Wake Bakes Pack, 85-78

08-09 Basketball General82
NCSU (15-11) 35 43 78
#13 WF (22-5) 43 42 85

Quick Stats:

NC State Wake Forest
Field Goals 31-65 (47.7%) 32-61 (52.5%)
Free Throws 8-11 (72.7%) 18-22 (81.8%)
3-pointers 8-23 (34.8%) 3-13 (23.1%)
Personal Fouls 19 10
Turnovers 8 12

Box Score

Barring a miracle, say hello to the NIT — if State plays well in its final three ACC games and in the ACC Tournament. That much was settled tonight as Wake Forest put a fork in the outside chances of an NCAA At-Large bid for a game NC State team that fell short in Winston-Salem.

Your post-game comments here.

08-09 Basketball General

82 Responses to Wake Bakes Pack, 85-78

  1. BJD95 02/26/2009 at 10:23 PM #

    I don’t understand why people are optimistic about next year, since Wall and Cousins aren’t coming.

    There’s a reason why Fells, Costner, and McCauley (for their myriad faults) play so many minutes this season.

  2. wolfonthehill 02/26/2009 at 10:33 PM #

    Couple key issues in this one…

    1) Hustle. As in, we had none. Wake got about 3/4 of the loose balls, and they outrebounded us to an embarrassing extent… all because they were hustling more. They wanted it more.
    2) Defense. As in, we had none. Let’s not pin this on Tracy… our guards were getting beat off the dribble, and our interior defense was nonexistant across the board.
    3) Officials. As in, we had none… Wake had them. Yet another game where the midpoint of the 2nd half decided this game… and during that stretch there were honestly about 10-15 points donated to Wake by how differently fouls were being called on the two ends of the court. The most egregious incident was a sequence where… no shit… the refs got at least four, and possibly five calls in a row wrong… they all favored Wake… and they got a three instead of us getting a stop. In a game where we lost by less than 10, having 10+ points donated to the opponent is tough to overcome.

    Thing is – this hasn’t been an NCAA-caliber team until the past few weeks. We won’t make it, and we shouldn’t make it. That’s cool. But it better not happen again next year. It can’t take til February to figure out lineups and put the 2nd-best offensive rebounder in the country on the court. It can’t take til February for guys to look like they have an idea how to run an offense.

    But at least we have something to build on…

  3. Coach Abatemarco 02/26/2009 at 10:37 PM #

    I have not been very negative on this site but we suck!!!!

    we do not have a good team or coach, our players are so soft when a team plays physical basketball. We have been very optimistic on this site but what are our teams strengths…….exactly missed shots, turnovers, laziness on defense, and we give up so many open shots and offensive rebounds.

    pup76 i know it is frustrating but have you ever noticed how bad players play well against us, it us not luck, we leave them wide open and they make shots when nobody plays defense on them. Same old story different year. I would compare us to Seton hall of the Big East, lots of good fans but lots of bad basketball players…equals bad teams most years. Maybe we will turn it around but we have been saying that for 15 years. I think it will be another 10 years before we are top 4 acc team

  4. wufpup76 02/26/2009 at 10:39 PM #

    “The most egregious incident was a sequence where… no shit… the refs got at least four, and possibly five calls in a row wrong… they all favored Wake… and they got a three instead of us getting a stop.”

    ^I was screaming bloody murder during this sequence and it was a 2 point game at that point. I know exactly what you are talking about. Wake was staggering, and what do you know? They scored on about their next 7 posessions after that made 3. That was really it – at the time we were executing really well on offense and had momentum.

    That sequence took every bit of it. Utterly infuriating.

    gah … At some point we have to start overcoming stuff like that – but Jesus that was frustrating.

  5. kyjelly 02/26/2009 at 10:39 PM #

    ^ I agree next year does not make me feel any better. You will see how much Ben,Fells and Courtney are missed.

  6. PackWolf7 02/26/2009 at 10:39 PM #

    What happened to our inside game?????? Looked to me like the FAKES took care of that business. Oh, this game was so frustrating. You just knew the FAKES were going to win…………but why in this manner? This was a WINNABLE game, hands down, and at this time in the season. Too many easy baskets inside for the FAKES. They are talented, but why didn’t we challenge inside? Defense for State was nil. Got to get physical inside. Costnerduring the game? Asleep at the wheel. Fells? A Senior? PuhLeese!!! Williams? Ban him this year from the 3 ball. AND, please play the kid Gonzales for 40 minutes. DEGAND sucks. I’m sorry, Wolfpack Nation, but this was a game we should have won. Am I remiss to think that State could have pushed the ball down the floor on offense and capitalized on their “BIG” front 3? All I saw was a Fake pressure that took them out of the game. Haven’t we learned over the last 4 months how to get the ball in play and push it downcourt? WHOA…

  7. wufpup76 02/26/2009 at 10:41 PM #

    “pup76 i know it is frustrating but have you ever noticed how bad players play well against us, it us not luck, we leave them wide open and they make shots when nobody plays defense on them.”

