State Closes Out 2008 By Beating Towson State 88-68

08-09 Basketball General33

In a New Year’s Eve matinee at the RBC Center, the Wolfpack shook off a sluggish start to pull past Towson State 88-68.

WRAL.com story
ESPN.com Boxscore

Tracy Smith scored a career-high 31 points in 23 minutes off the bench [and made] 10 of 15 shots from the field and all 11 of his free throws for the Wolfpack (9-2), who rallied from an 11-point deficit early in the first half.

“I was just very energized coming into the game,” said Smith, whose previous career high was 14 points. “We started out slow, and I wanted to bring in positive energy. That’s what I did.”

Brandon Costner added 15 points and 10 assists for the Wolfpack, who led 46-41 at halftime after closing the first half on an 8-0 run. Courtney Fells scored 11 points for N.C. State, and Ben McCauley and Dennis Horner added 10 points apiece.

Wufpup76 added this personal impression of the game to another thread, and it’s well worth the time to read what he saw:

Friends and family only today at the Bank Center  (attendance wasn’t that bad, but it was pretty sparse.)  Today’s crowd was definitely livelier than the other night against Loyola of Maryland. It wasn’t a terrible turnout for the afternoon of New Year’s Eve.

Towson played zone a majority of the time, and showed a lot of full court press today … State zone offense definitely gets an “A” today – not an A+ b/c there were a few turnovers – but it was a very, very efficient Pack attack today against the press and zone.  We forced them to switch to man a few times in the second half.

The zone offense was highly effective due to the passing of Brandon Costner and Dennis Horner and the positioning and spacing by Tracy Smith … I don’t if I’ve ever seen a player use his body better and put himself in great position to receive the ball more than Tracy Smith … His 31 points came as a direct result of his getting into the right position time after time against the zone and guys moving the ball and finding him – especially Brandon Costner … It seemed that Costner had about 10,000 assists to Smith today out of the high low in the zone offense … McCauley is a great passer, but Brandon is pretty good in his own right … Also, Smith was 11/11 from the line – you read that right – great all around day from Smith.

Speaking of McCauley, he played pretty well today and fought hard, but he’s been pressing a bit since the Marquette game and he’s turning the ball over uncharacteristically down low … He’s either thinking too much when he gets the ball or is trying to react before he’s really got the ball … Hopefully he’ll snap out of this soon

Defense really picked up late in the first half and on into the second half … You guys can clown and rip Ferguson all you want, but in the 2 games we’ve played w/out him we have struggled mightly at times defensively … This isn’t because Fells can’t cover the two effectively – it’s because we’ve got no one to cover the 3 effectively after moving Fells back to the 2 … Dennis is a really good kid and works hard and I love him – but he will never be mistaken for a defensive stopper … And CJ and JT just aren’t ready yet … Ferguson is way better defender than he is given credit for – especially off the ball.

In fact, probably our most effective line-ups today came when both Mays and Farnold were in at the same time … This was a really effective lineup today – with Fells back at the 3 and Costner/Horner working the 4 … I’d like to see this more until we get Trevor Ferguson back.

We’ll see how we look Saturday at Florida … Hopefully we’ll start out playing solid D and can cause some match-up problems for them down low … we’ll defintely need both Mays and Farnold to be top notch Saturday and if Javi is available it’s likely we’ll need him too.

Also wanted to mention that Julius Mays is a really scrappy kid and doesn’t back down to anyone … He’s definitely got a little bit of “Javi” in him.

(slightly edited)

Thanks for the write-up, Wufpup, and as a reminder, if any of you would like to submit an article for the main page, please send it to us via email at statefans at gmail dot com.

08-09 Basketball General

33 Responses to State Closes Out 2008 By Beating Towson State 88-68

  1. Afterglow 12/31/2008 at 8:22 PM #

    Mays had, 5 assists and 0 turn overs in 25 minutes of play. Pretty good. I like this kid, I think he’s going to be good.

  2. wufpup76 12/31/2008 at 9:00 PM #

    ^Mays has been very solid for us over the past few games, Marquette included

    He’s showing a lot of promise … Someone distributing the ball w/out turning it over goes a long way to improving this team

    Edit: Happy New Year’s, everyone … please be safe and smart out there tonight

  3. Trip 12/31/2008 at 9:03 PM #

    Smith: 31 points, 7 rebounds and NO turnovers in 23 minutes. We MUST find a way to have him on the court more.

