GT 77, NC State 74

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball168

Boxscore. Tough loss. Good game.

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07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball

168 Responses to GT 77, NC State 74

  1. coachkto 01/23/2008 at 10:01 PM #

    JJ has a great deal of work to do,his D is bad,awfull rebounder as well, and that foul he committed with 45 secs to go was not a smart play down by just 2…………..I have no clue why MCcauley does not see more time kid knows the game……..as well as javi played the white kid ate him up …….and finally how about an out of bounds play??????????? pathetic

  2. Octavian 01/23/2008 at 10:04 PM #

    I agree, enough of the progress and happy stuff — No way you lose to this team at home. Our known deficiencies aside, Sid and the team have to value every posession and find a way to win. Too many lapses, mistakes and missed opportunities. Very disappointing…

  3. beowolf 01/23/2008 at 10:10 PM #

    The last time I put a happy face on a loss was the 2OT FB loss at Ohio State. Never again.

    This was a good game, the team is playing more together now, but Georgia Tech at home? Not if you aspire to being in the NCAAs.

  4. BJD95 01/23/2008 at 10:13 PM #

    Georgia Tech was in LAST place entering tonight (now, that distinction belongs to NC State). How many road conference games do you expect them to win this year? I’ll take an educated guess – ONE. They got it tonight.

    And the sad thing is – we’re obviously capable of playing worse. Much worse. There’s no evidence we can play much better – and that performance got us a home loss to the last place team.

    So, tell me again why I should have any positive feelings whatsoever?

  5. WolfInVolCountry 01/23/2008 at 10:13 PM #

    I will echo BJD95 and beowolf. We should have beaten this team and the refs were horrible. Javi found 1/2 a game, which is an improvement, but our PG play is still a major problem. We should not have to have our bigs come up top to help run sets. Ben looked better (sweet pass) but is still no where close to last year. Some better defense, but rebounding is something we should have dominated (with our 3rd best frontline in the nation). We have no consistancy and should not have lost to this team at HOME.

    The refs allowed so much pushing off by GT and missed so many travels and hacks it was pitiful. They are all the reincarnation of the worst ACC official to ever call a game… Lenny Worst… uh I mean Wertz.

    Excuse me while I beat the $^*& out of something.

  6. DAMangum 01/23/2008 at 10:25 PM #

    Brandon Costner is still killing us with his bad decisions. The refs unfortunitely had a major effect on the game and the ACC should definitely have a word with those guys. Tuff lose, but we did look alot better. If we keep up this intensity there is a shot at the NCAAs.

  7. Bartonpackfan09 01/23/2008 at 10:37 PM #

    The last play was the same play we’ve run plenty of times. The PG, in this case Javi, goes to the corner, the guy on the wing, in this case Fells, gives a ball screen. Hopefully two guys follow the PG in the corner and Fells peels off to the top of the key for a wide open three. If I’m not mistaken that’s the same play as against Miami? At any rate, when the ball screen came Fells got both defenders and it left Javi wide open, so wide open it might have surprised him.

    What’s the point of this post? Well besides the fact most of you don’t know enough about basketball to understand what I just said (those of you who blame the refs/commentators? everytime we lose.) The point is to not blame Fells for not manning up.

  8. beowolf 01/23/2008 at 10:45 PM #

    Sounds to me that the real point of the post is to just pat yourself on the back for making a basketball-related comment, and then put folks down despite not having digested what they actually said. Feh.

  9. Bartonpackfan09 01/23/2008 at 10:47 PM #

    OK you got me. It was a way for me to point out that we keep complaining about the refs, and the teams effort, and making general statements like JJ needs to work on his ball handling, wow our PG play is coming around, but nobody EVER makes any basketball related comments.

  10. doug74 01/23/2008 at 10:58 PM #

    I worked with Jamie Luckie once in another profession. He was a good guy but really reminded me of a Wall Mart heel fan.

  11. drewtersncsu 01/23/2008 at 11:00 PM #

    In my opinion, there’s still something intangible missing from the team. They don’t look and play like they enjoy being out on the court together. I know PG play is extremely important for the teams success, but something has to give. I mean, isn’t rebounding about how bad you want the ball? Any insight?

