We closed the previous entry to open up a new one for the second half.
NC State led 36-31 at halftime based solely on a 17-0 run to end the first half. At halftime I wrote, ‘How crazy is it to say that NC State looked HORRIBLE except for that 17-0 run.’ I know that it is crazy…but it is true.
Unfortunately, the poor play that created that conclusion continued for the first 11 or 12 minutes of the second half before the Pack bore down with extra intensity and out-battled FSU for an extremely important ACC road win.
NC State’s ‘s win lifts the Pack to 13-6 overall and 2-3 in the ACC. The Wolfpack’s RPI improved to #46 in the country while playing the nation’s 47th ranked strength of schedule. Both the Pack’s RPI and SOS will improve after playing Duke this week regardless of the out come. Forget the pain of Georgia Tech for a moment…how badly would you like that UNO and ECU game right now?
The following are some random running bytes that we live blogged during the game:
* I have never seen SLOWER whistles from an entire set of officials in my entire life. Literally 2 and 3 seconds late on almost every play. It was obvious how the officials were waiting to see if shots were going to fall before calling fouls. The whistle on Courtney Fells’ third foul (at the beginning of the second half) came after a 15 foot jump shot had time to make it to the basket, hit the rim and fall to the floor. Ridiculous.
* One would think that at some point the officials call FSU for some of these hacks and reach-ins against our guards. It has to be frustrating to play the first 33 minutes of the game allowing FSU’s guards to constantly reach and hack without the officials calling fouls only to have our guards’ tiny bumps and similar reaches suddenly become foulable offenses in the last seven minutes of the game.
* NOBODY on NC State’s basketball team actually boxes out the opponent in any way, shape, or form. Some players actually take the time to put their bodies in front of their opponent, but nobody actually boxes out their opponent. We couldn’t get luckier on some situations where JJ and our bigs are not boing out FSU knocks the ball out of bounds or bobbles it into our hands.
* While I am complaining about fundamentally simple items – we already have 2 or 3 legitimate fouls called against us today for moving screens. JJ Hickson gets at least one of these per game (that usually aren’t even close). How does this not get fixed and continue to happen in every single game?
* Gavin Grant has had a horrible game today. Bad decisions. Missed shots. Just totally out of sync. I wrote this BEFORE he fumbled a sure two points out of bounds on a wide open fast break with 11:19 to go.
* I gotta feel sorry for Dennis Horner. The kid cannot get a shot to fall. He’s getting decent looks and just not releasing the ball very smoothly.
* Not only does Brandon Costner make obvious and blatant mistakes on the floor – the poor guy makes them immediately upon entering the game. In the approximate minute that comprised Costner’s first defensive series of the the second half, he was charged with two fouls including bad reach-in because he was out of position BEFORE he allowed he failed to cut off a driver to the basket that resulted allowed an FSU slam.
* Since it is a stat that many people have been following as evidenced here – Costner entered the second half with 15:31 and State leading 40-38. In five minutes he committed three fouls, turned the ball over twice and didn’t score. But, when he left at the 9:47 mark the game was tied at 47.
* It amazes me that we choose to play such soft and lax defense that basically serves to lull our own team to sleep on the offensive end. On Wednesday against Georgia Tech and today against FSU – our best offense was produced by easy points on transition and finding rhythm from defense.
* Courtney Fells has not hit HUGE three pointers at the end of the last three games. Today’s was nothing short of a miraculous bank shot from 25 feet out. It is ok for Wolfpack fans to accept good luck whenever we get it.
* Coach Lowe has chosen to go with Javi Gonzalez over Marques Johnson at the end of each of the last two nail biters. No doubt that Gonzalez’s shooting advantage over Johnson has been a key part of the decision.
Post-Note: You may be interested in this old analysis from 2005 highlighting the importance of FSU’s Basketball Program has been to NC State’s success in recent years. (Wow time flies!)
