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. Rick 01/24/2008 at 4:45 PM #

    “The ONLY thing ‘that white kid’ kept doing was pushing off and getting away with it…last time I checked…that was an offensive foul. Not just pushing off..holding off with the forearm.”

    He is as bad as Paulus. For the life of me I cannot figure out why they allow it

  2. redfred2 01/24/2008 at 4:56 PM #

    ^ I do not like it either, but, as I’ve argued, and as others have told me, “they (DO) allow it” these days.

    The officials are there to enforce the rules, if they let it go, then it must be OK. Our problem is that we don’t have anyone who is willing to take advantage of poor officiating. As a matter of fact, we just aren’t aggressive enough to allow any officiating, good or bad, to work in our favor.

  3. bTHEredterror 01/24/2008 at 4:59 PM #

    “The ONLY thing ‘that white kid’ kept doing was pushing off and getting away with it…last time I checked…that was an offensive foul. Not just pushing off..holding off with the forearm.”

    There was one play with a low angle close-up where Causey pushed off twice, then lowered his shoulder, and Javi in good position got called for a block. Javi probably could have flopped, but if Javi had done that he’d have gotten a charge called. Seems like there is pre-judgement by officials in a lot of cases.

  4. redfred2 01/24/2008 at 5:08 PM #

    b, that “play” by Causey was just to right of the foul line, and it was well documented and very blatent. I think the announcers where so wrapped in Causey’s attitude and the human interest story of his much traveled college BB experience, that they didn’t even bother t comment on his forearm shiver to Javier’s chest. Javier get’s called instead. ???

  5. redfred2 01/24/2008 at 5:17 PM #

    As far as the officials being pre-disposed to calling it one way or the other, I’d say that if you play soft, you are more likely to get called for ticky tac fouls. I’d use what any official is contemplating before walking into a game at Cameron Indoor, as an example of the opposite end of the spectrum as compared to calling any NC State ballgame. That’s nothing new or just in the case of a Sidney Lowe coached BB team, rather it’s been a Wolfpack trademark for longer than I care to even think about.

  6. Greywolf 01/24/2008 at 5:41 PM #

    Gee, I’m not a basketball expert so I guess that appreciating that there is improvement in nearly all aspects of the game is rather pedestrian. My standards are so low that the hard work the coaches and players are doing to come together as a team is really very pleasantly surprising to me. Coming into the ACC tournament last year expecting nothing, wow, was I ever surprised to push the holes to the limit.

    I’m just glad some of the intolerant people on the list were not my coaches. Why? Because I screwed up occasionally. Well, make that a lot. Sid has done a supurb job of nuturing his rookie point guards. Hickson is a freshman and has much to learn. Costner is struggling with his game.

    I just don’t think humiliating Costner is going to improve his, his focus or his defence. I like that Sid played Ben at the end one game and Costner at the end in the next. I like that Javi came out (did anybody else see him spitting blood into a cup and dabbing his lip with a towel?) and Johnson came in for more than a breather for Javi. Sid is playing various combinations and when tournament time comes, I think we will see a team capable of both matching up and causing match-up problems.

    It’s too bad he can’t satisfy everyone with quality wins and flawless play while he and the staff are doing an outstanding job of improving and playing competitive basketball.

    As far as the refs are concerned, the don’t win the game for anyone but they sure can make it hard on a team. Even Elmore was shaking his head at the foul called on McCauley when he was “ridden out of the play” (Elmore’s words) and had the GT players arm holding him. Causey was outstanding but does that give him a free ticket to push off EVERYBODY with his forearm?

  7. BAC79 01/24/2008 at 5:46 PM #

    Personally I do not believe we have a snowballs chance of making the big dance and we probably will not make the other tournament either. That doesn’t mean the season is over or we should quit. Sid and co. need to demonstrate they can coach and the players need to demonstrate they can be coached and improve every game.

    Unfortunately, our improvement to this point should have occurred in early December not January.

    I am beginning to believe we have some serious chemistry issues and players who simply do not listen to the coaches. If that is the case, the offenders need to be benched, period.

    Some of our players have demonstrated that they make the same mistakes over and over again. Put someone new on the court. See if they can handle the pressure. At least put someone out there who can demonstrate some FUNDAMENTALS. At this point we have very few which continues to baffle me to no end.

    I agree with the poster who said use the rest of the season to concentrate on fundamentals. Also, do what TOB did. Open up every position to everyone to fight for. He who works hardest and shows improvement and a willingness to listen should be on the court.

    I am not advocating a coaching change at this point but I am highly disturbed that it has taken this long in the season to see some measure of improvement and hustle. If we don’t demonstrate some serious improvement by the end of the season, and I don’t necessarily mean in the win loss column but improvement in how we play, then I am afraid we may not have the right coach. We will surely know that at the end of next year.

  8. BillyVest 01/24/2008 at 5:50 PM #

    Play aggresively enough and you’ll get the calls. Shaq’s a perfect example of this in the NBA. Hansborough’s another example of this in college. Hodge also stuck is arm out to push people off on offense and wasn’t called for it.

