC win and out of the cellar.

  9. legacyman 01/13/2007 at 3:04 PM #

    If a team plays us man-to-man and we spread the half court then Costner will get to drive on anyone who guards him.

  10. vtpackfan 01/13/2007 at 3:18 PM #

    Brian Nieman took some charges and had some long rebounds carem off the rim into his hands. He did exactly what was aked of him. Meanwhile Ferg is helping bring the ball up and set up the offense. There is a BIG difference. That pass Ferg lobbed to Nieman was deflected because Nieman stood there like a statue and waitin for the soft pass to land in his lap. Ferg gets sat on the bech for it but I think he knowns he is supposed to do a better job. Nieman doesn’t have the same role so stop comparing his performance to the others, please.

    Sid going to his bench early signaled to Prosser that just running out waves of Deac’s wouldn’t be enough. It was a calculated risk, that really worked out in States favor. The real story was the offensive effeiciency of the starting five, and the more inspired play on D, especially by Horner. Great W, congrats Coach Lowe on your first ACC victory.

  11. wufpaxno1 01/13/2007 at 3:19 PM #

    Bran, Atsur is not eligible for a red shirt, this is his last hurrah.

  12. dj9686 01/13/2007 at 3:21 PM #

    Hey, even in past years when WFU has been ranked highly (usually overrated), they have played no defense. And Leslie Visser, or whatever her name is, has never really been that good at Wake. I couldn’t even see where he got the boo boo on his shoulder that he made such a big deal about near the end of the game. Must have been some kind of hidden blow or something. Wait, Chris Paul is in the NBA and would have been on Visser’s team. Sorry, that was bad.

    And man, was they drive and dunk by Costner something! Hope we keep him at least two more years. Of course I think the players may see Sid as more of a developmental coach than Sendek ever was–his players were usually–except for physically maturing–as good as they were going to get when under him. Speaking of which, anyone catch that N&O blurb about him and his team playing in the “Sleep Easy” tournament or whatever it was called. Pretty funny…

    Just got through watching the OSU-TN game, which was pretty good, and if Oden was from the Dominican Republic and playing MLB, I’d have to say they fudged his birth certificate by about 13 years or so. In the face he somewhat resembles Bill Russell, with the Celtics, without the gray.

  13. BJD95 01/13/2007 at 3:23 PM #

    Nieman is always in the right place. I disagree about Ferguson’s pass. It was a candy-assed lob to a player not in good position to catch the ball. He should have called a time out instead.

  14. Wulfpack 01/13/2007 at 3:25 PM #

    Just what the Dr. ordered! Let’s roll!

  15. dj9686 01/13/2007 at 3:28 PM #

    Oh yeah, so where is Lewendowski? I am pretty sure he wasn’t even on the bench. He usually towers over the rest of the team in the huddle.

  16. PapaJohn 01/13/2007 at 3:33 PM #

    1. Congratulations on your first ACC win Sid.
    2. Congratulations on your first ACC road win Sid.
    3. I love the fact that our coach keeps on experimenting with positions, lineups, and in-game strategies – we got a good one!
    4. First we had to be any ACC team. Now, let’s beat a good team!
    GO PACK!

  17. dj9686 01/13/2007 at 3:34 PM #

    Hmmmm… was looking at Gopack.com for info on the 7 footer from Poland and happened to notice their article on the WFU win included a photo of the bench supposedly cheering during the game. Did they not think we would notice that they were all wearing white home jerseys? Geez, at least use a fradulent photo from an away game!

  18. Jeremy Hyatt 01/13/2007 at 3:37 PM #

    nice pickup dj9686

  19. cpwolfpackfan 01/13/2007 at 3:38 PM #

    Saturdays game with duke should be a good one. They are still duke, and have good players, but we match up very good with them. There gaurds are slow as shit. McRobbets is really there only down low threat. We should have the advantage with our athletes. If we don’t turn the ball over and shoot decent we will get us a win. THis is not the duke of old. And it can’t hurt that we get a week off. Lets get a big W.

    gopack

  20. dj9686 01/13/2007 at 3:42 PM #

    Thanks JH, Lewendowski, and I know I’m mispelling his name, more than likely, was in that photo. But who knows what game that really was from?

    CPWolf, I think you are right, we do have a shot against the Blue Devils. I just wish, they weren’t coming off two straight losses. Of course, they probably have a game between now and next Saturday?

  21. Sw0rdf1sh 01/13/2007 at 3:43 PM #

    Costner looked great handling the ball for a big man and Ferguson seems like he is trying to get his confidence.

    Grant did make better decisions and Neiman really proves to be worth minutes.

    What about Horner! The 3 point/Mr consistent award.

  22. dj9686 01/13/2007 at 3:43 PM #

    Hey JH, why did you choose Jeremy Hyatt as your screen name? I always thought he was a good scrappy player. Got stuck on some not so good teams though.

  23. dj9686 01/13/2007 at 3:47 PM #

    You’re right Swordfish! Costner can handle the ball. Just doesn’t need to telegraph that drive to the basket from half-court after today. Man, that was a nice slam. And Horner today really did show he is getting his confidence. I think one of the most telling plays was when he tried to take the ball to the basket in the second half and was PO-ed at himself that he got it stripped. A year in the weightroom for him will make a world of difference. I agree with some of the other posters who commented on Werner at Florida and maybe even Davis who decided Sidney wasn’t for them. They might be kicking themselves now. Course their scholarships are going to much better players now.

  24. tractor57 01/13/2007 at 4:04 PM #

    Obviously there are still areas when this team is weak but they really showed out today. At least they aren’t doormats and I like the way Lowe steps in when there is a run by the opposition. A really good day! I really liked seeing the fire.

  25. xphoenix87 01/13/2007 at 4:08 PM #

    just one thing to point out, despite their solid offensive numbers, Grant and Fells had 7 and 6 turnovers respectively. That’s against a bad WF team. Definitely lots of positives from this win, but we definitely need Atsur back if we want to pull off some upsets.

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