A lot of different guys played legitimate minutes for the Wolfpack today. State ‘advances’ to 5-3 despite shooting 2 of 16 from the three-point line and 18-30 from the free throw line.
Of note:
* Javi Gonzalez played more minutes than Farnold Degand
* Tracy Smith played double figure minutes (but went 0-4 from the free throw line).
* Simon Harris also played a lot in the first half (so, it wasn’t just mop-up minutes).
If you are a little concerned about the final score, note that State led 60-33 with almost thirteen minutes remaining when Gavin Grant and JJ Hickson were relegated to the bench for the rest of the game. We did not score another basket for approximately nine minutes.
More from ACCNow is available here.
State coach Sidney Lowe used more players, 10 in the first half, perhaps sending a message to incumbents like Courtney Fells who played only four minutes in the first half, that anyone unwilling to play defense or rebound will not be on the floor.
ACCNow also highlighted what we proposed as NC State’s most important key to having a good season after the first game of the year – outside shooting from the point guard position. (Obviously, we presumed that any college basketball team would be able to play adequate defense and rebound)
As we said before – the Wolfpack does not need a point guard to make 3 to 5 three pointers per game for us to succeed. What we need is for our point guard to simply hit the majority of 3-point attempts when they are WIDE – I mean WIDE – open.
Our offense – and the zone defenses that we will see because of the strength of our front court – will create two or three WIDE open looks for the point guard. It’s just that simple. Hitting those shots from the point guard position will ultimately create an inordinate impact on our performance.
The N&O expressed it as follows on Saturday:
Degand went three straight possessions without taking the shot, but finally stepped into the gap of the zone and knocked down the 3. If N.C. State is going to be better than the team that started 4-3, Degand, or Javier Gonzalez, has to be able to reprise Engin Atsur’s role at point guard.
That means one of the two, or Tennessee transfer Marques Johnson who’s eligible to play against Davidson on Dec. 21, has to be able to knock down an outside shot.
Clearly Hickson’s good enough to handle the inside portion of the equation, but even an undersized team like S.C. State had some degree of success in double-teaming him on Saturday.
The inside-out philosophy doesn’t work without the out.
For more from the game, wufpup76 shared a lot of insight in our comments section at 5:13 pm on Saturday. Please feel free to share your thoughts and observations.