    What’s frustrating is Ga. Tech got two calls, which changed the game. The non-travel on the dunk in the second half and the foul on McCauley. Four points right there, but we’ve benefited from last second calls so things even out I guess.

  9. Greywolf 01/24/2008 at 5:57 PM #

    BJD95
    Jan 24th, 2008 at 11:52 am
    “they beat us AT HOME when we should have been desperate for a win.”

    Just curious, What does “being desperate” do with whether or not one wins or loses be it at home or on the road? Should NCSU expect to lose to inferior teams on the road because the home team is desperate? Times have changed I guess. When Valvano was coaching, be loose and have fun and play with confidence was what he wanted out of the players.

    Valvano said in a team huddle “After Lo makes those two free throws…” And then grabbed Sidney by the arm and pulled him back out of earshot as the huddle was breaking and said, “When the sombitch misses those free throws…”
    If many of the posters on this list were coaching in 83, Lo would have been on the bench because he couldn’t shoot free throws.

  10. nycfan 01/24/2008 at 6:00 PM #

    My husband said the announcers told an odd story during the game (while I was otherwise engaged in the ongoing battle to potty train our son) that in the Miami game, Lowe exhorted Costner to take more threes, then benched him in overtime for failing to rebound — apparently the announcers implied that was a decidedly mixed message to Costner (though I would make the obvious argument that you can take threes and still be an excellent defensive rebounder).

    Anyway, I didn’t think about it again until reading the comments from Lowe & team about the last play of the game … Lowe all but admitted that he may have confused Gonzalez and Fells about who was doing what b/c he changed up during the time-out and that they (or at least Fells) did in fact do the opposite of what Lowe intended. I think that is a disturbing anecdote from a head-coach … I had a good plan but couldn’t communicate it to my players(??)

    I have been critical of some of Lowe’s coaching choices (esp. the NBA offense) and some of the things he’s said before, so I don’t want to be hyper-sensitive about everything he says. But the best I can say is that he is pretty clearly learning on the job the differences between the college and pro game.

  11. Mike 01/24/2008 at 6:05 PM #

    To all who talk about the refs, STOP!!!!! Either that or go put on ytour baby blue shorts. UNX has never lost a game – it is always the striped shirts fault.

    Were there bad calls? Yes. There are bad calls every game. It’s part of the game. Bad calls hurt us, bad calls helped us. Find a way to overcome them and score more points. But please stop whining about the refs. That’s 20 miles up I-40.

  12. Trip 01/24/2008 at 6:25 PM #

    As far as the forearm pushing, some of you may have not noticed but Johnson was doing his fair share as well. There was atleast 2 cases that he gave enough of a shove that if that player decided to fall backwards, it would have been a charge.

  13. Greywolf 01/24/2008 at 6:31 PM #

    “Lowe all but admitted that he may have confused Gonzalez and Fells about who was doing what b/c he changed up during the time-out and that they (or at least Fells) did in fact do the opposite of what Lowe intended. I think that is a disturbing anecdote from a head-coach … I had a good plan but couldn’t communicate it to my players(??”

    That’s one way to look at it. Another way would be to look at it like Sidney was taking the heat off his players ala Roy Williams after the MD loss. “I did a poor job of coaching this team.” I guess ole Roy is still learning on the job…..and protecting his players confidence by shouldering the blame for the loss. Sid couldn’t be doing that, he’s still learning on the job.

  14. bTHEredterror 01/24/2008 at 7:09 PM #

    “Unfortunately, our improvement to this point should have occurred in early December not January.”

    It did, and then Degand got hurt just when he started to figure things out. And then MJ and Javi are challenged with picking things up, on the fly, and with no solid competition to get them ready for the ACC. They got embarassed a couple of games but have played progressively better game to game, granted against somewhat lesser competition.

    They are improving and will continue. They will be better for it, but they will cost us some more games. Freshmen starters almost always do. Whether Sid intended to test Javi’s gumption or if it was a pure bench error, the last sequence was good for this reason. It couldn’t have been worse and likely won’t be that bad next time. Javi had a nightmare ending to an otherwise solid performance, and I doubt the team or staff will let him get down about the last play after the strides he made.

    There were some good things from this game in addition to the solid improvement for Javi. MJ made a couple of buckets and some heady plays, and there was a 3 minute stretch where all three freshmen were playing well together. There is a lot more pressure on the team now, but 1-3 is not the end of the world. 1-5 may be, but lets hold our grief until then at least. We’ve had success in Tallahassee in the past, and they are suspect inside. If Dougals decides to dominate the game, he probably will. But if BC is hot and Fells stays hot, we can beat them in spite of it.

    JJ’s biggest defensive flaw to me is the big brother style backdown D to give himself room to gather for a head’s up block attempt. On every single shot. I don’t mind him going to block as help defense, but in this conference ALL the bigs can get up high enough to score if you let them shoot 5 feet from the basket. Hold your ground and force a pass out, or maybe a bad shot now and then. Or maybe Gavin or Ben can get a help block for you now and then. Right now JJ is a liability on D, though he is good on the glass.

