NC State 79 Miami 77 (OT); X-Man Gavin Saves The Day

What is it with NC State vs Miami games? Two sports. Two overtimes. Two Wolfpack victories!

Before NC State stepped on the court tonight the Wolfpack’s triumvirate of early season Big East victims were generating some major progress for our future NCAA Tournament resume as Villanova won at Syracuse, Seton Hall defeated Louisville and Cincinnati upset Top 20 ranked Pittsburgh. (Did anyone mention that Carolina was knocked from their perch by Maryland?).

State started today at #50 in the RPI and climbed a few spots before tonight’s game in the RBC Center even tipped. By the end of the evening the Wolfpack sits at #36 in the RPI having played the 44th toughest schedule in America and having won five games against Top 100 opponents.

The Charlotte Observer is going to really hate this one. After a couple of weeks of odd coverage and inexplicable comments from a sophomoric staff they aren’t going to know what to do after such a character-filled win by the Wolfpack.

Now some important points to make about tonight —

* Let me make one point very clear — Coach Lowe’s offensive genius was responsible for the JJ Hickson tip to tie with just seconds to go in overtime. If you go back and watch the play, you will see that it was designed for Gavin Grant to take that lane to the hole and Hickson to circle through behind Grant in case of a miss. Grant got hacked without getting a call from the official and Hickson timed his roll through the lane perfectly. How ironic that State wins the game because of two things that we do so poorly – rebound and create turnovers.

* How awesome is Gavin Grant? How much are we going to miss him next year?

* It was a classic, old-school day in ACC Basketball as kids all through the state and the region were stuck inside due to bad weather and had the opportunity to watch back to back to back to back ACC games that they will remember for a LONG TIME. Today was vintage.

* From the first possession tonight we saw a totally different Wolfpack team on offense. This team played with energy and was sharp and crisp while playing with focus. Speaking of focus…when Courtney Fells is focused he is an excellent college basketball player. With Grant’s departure at the end of this season I hope Fells can continue to step up to carry the load as our primary player on the wing.

* What I am about to say is actually pretty sad, but unfortunately true — I think tonight’s win over Miami may have represented the most exciting win in ESA/RBC Center history. Last year’s win over Carolina clearly ranks as the “best” win by nature of their national ranking, the style & excitement in which the game was played and the fact that it was Carolina. But, tonight’s win at the buzzer bests anything else that I can remember in the RBC. Others that immediately come to mind would be Justin Gainey’s shot to beat Maryland and the ESA’s opening night against Georgia.

* Who is responsible for teaching the NC State big men how to play defense and block out to rebound. And, what is the problem? As much as Jack “Tookie Williams” McClinton hurt State in the second half, the only reason Miami was even in the game was their ability to score at will from the low post on and on offensive rebounding. The reason the Hurricanes were able to get the ball inside is because our big men don’t play defense. Standing behind the offensive player on the block so that his receipt of the ball is a given is NOT defense. Tracy Smith seems to be the only NC State post player who understands how to front a man down low. After Miami’s bigs were the willing recipients of easy entry passes, they then were able to score easily because we continue to choose not to double down on the ball in the post. It is a recipe for disaster.

* Coach Lowe seems to have settled into his rotational preference for substitutions and Tracy Smith’s hard work on defense is earning him some of Brandon Costner’s time.

* Javi Gonazlez is showing the shooting stroke to which the coaches were originally attracted and have been swearing that he possessed. If he can step up and nail a couple of threes a game then State’s offense suddenly opens up more and can become much more effective.

* Marques Johnson cannot shoot. He knows that he cannot shoot and therefore he doesn’t shoot. He does a lot of things well to have only played in a handful of college games, but he has no confidence in his shot and he is a liability if the opposing team plays zone against us.

* Both point guards have GOT to step in about 5 to 7 feet to run the offense. Our offense continues to start WAY too far away from the basket.

* Miami’s football team may be working hard for a better image, but their basketball program sure feels ‘rough’.

* I was initially fearful when I saw friggin Jason Capel was going to be announcing this game, but Capel (and Steve Martin) actually did a fine job of announcing until they stumbled through the ‘Anthony King foul’ at the end of overtime.

* Did you notice that, despite playing great offense in the first half that Brandon Costner was nowhere to be seen in most of the second half and overtime? Something is going on there. I watched Costner a lot tonight and despite his offensive proficiency he was caught flat footed on rebounds and defense. I don’t know if it was lazy or if his mind is somewhere else. We can only speculate that Tracy Smith and Ben McCauley‘s willingness to do both elevated them to Costner’s time tonight. Additionally, I think Miami’s athleticism was a little much for him.

* Speaking of Big Ben McCauley, how about a shout out for his guts while playing injured tonight. Do not underestimate McCauley’s impact on our defensive rebounding late the game.

* Coach Lowe is now 1-1 against Miami avenging last year’s egg that was laid in Coral Gables late in the season.

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07-08 Basketball

119 Responses to NC State 79 Miami 77 (OT); X-Man Gavin Saves The Day

  1. highstick 01/19/2008 at 10:30 PM #

    I can sleep well tonight. We won’t get shut out in conference play! Saw a little more hustle tonight, at least they were diving all over the floor at one time including Costner. Javi with 2 3 pointers? Whoa!

  2. STLPACK 01/19/2008 at 10:33 PM #

    That was a great finish!

    Hopefully this will serve as a jumping off point for us. I only got to see the last couple of minutes of overtime on ESPNNEWS because i live out of town, but i was following the score on my mobile phone. It was great to watch those last two minutes. I’m glad we were able to pull it out.