  12. Bartonpackfan09 01/23/2008 at 11:08 PM #

    drewtersncsu rebounding is not all about how bad you want the ball. Offensive rebounds are, because thats fighting through a box out and just going and getting the ball. Defensively it’s a whole other ball game. It’s more about positioning and boxing out.

    I think you’ll notice that when we give up offensive rebounds its because we are playing bad defense before the shot. Somehow somebody will be left open under the basket and a shot will be put up, obviously that someone that was open doesn’t have anyone boxing him out, and actually has better position to box out. Bad defense leads to open shots and offensive rebounds and that’s our problem. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt if some of our guys would actually jump.

  13. choppack1 01/23/2008 at 11:11 PM #

    Well, we had lots of opportunities to put some distance between us and GaTech in the second half – and we’d make a mental error.

    We’ve got to make better basketball decisions – don’t foul Morrow. Costner actually was trying to foul Smith.

    It stinks that we lost, but at least the effort didn’t suck – and for this year, and much of last year – that’s saying a lot.

  14. WestCoast 01/23/2008 at 11:15 PM #

    No sappy stuff here. While the PG situation seemed to improve, we’re still picking the dribble up 30 feet away from the basket. Then someone has to come out of position to save our PG at the 17 sec. mark on the shot clock when we begin our O. Lowe was a PG for goodness sake! Drive past the pressing PG and make him foul you or they’ll bring some help and dish the damn ball until they start respecing us at PG! If you get a TO in that instance, so what. At least at that point our PG’s are showing some balls. These ACC coaches don’t respect our PG situation at all, why should they.

    Go find the best JC point guard in the nation and bring him in next year.

  15. bTHEredterror 01/23/2008 at 11:43 PM #

    I can stand this one, because they put up good effort for the most part, and just had a painful 5 possesion relapse to give it away. There are still some infuriating stretchs of WGAF style ball, but they are starting to be replaced more and more with some effort plays. We just need more of them. State certainly could have played better defensively, and Javi probably shouldn’t have been the shooter there at the end. I’m kind of glad he was though, in a larger sense. A lesson to relax and seize the moment, rather than be overcome by it.

    But there is still some hope we can have a decent season.

    No ifs, ands, or buts though, this next one IS a must win, any way you try to dance around it.

    Steal home floor from FSU, manage not to get destroyed in Cameron, and then hold home court against Wake and VT to be 4-4, and likely in the middle at halfway. Go 4-4 again, upset one of the leaders in Raleigh to go along with our other quality wins, and hope for the best. Its seems unlikely, but it isn’t impossible.

    I don’t see Javi or MJ stealing one from Duke at this point, though they are showing some improvement and making a few more plays. Especially Javi. If he would have hit that shot, oh man. He’ll hit one of those down the line to make it up.

    It seemed right when he jumped, but boy, it sure didn’t look right when he let go.

    But again, good heart and bad form I can stand. The former tends to cancel the latter over time.

  16. CarnifeX 01/23/2008 at 11:52 PM #

    Brandon Costner.

    Paging Brandon Costner.

    This is the Wolfpack calling.
    We need you to produce.
    Please accommodate immediately.

    Thank you,

    Wolfpack Nation

  17. westwolf 01/24/2008 at 12:00 AM #

    When Marques is in the game, the other team gets to play 5 on 4 with their defense.

  18. #44 17 24 01/24/2008 at 12:01 AM #

    Yeah, too many times I saw Javi and Johnson have there defender on their back hip and then right after tehy crossed half court, they slowed up with nobody in front of them to set a play up, allowing the defender to gegain position. There is such a amjor offensive advantage when the defender is rushing to keep up with you, and I hope they can recognize it next time.

  19. JeremyH 01/24/2008 at 12:05 AM #

    They showed a lot of improvement tonight, especially in heart/effort, many of us were beginning to wonder if that was possible. They are still a dysfunctional team, with some crucial mental lapses. JJ: welcome to the ACC, you have to work hard at every bucket and there is no substitute for hard-nosed defense (there is more to it than timing your jump to swat at the ball). Costner: keep at it, learn from your mistakes, if you eventually become a pro player you will be better for having gone through this now.

    Two important things happened, Javi got involved in the offense, and MJ got involved in the offense. Let’s hope they continue. Javi-don’t hang your head on that last shot, you were too open anyway; we need ya feller.

    Sidney: please build on this.