    Mays is rapidly improving ever since the first time I watched him when he had the deer in the headlights looks. I hate to say it, but we’re going to need him to continue improving because Degand just isn’t the same Degand we saw before the injury. 1 assist and 3 turnovers… no good.

  4. PackGirl 12/31/2008 at 9:49 PM #

    Why wasn’t Tracy the “Rex Hospital player of the game” today? I don’t understand how they make that selection since he was not the one picked today. Granted, Costner played well and had the 10 assists (and 15 points), but you would think 31 points and 7 rebounds in 23 mins would trump that. Especially since Costner has been player of the game many times. Tracy definitely earned it today in my opinion.

  5. redfred2 12/31/2008 at 9:56 PM #

    I know it’s suggested, but do we really have to submit all of our “articles”? I think I’d personally tie up too much of yours and my own time by doing that.

    Oh wait, you’re probably refering to *REAL* articles, with real stats, real facts, and other stuff like that. Nevermind, I’ll just keep on posting like I always have.

  6. crackdog 12/31/2008 at 10:02 PM #

    Costner was directly responsible for 15 of his own points, plus 20 of his teammates’ points, and pretty much dominated the flow of the game on offense. I think if Tracy keeps it up, he’ll be POTG plenty of times over the next couple of years.

  7. redfred2 12/31/2008 at 10:09 PM #

    Pup, I was there Monday night, and it was a pretty lethargic crowd for sure. But in all fairness to the fans, me included, we were feeding off of the intensity level that the Wolfpack players were showing us, so I guess it pretty much equaled out.

    As far as Smith, I told my buddy that he looked like a MAN among boys when he wanted to. Of course that was against Loyola, but there were some offensive sets where he really did stand out. Also, I did not get an indication that Mays was that scrappy against Loyola, but I was admittedly concentrating more interior play, blocking out, and stuff like that.

    Also wanted to add that in the Loyola game, Simon Harris did many crucial things that don’t always show up in the stats. He deflected some passes, jumped out on opposing players and stopped their penetration, and he made it difficult for Loyola to execute inside by being in the correct POSITION and playing with more energy than his teammates.

  8. redfred2 12/31/2008 at 10:28 PM #

    “15 of his own points, plus 20 of his teammates’ points”

    Hmmm, kind of makes one wonder how many assist were available from the forward position last season? I mean, that would be if they had actually played hard enough in order to draw some attention to themselves in order to open up the middle, and also assuming that they wanted to actually pass the ball to the center who was in there with them at that time.

  9. redfred2 12/31/2008 at 10:50 PM #

    Nevada is not playing too bad against unc thus far, but I’ll swear you’d think it’s in the dean dome, and Leonard Wertz was wearing three zebra shirts. There were some very unneccessary fouls called on the interior that helped unc open up their lead at the late stages of that first half.

  10. frankiepack 12/31/2008 at 10:59 PM #

    Looks like we took a lot out of Loyola did you catch the Duke score??

  11. wufpup76 12/31/2008 at 11:21 PM #

    ^No doubt, redfred – both the crowd and the team were more-or-less dead on Monday night and they “fed” off each other 🙁

    Agreed about Harris – several key defensive plays down the stretch against Loyola – and he is always willing to do the tough things that don’t show up in the box score

    Mays and Farnold didn’t have eye-popping stats today, but they didn’t need to … Each helped the other out and got the zone offense started today by finding Costner and/or Horner when they flashed – then it was just a matter of finding Tracy … This can be an efficient offensive team when we don’t turn the ball over

    About Mays being scrappy, he plays as tough as he can on D and when he gets pushed he pushes back … I think what most others that attended today’s game are primarily referring to was the loose ball technical he drew today … There was a long rebound on a play and the ball eventually came to Mays and he was triple teamed – one of the Towson players was whistled for a foul when all three of them were reaching in and Mays wouldn’t give up the ball and was swinging his elbows and pushing back … After the play was over one of the Towson players was so frustrated that he gave an additional push to little Julius which drew a tech

    Nevada is playing hard, but can’t close the gap right now … At least Mark Fox let’s the refs have it on the Hansbrough favortism … Terrible call when Hansbrough flopped – naturally a flop by the “brough” = offensive foul on the other team

  12. 61Packer 12/31/2008 at 11:21 PM #

    I was at the game this afternoon. We might have a chance in the CAA conference tournament this coming March.

