N&O Michigan State Article

“They did exactly what we thought they would do,” NCSU coach Sidney Lowe said. “They were very active and aggressive and they ran the floor well on us.

“We ran into a team that was clicking. I don’t think we had the energy to match it. They won the hustle war. They won the physical war.”

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07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball

56 Responses to N&O Michigan State Article

  1. highonlowe 11/29/2007 at 11:09 AM #

    We looked like the French in this war.

  2. MadWolf92 11/29/2007 at 11:18 AM #

    Sidney Lowe channeling Dennis Green??

  3. #44 17 24 11/29/2007 at 11:26 AM #

    Cant be channeling Dennis Green. We never let them off the hook, because we never had them on it. Infact there was no hook. Only a beat-down.

  4. FullMoonRising 11/29/2007 at 11:27 AM #

    All I am saying is that maybe there was something special in that 40 or so pounds that Lowe lost during the off season.

    I have faith that at some point these guys are going to start to gel as a team. Right now, they are making my life at work very difficult.

  5. RAWFS 11/29/2007 at 11:42 AM #

    I’m going to try to take the positive approach and hope that this complete beatdown gives some humility to a team desperately in need of it.

  6. cornellpackfan 11/29/2007 at 11:43 AM #

    that game can only be termed a “hustle” or “physical” war if we come close to matching their intensity, or even trying to. a “war” involves fighting on both sides, we didn’t fight at all, we simply laid our arms down and were violated

  7. roandaddy 11/29/2007 at 11:53 AM #

    Good news.. we helped Dave Odom in his quest to get back to the NIT.. bad news.. we may see him there if we keep playing like this.

  8. LRM 11/29/2007 at 11:59 AM #

    ideally, there’s no possible way we’re actually as bad as we played last night.

    in reality, it’s very possible that we indeed are.

  9. wallacepark 11/29/2007 at 12:53 PM #

    Our forwards scored 47 points last night but we only got 11 points from our guards (Degand got all of them 11 of those points on 4/5 shooting, 3/4 being from three). Fells did not score, Havi did not score, Ferguson got less than a minute of playing time and didn’t score. Let’s face it, this team is one dimensional and will struggle this season until our guard play and consistency improves. Hopefully Marques Johnson will help with that since he is supposed to be a good shooter and is the highest ranked guard on the team next to Fells.

  10. highonlowe 11/29/2007 at 1:02 PM #

    Guard play is not why we lost last night. We lost b/c didn’t get a rebound unless it conveniently fell into our hands.
    I agree with 850’s opinion:
    Speaking of rebounding, it was MIA for NC State against Michigan State as the Spartans destroyed the Wolfpack 81-58. Bringing up 4 games in 7 days doesn’t fly, given that this team (with less players) finished last year on a roll with a similar grind of games. After the first 10 minutes of the game, NC State was simply done for the night. The defensive effort was slow to get back, the rebounding was lopsided in Michigan State’s favor with a 42-31 advantage, and the Spartans held a 24-10 margin on second chance points. Tom Izzo’s gameplan was pretty easy to figure out, and very effective, crowding the paint and collapsing around JJ Hickson or anyone else that dared. Although Hickson eventually finished with a double-double, the Wolfpack were never comfortable, and resorted to poor outside shots.

    Poor outside shots that went 5-21 in the first half.

  11. tooyoungtoremember 11/29/2007 at 1:10 PM #

    Come on guys. The sky was still there this morning when I walked out of the house. It’s not the end of the world. It’s the end of NOVEMBER!!! MSU will probably run away with the Big 10 this year. We only lost the second half by one point. We have the talent. We have the coaching. Have faith in Sid that he will get this team to where it needs to go. There will be plenty of opportunities for the team to prove themselves against top flight competition this year. Let’s hope they learn from their mistakes and move on to the next game.

  12. JimValvano 11/29/2007 at 1:15 PM #

    tooyoungtoremember must have already forgotten about Indiana.

    I doubt MSU runs away from them in the Big10

  13. Rick 11/29/2007 at 1:19 PM #

    “Let’s face it, this team is one dimensional and will struggle this season until our guard play and consistency improves. ”

    HMMMMM
    Where have I heard that before?

  14. McPete 11/29/2007 at 1:26 PM #

    “We only lost the second half by one point”

    yeah, and we tied the overtime period.

    “The sky was still there this morning when I walked out of the house”

    and it was still friggin’ blue.

  15. jbpackfan 11/29/2007 at 1:27 PM #

    Degand has done a good job- he doesn’t turn the ball over. We need a shooter, but the real problem is Costner, McCauley and Grant are not producing. And Costner plays absolutely no defense. My favorite play last night was the MSU fast break where Costner was ahead of the MSU player, then stopped and watched him shoot a layup. No effort from most of the players last night, except for Hickson, Horner and Degand (though I think Degand should pressure the ball more). We are making it too difficult to score, and not creating any transition points. The guys seem to be struggling to run the offense for whatever reason, and there is very little movement or flow to it. I hope they can figure it out soon or we will be in for a long season.