    GO PACK!

    ps. if i can read lips, Sid was yelling, “F-Yeah” as Larry hugged him after Gavin’s shot went in. It’s good to see some positive emotion from those guys.

  3. EdMar 01/19/2008 at 10:34 PM #

    We played like we cared tonight.

    GO PACK

  4. Sweet jumper 01/19/2008 at 10:35 PM #

    A perfect day–State wins, Carolina loses, Snow!

  5. Mike 01/19/2008 at 10:35 PM #

    Good to see a W. I posted in two different threads DONT GIVE UP, DONT EVER GIVE UP. We are not out of the water yet, but its a start.

  6. RAWFS 01/19/2008 at 10:36 PM #

    In all of my years of watching Wolfpack basketball, this is a top 3 ending, without a doubt. And that’s NOT hyperbole.

    Whodathunk it?

  7. branjawn 01/19/2008 at 10:36 PM #

    Can someone please describe the final 15 seconds! I was not able to watch or listen to the game up here in NY.

  8. JeremyH 01/19/2008 at 10:37 PM #

    you should probably be able to see this on espn tonight because Miami was ranked.

  9. Sweet jumper 01/19/2008 at 10:38 PM #

    That was a belated Christmas present. Miami made some very poor decisions/bonehead plays at the end of regulation and again at the end of overtime. This game is good lesson of playing hard and NEVER EVER GIVING UP.

  10. DAMangum 01/19/2008 at 10:39 PM #

    10 seconds Grant missed layup, Hickson put back w/ 3.9 secs, Grant steals inbounds pass and lays it up, hell breaks loose!

  11. highstick 01/19/2008 at 10:40 PM #

    State brought the ball down court, got a shot inside and Hickson(I think tipped it in). Miami took the ball out, Grant cut back to the basket, stole the inbounds pass and put it in!

    Larry Harris puts Sid in a headlock and drags him halfway down the court while Sid is grinning!!

  12. coy 01/19/2008 at 10:40 PM #

    I DVR’d the game and missed the very end. Excuse me while I beat the s^it out of a few things within my reach.

  13. highstick 01/19/2008 at 10:43 PM #

    A fan’s hand was in the way of the camera on the steal which really fouled it up. I could tell more by fan reaction that we’d scored again and my wife was sitting across the room saying “what happened”! She missed it altogether!

    I’m sure you’ll see the replay several times tonight and tomorrow with the “hand in the way”!

  14. JeremyH 01/19/2008 at 10:45 PM #

    espn just showed the blocked hand view in a ‘game break’ of the kentucky/florida game.

  15. mroli 01/19/2008 at 10:47 PM #

    just got back from the game… man, one of the best finishes in a long time. I’ve got to say, the thing i was most impressed with was that we did not fold at the end, even though the momentum had swung to Miami.

    Let’s hope they build on it.

  16. branjawn 01/19/2008 at 10:48 PM #

    Thanks everyone. There is a write up on Yahoo! now too.

  17. highonlowe 01/19/2008 at 10:50 PM #

    ^well, I was trying to post an image on Lowe and Harris’s celebration but the pic didn’t post. You can see it here too

  18. RAWFS 01/19/2008 at 10:50 PM #

    Javi G played like a solid PG tonight.

    via ESPN story

    Gavin Grant stole an inbounds pass and scored with 2 seconds left to cap an amazing last-second rally and give North Carolina State an unlikely 79-77 overtime victory over No. 21 Miami on Saturday night.

    After Anthony King made one of two free throws to give the Hurricanes a 77-75 lead with 15.3 seconds remaining in the extra session, Grant drove the basket on the other end to try to tie it. His layup in traffic bounced off the rim, but J.J. Hickson was there for the tip-in.

    Just as the home crowd was celebrating the possibility of heading to a second OT, Grant jumped in front of King’s pass and immediately put the ball in the basket.

  19. adchappe 01/19/2008 at 10:51 PM #

    Much better display of effort and heart from the team. Our offensive sets looked much better tonight. Sure, there’s still lots of room for improvement, but even if we’d lost I’d still have gone to bed satisfied b/c these kids played with heart tonight. Great win for the Pack.

  20. Noah 01/19/2008 at 10:52 PM #

    Grant was running straight down the lane. I don’t know how Miami’s inbounder didn’t see him.

    Definitely a huge win.

  21. GeorgeDickels51 01/19/2008 at 10:53 PM #

    Great win. Must win ACC home games. Had to have it. Two things that ate away at me during the game…

    1) STILL no one rebounds (At least not to be a top caliber ACC team, hell even middle of the road ACC team). Javi had the best box out i have seen all year at the end of the 2nd half.

    2) We are continuing the trend of the last 3 or more games where we just stone decent looks in the post.

  22. highonlowe 01/19/2008 at 10:56 PM #

    Sid’s birthday is monday. Quite a present I’d say!

  23. GeorgeDickels51 01/19/2008 at 10:56 PM #

    oh yeah, and why don’t we use dribble penetration in the half court? seems like when we do we get nice easy looks to cutters down the lane or on the wing, but it seems a rarity…

  24. Sweet jumper 01/19/2008 at 10:56 PM #

    Tony just said that Sidney’s birthday is Monday. The team gave him a nice present tonight. We need a big turnout for the radio show on Monday night to wish Sid a happy birthday.

  25. WolftownVA81 01/19/2008 at 10:57 PM #

    Our first game at the RBC. It was a weird game with a slow start, a good middle, a let down after the half, a feeling we were doomed to loose at the end ( 4 min of OT w/o a score) and a miracle finish. More hustle to be sure, but still a lot of individual play. Hopefully this will be the start of the new season. Congrats pack on the win.

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