    I can hardly wait for 2009………

  13. wufpup76 12/31/2008 at 11:43 PM #

    Ok, I know this is bad – but Steve Lavin is doing the Nevada – Hole game and Hansbrough just came out of the game …

    Naturally, Lavin comments “He deserves a blow!”

    Um, are you sure Steve? Isn’t that what you and your media cohorts spend each game doing – Giving him a ‘blow’? The ‘brough gets plenty of ‘blows’ from you media guys … and he listens great while you’re doing it

  14. Astral Rain 01/01/2009 at 3:53 AM #

    Is it time to free Tracy Smith yet?

    Mays as starter, Degand or Gonzo as backup might work.

  15. PackGirl 01/01/2009 at 8:37 AM #

    I must admit I was part of that lethargic crowd on Monday. Not only was the lethargy contagious between the BBall team and the crowd, but the loss to Rutgers was still palpable at that point. We walked into the RBC feeling like someone had just let the air out of our tires.

  16. Sw0rdf1sh 01/01/2009 at 9:14 AM #

    I hear you PackGirl. I’m in Wilmington and couldn’t attend either of the BBall games due to holiday/family.

    I don’t know how anyone could have gone to the game on Monday night with energy. I left the bar I was watching the game, came home and put my son to bed and promptly put myself to bed too.

    The next morning I told my wife I didn’t even want to get out of bed.

    I’m better now…..thank you.

    I listened to yesterdays game on the radio while cutting trees in the backyard. I was wishing I was there to see these passes and dunks that were going on.

  17. hball57 01/01/2009 at 12:38 PM #

    If you miss the home games they load them up on Pack Pass pretty quickly. I got to see the Towson game online last night.

  18. BassPacker 01/01/2009 at 3:09 PM #

    I’ve said all along that Tracey Smith was the most under-rated, under-used player on the team. Perhaps this was his coming out party to Lowe and the ACC.

    Hey Swordfish aka Wendy, how did you replace the block S with that picture? Is that something we all can do?

  19. ThomYorkepack 01/01/2009 at 3:30 PM #

    With Sid’s high-low offense that uses passers out of the high post, and the fact that none of the guards on the current roster are offensive threats, what we need is a defensive presence of some sort in the backcourt. I think Degand/Mays is our quickest, best, defensive backcourt (assuming that he isn’t going to play my preferred lineup of McCauley-Costner-Smith-Fells-point guard).

  20. blpack 01/01/2009 at 4:56 PM #

    Good father-daughter time yesterday on the trip to Raleigh, at the game, and back. Really glad State won since we did the same thing last year for the NO game. Could explain that loss.
    I think State is slowly improving, but it is hard to know how December games will translate to ACC games. I don’t think the league is great, but neither are we. Another chance to see where we are on Sat.

  21. Sw0rdf1sh 01/01/2009 at 6:57 PM #

    Basspacker, the wonderful shot of me as a Hot Juicy Burger is part of Gravatar, which SFN now has enabled.

    Do a Google on Gravatar, or look around this site for a link…that is how I found it. Some other sites also use this so it follows you around based on email login.

    I’m so pumped for tomorrows game against Florida, I know it might be brutal, but you know the Pack….they like to shock the world every once in a while. Plus it’s in HD so I can see the turnovers is clarity.

  22. wufpup76 01/01/2009 at 10:38 PM #

    Good to see our ACC teams did so well in the bowls this season 🙁

    At least VT still has a chance to get our vaunted football conference it’s 2nd – yeah, SECOND – bcs victory in what, 10 tries?

    Save us Frank Beamer, you’re our only hope … (for this season)

  23. choppack1 01/01/2009 at 10:50 PM #

    Yea – the funny thing is – w/ a couple of breaks, we could have easily been playing for 7 wins. The pack, the heels, BC and clemson all very close losses. If the conference is lucky, we’ll finish 4-6 – we didn’t totally embarass ourselves, but we didn’t make much of a case for our improved play either. I guess the game that really shocked me was BC losing to the commode doors – who lost to Wake Forest and Duke.

  24. wufpup76 01/01/2009 at 10:51 PM #

    ^Yes, very surprising result to me as well (Vandy)

  25. wufpup76 01/01/2009 at 11:58 PM #

    Yay Virginia Tech

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