  16. packgrad93 11/29/2007 at 1:36 PM #

    will someone please teach JJ how to pass out of a double team.

  17. BladenWolf 11/29/2007 at 1:50 PM #

    With the low energy level, complete lack of hustle, and no defensive effort at all from our power guys (especially Costner), I couldn’t watch the game in it’s entirety without becoming nauseated. We couldn’t have beaten a good high school team last night.
    And I don’t buy the “fatigue factor”. That’s BS.
    Whoever has been whispering NBA non-sense to Costner needs to be shot, because he’s already acting like he’s just waiting on the end of the season to inform everyone he’s going pro. He sure is playing like it (read – no defense).
    Either that or he’s miffed that Hickson is getting as much “pro-press” as he does. So whether it’s ego or envy – it needs to be checked big time.
    I did like Horner’s effort but he was the exception last night and not the rule.
    I know it’s early, but Coach Lowe needs to have a “Come-to-Jesus” meeting with the boys about their lack of intensity last night and clearly define some roles and expectations before this turns really sour.
    BTW – I agree that Michigan State “was clicking” last night, but they are not the best team in the Big 10…that would be Indiana. We also will have much stronger competition up ahead when we start ACC play with the smurfs at Chapel Hole.
    So let’s right the ship now before we go into much deeper water.

  18. BoKnowsNCS71 11/29/2007 at 1:56 PM #

    “They were exactly who we thought they were.” But we didn’t “let them off the hook”

  19. BJD95 11/29/2007 at 2:00 PM #

    Rick was spot-on in his post earlier this week. When Fells is MIA, the offense reeks. Nobody can really replace his output.

  20. packof81 11/29/2007 at 2:10 PM #

    There are definitely some attitudes out of adjustment. Sidney Lowe will read them the riot act.

  21. zahadum 11/29/2007 at 2:34 PM #

    One thing that really struck me last night was Sid’s overall demeanor. He certainly wasn’t smiling, but he also didn’t seem that upset. I know everyone’s got their own style, but if there was ever a good time to go Bob Knight on your team, last night was it. I don’t recall seeing him chew anyone out all game.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Sid enjoyed watching that anymore than we did. I’m saying that given his reaction, I have to conclude that the results weren’t really much of a surprise to him.

  22. BladenWolf 11/29/2007 at 3:01 PM #

    Zahadum-
    Good point. I also thought it curious that Lowe showed little animation last night. Just seemed resigned to the conclusion. At other games I’ve witnessed him half-way on the court with arms waving and pointing to spots and the likes of that.

    And I certainly didn’t want to hear any crap about coming off the road and “being tired”.

    The perplexing thing to me about Coach Lowe’s remarks is, if “they did exactly what we thought they’d do”, then why weren’t we prepared for it and do something to stop it?

  23. Trip 11/29/2007 at 3:26 PM #

    Seems Lowe knows the teams issues, and is having problems fixing them. Maybe he is also waiting for Johnson to become eligible to fix our guard issues? Lots of maybes, ifs and buts here overall on all the boards. We won’t really know anything until January comes around though.

    I hope that they have a “Track practice” everyday until the day before the ECU game. Then I want a blowout against a division 1 team, damnit. If I’m going to make the 90 mile trip to ECU wearing red, we better blow them out or it’s gonna be a longgggg night for me. If Sid can’t get his boys fired up the old fashioned way for a game, he better get them fired up in fear of practice the next day. Similar to how when we were all kids our parents would count to 3 and by the time they got to 2 you were scampering off doing whatever they wanted you to do in rapid succession.

    I tried to watch the MSU game, I really did. I left my night class halfway through it so I could watch it, now I wish I had stayed and watched boring power point presentations. At halftime I ran out of beer and couldn’t yell at the tv anymore…

  24. PackGirl 11/29/2007 at 3:46 PM #

    No one should be expecting any massive improvement when Johnson becomes eligible. This reminds me of last year when everyone thought Fergie would save the day. Our guards are not the main problem anyway.

  25. Mike 11/29/2007 at 3:51 PM #

    I have been a big Sid supporter from day 1. What I saw last night was very NBAish. Some nights the players just dont have it, and over an 82 game schedule that will happen. There is not much a coach can do excpet shrug it off and hope for better tomorrow night. I think Sid’s lack of reaction was the NBA coach in him – right or wrong, he may have written this one off early.

    It may also be a lose the battle but win the war type of mentality. I hate to say this, but I know K at Duke has done this in the past. Maybe the boys were overconfident in practice after winning the Deodorant Classic, and maybe Sid did all he could in practice to try to get them back. Maybe he could not – maybe they were still cocky and overconfident. Maybe he taught them that lesson last night – they are not as good as the press clippings, and they still have to work HARD. Maybe the tape will be today’s practice proving this point. Maybe Sid is building his case that will prove effective over the long haul. Of course, maybe we all just stink stank stunk last night (and had I known the Grinch was on surely would have turned the channel).

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