    Good point, the talent is clashing right now, from new to old system. But they are still a work in progress, and the great thing about College basketball is if you get hot late you still have a shot. Play well in March and no one will remember how you played in January, just like last year.

  15. Mr O 01/24/2008 at 8:07 PM #

    I was in Charleston watching at a bar, so I didn’t get to watch it that closely. IMO, Brandon Costner needs to see his playing time reduced. I have no idea what happened to him in the off-season or if he just got lazy, but he isn’t close to the player that he was last year.

    The back to back turnovers when the game was tied were inexcusable.

  16. WolftownVA81 01/24/2008 at 8:33 PM #

    I will continue to root for these guys and hope they improve…. but the excitement for me is gone and it’ll take some consistent good play to get it back.

  17. Primewolf 01/24/2008 at 8:46 PM #

    tough loss. Can’t understand why Lowe played Brandon as much as he did. Brandon was a totaly non factor, didn’t move, play D or do much of anything.

    If we had played Smith and others, we would have likely won the game, as Brandon’s poor play and late turnovers killed us.

    I will be impressed if our team can fight its way to 5 ACC wins. I suspect we will be in last place or next to last.

    If Degand had not gotten hurt, we would win 3-4 more ACC games than without him.

  18. dbc90 01/24/2008 at 8:57 PM #

    Fantastic thread and the best blog in college sports … I browse SFN daily before any other site and/or print publication … an incredibly passionate fan base you are!

  19. VaWolf82 01/24/2008 at 9:26 PM #

    There is absolutely no silver lining in losing to the only team in the ACC with an overall losing record…..in Raleigh! The glacial pace of the “improvement” is way too slow to get this team into the NCAAs.

    There are alot of games left for the team to prove me wrong. I don’t think that I am wrong, but I would love to be.

  20. PAPacker 01/24/2008 at 9:38 PM #

    Look, GT may have a 9-9 record but they also took UNC to the wire. GT played pretty well last night. The two big glaring problems to my mind are Costner and point guard presence. Both of those will get better. Lowe has a long term problem to fix which will happen as he develops a PG or two and as he brings in his own players in the next few years. He has some great recruits coming in. It will get better. Perhaps this is not the year, but the program will get stronger. We still may make the NCAAs. Who knows. The pieces are not there and never were there for this team to be a top tier squad this year. (If Degand had stayed healthy, we would be in much better shape, perhaps.) My wish is that they play up to their potential, be as good as they can be. I’m happy to have a coach who bleeds State red, hates to lose and loves to win more than any of us, recruits like hell and has a long term vision to build a team. When I compare that to Sendek, Les Robinson, we’re in better shape now than we have been since Jimmy V’s era.

  21. TTandB74 01/25/2008 at 2:25 AM #

    The Causey file:
    Starred with his older brother Mark at East Hall Hall School, a major powerhouse in North Georgia and in the state. They have won a number of state titles, and seem to always go to the Final Four in Macon. The pair helped the Vikings win one or two state titles, I forget.
    He transferred to a bigger Atlanta high school when his family moved (not a job move or anything, just to get better exposure for their basketball kid).
    Got a scholly to Georgetown, then transferred to North Georgia College & State University to play with his brother, who was a walk-on at Duke for a year or two. Then he transferred to G-Tech.
    Both Causeys are very smart. Mark was thinking about Harvard before he went to Duke.
    Matt has always been a PG, very heady, gritty, with a good outside shot and hard-nosed defense.

  22. Wulfpack 01/25/2008 at 8:14 AM #

    Wolfpack Admits Violation by Lowe

    http://www.charlotte.com/hoops/story/461874.html

  23. Wulfpack 01/25/2008 at 8:16 AM #

    “I’m happy to have a coach who bleeds State red, hates to lose and loves to win more than any of us, recruits like hell and has a long term vision to build a team.”

    With all due respect, I don’t know yet that we can make those assertions. I do not doubt he bleeds State red, but so far that hasn’t gotten us very far.

  24. choppack1 01/25/2008 at 8:27 AM #

    “When I compare that to Sendek, Les Robinson, we’re in better shape now than we have been since Jimmy V’s era.”

    I hate saying this – I really do – but right now, Lowe hasn’t proven himself much better than Robinson, and quite frankly, right now, can’t hold Sendek’s jock. Sendek didn’t leave him much at all, but things don’t look at all like they are improving long term for our outlook.

  25. choppack1 01/25/2008 at 8:58 AM #

    Well, an idiot weighs in – reminds of the Bobby Knight saying, “All of us learn to write by 3rd grade, most of us move on.”

    http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_ColumnistArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354353236&path=!sports!lenoxrawlings!&s=1037645509484

    Does this guy even watch the games – was there an OT that I missed? Also, if Javy goes 4-8 from the field, how does he FG % drop??

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