Last year, one of the first real signs of the bad season to come for the Wolfpack hoops squad came when State visited Greenville for a rare road game against the East Carolina Pirates. After that game, we said that State had
Rock Bottom. ECU Gets First Victory Against ACC Team; Lowe’s Honeymoon Over
Poor preparation. No defense. No rebounding. Poor coaching in a game that should have never been played. After compiling a 17-0 historical record over the Pirates, NC State loses the program’s first game in history against East Carolina. Prior to tonight, ECU was 0-57 against ACC opponents.
Unfortunately, the poor play was the first example of a pattern that repeated itself many times throughout the season, and State sat out the post-season. Wednesday night, however, a chance for revenge and redemption will present itself in the RBC Center when the Pirates make a return trip to the Wolfpack’s home floor, and State will have a chance to erase bad memories from last year and also to measure itself against a program that’s clearly improving. A quick look at the Pirates stats so far in their 8-1 start will tell you a lot:
- Brock Young is number two in the nation in assists with 8.1 APG
- James Legan is tied for 9th in 3-point shooting percentage at 47.1%
- Scoring Offense is ranked 29th with 80.8 PPG
- Field Goal Percentage is ranked 34th at 47.3% PG
- Three Point Percentage is ranked 15th at 35.5% PG
- Free Throw Percentage is ranked 64th at 70.7% (#1 in this stat is Marquette, hitting 71.4%)
- Rebounding is ranked at 72nd, averaging 38 RPG
(stats all from ESPN.com)
In short, despite the fact that it is still December and that ECU has yet to play a quality opponent even of NC State’s level, they will come to Raleigh confident and with a good squad that will not only present a challenge to the Pack but also beat them for the second year in a row if State comes out and lollygags its way through the contest like they did last year in Greenville.
A loss would be a devastating blow to NC State in the early part of the year. With all due respect to the Pirates, State should not lose to ECU in any year. The two programs exist on different planes of the basketball world, and the history of the glory that is Pirate basketball would be a short read indeed. They are not one of the powerhouses of their own conference, nor are they a regular invitee to the NCAA tournament. State, on the other hand, is a Big Four team with a rich and glorious past and a team that hopes to compete for an automatic bid to the Big Dance based upon its upcoming conference play. A loss to ECU would be as indicative of the year to come this year as it was last, and if the Wolfpack cannot handle the Pirates at home then it will be difficult to muster up any confidence at all for the games to come after New Year’s.
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