  20. PapaJohn 01/24/2008 at 1:12 AM #

    If Brandon gets his act together, we win this game. Simple as that. Forget the refs, forget the guards, we need Brandon playing somewhere close to how he played last year. And I mean defending, scoring, passing, just being another strong contributor on the floor.
    I’m beginning to think that whomever suggested he was hurt is right. I hope there’s some explanation other than he forgot how to play over the summer.

  21. wufpup76 01/24/2008 at 1:35 AM #

    just got back …

    entirely different team opened tonight’s game as opposed to the team that came out w/ real energy at the start of the miami game … very disappointing, lethargic start … sidney was right in his post game comments – we had to get hit in the mouth before waking up … 7-0 GT before you knew it and we lost by 3 … not being ready to play cost us again

    refs are refs … no blaming them … they missed some fairly obvious walks on GT on possessions they did score on … of course, i thought we got a gift on the hickson call late … and causey handchecked, grabbed, and held all night

    effort was good at times, got to give GT credit … but this is an extremely disappointing loss … this is the type of game you SIMPLY HAVE TO find a way to win at home … that’s what makes a good team – find a way to win especially at home vs. teams that come in w/ a record of 8-9 … WAY behind the 8-ball now for ncaa consideration

    javi outperformed johnson tonight and had his second straight decent game – promising 🙂 … that said, we still didn’t attack enough in my opinion and too many possesions the half court attack didn’t begin until 10-15 seconds remained on the shot clock – and usually we were starting the attack 35 feet from the basket … at least javi gave us a little dribble penetration tonight and marques did a couple of times as well

    i actually thought the team underperfomed tonight as a whole … fells was good, hickson ok, but i thought everyone else had a lot more to offer but we didn’t see it … just my opinion … even with all that – including GT shooting close to 60% – we still only lost by 3 … so *IF* the team could EVER put together 40 minutes of solid, consistent effort from EVERYONE it could be a pretty decent team

    it is what it is though … and it is 1-3 🙁

  22. EverettBeez 01/24/2008 at 1:44 AM #

    We were lucky, real lucky, a half dozen passes in the back court weren’t picked off as we came up the floor – you see how many times javi passed just barely past the defender? esp in the second half. Who ever was coming back for the ball created a terrible angle. That will kill us in Derm. Against a not impressive press, we struggled. It will get ugly unless the guys get better at it.

  23. wbnation 01/24/2008 at 2:59 AM #

    We have to be the slowest team in the NCAA. Is it just me or does it seem like everyone else’s guards break down our guards at will, drive penetrate, dish and score. Or 4 players from the other team run down the court, leaving most of our team behind(I think running in quicksand) leading to an odd man break. Then when we are on offense,our guards couldn’t break down a cardboard box let alone an opposing player. It takes our big man to come out and start the offensive sets and thats with about 12 seconds on the shot clock. Saw this all night long.

    Team speed is killing us. And if GT is killing us with their speed, just wait till we face Duke. Lowe not only needs to do a better job at recruiting guards in the future, but find some guys who can run the court, but also play defense with some quickness. Playing Carolina (we know lawson is a speed demon) and Miami, I knew we looked slow but chalked it up to their speed. Now I know thats our biggest problem other than guard play. We get beat down the court consistantly and it was very noticeable tonight. We may struggle to get the 7 wins I thought we would.

  24. Trip 01/24/2008 at 5:12 AM #

    I hope Javi doesn’t get thrown out of whack because of his last second airball. He banged his head against the goalpost and threw his shirt over his head, and while I hate to see that happen, it shows that they really do care. They have found a passion for the game, or atleast a will to win.

    Javi, just play hard and continue getting better. Same for you Johnson… just don’t shoot 3’s for now. Starting to see good things come out of you guys.

    Fells however… holy crap. Why couldn’t he play like this against ECU? He’s bombing 3’s with 60% accuracy over the last 3 games. He’s hustling, he’s playing hard, grabbing rebounds (And not easy ones, either) and grabbing offensive boards for slams. We haven’t seen a single zone-Atleast one that lasted more than 2 possessions-in a long time.

  25. BJD95 01/24/2008 at 7:29 AM #

    Duke will beat us by 50 if they want to. We’ll see if Coach K shows any mercy.

    We have to hope and pray for another NIT bid. I’d put our odds at about 50/50 right now.

    Very discouraging.

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