    ^Oh, I didn’t say it was luck. I find it entirely intolerable to lose to an offensive performance from ISH SMITH.

  8. buttPACKer 02/26/2009 at 10:58 PM #

    just looking at the stats, it looks as though we played a pretty good game. . . 8 turnovers? wow. it’s amazing how stats can often completely mislead one.

  9. 61Packer 02/26/2009 at 11:07 PM #

    I keep asking this question after every game, but why do Julius Mays and Trevor Ferguson continue to ride the bench with ZERO playing minutes, while Courtney Fells continues to rack up significant playing time while wandering the court in search of a game?

    And when was the last time anyone saw this team, coaches or players, ANY of them, actually SMILE or act like they were having fun during a game?

    Just a few questions from someone who doesn’t know anything except what I read on this website………..

  10. EverettBeez 02/26/2009 at 11:22 PM #

    Alpha – thanks for the justin.tv link – worked great. Too bad I didn’t get to see us win.

  11. MA Wolfpack 02/26/2009 at 11:57 PM #

    BJD, how do you know Wall and Cousins “aren’t coming” next year? Do you know that for sure or just throwing your opinion out there.

  12. MrPlywood 02/27/2009 at 1:49 AM #

    I usually don’t make too much of a deal about the refs, especially since I’m usually watching on the teeny justin.tv feed and can’t get a real good look. But that stretch you guys mentioned was pretty obvious – same type of plays, but WF got the calls and State did not. One was called on Javi and I didn’t think he was even near the play. Of course, no replays.

  13. Dr. BadgerPack 02/27/2009 at 3:51 AM #

    Alpha- I’m just going to play Devil’s Ad…. Can you quantify “Fells lost more… than won…”??? I’m more curious than anything.

  14. blpack 02/27/2009 at 7:40 AM #

    It was nice to dream about possibilities, no matter how remote. Now we have to focus on finishing strong and making the most of our games left. We may get another shot at Wake or Duke. Maybe one game the seniors will all get hot at the same time.

  15. Rick 02/27/2009 at 8:00 AM #

    “I don’t understand why people are optimistic about next year, since Wall and Cousins aren’t coming.”

    It is what NCSU fans do. Next year is all we ever have.

    And I hope you are wrong about Cousins and Wall.

  16. BJD95 02/27/2009 at 8:20 AM #

    Based on what I have read, heard, and discerned, I give us less than a 5% chance at getting either Wall or Cousins. I hope very much to be wrong.

  17. SaccoV 02/27/2009 at 8:23 AM #

    My chief complaint about the loss is defense. I know that Tracy Smith is giving up a great deal of size against McFarland, BUT he should be able to grab a loose ball ten feet from him before a guard thirty feet away can get the ball. None of our guards had any success in keeping either Smith or Teague away from the lane. Again, I can live with Johnson driving to the hoop on our big guys because none of them can defend on the perimeter. The gaudy FG percentage numbers for Wake are inflated with dunks, close-in baskets, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, lay-ins on coast-to-coast dribble drives. Offensively, I have little to complain about with this team. They can score, and will score even against some good defenses and Wake Forest is one (according to the numbers). But you’ve got to generate an OCCASIONAL stop in your opponent and our team is incapable of that. I agree totally with Alpha in our NIT chances. The only way this team honestly deserves an NCAA bid is by winning our tournament.

  18. TheCOWDOG 02/27/2009 at 8:25 AM #

    No more proselytizing from TheCOWDOG.

    I’m taking off the cloth and putting the basketball bible down.

    8. 8 TOs from a team that ave. 17/game.

    Undermined by some of the most dominant post play I’ve seen in years. We were so slow of foot that I found myself counting, making sure that Wake had but 5 on the court.
    Swear they played with 2 guards 1 center and 3 forwards in and around the paint. On both ends.

    How else could ya ‘splain it?

  19. Daily Update 02/27/2009 at 8:42 AM #

    We just don’t have the players to play defense. I would love to see a good defensive team in Raleigh again. It has been a while.

  20. Rochester 02/27/2009 at 8:47 AM #

    We had an opportunity to win, but we split a home-and-home series with a better team, a team that was for a brief moment in time ranked No. 1 in the country (overrated, as it turns out).

    The difference in this game was James Johnson. We didn’t have anyone that could stop him. Yeah, it sucks that Ish Smith went off on us, but we held Teague in check. Swap their numbers and we still lose because Johnson was unstoppable, at least by us last night. Lately he’s been Wake’s best player, not Teague.

    I’m still optimistic that Maryland will be emotionally spent after battling UNC and Duke this week and we’ll pick up a nice win on Sunday night.

  21. newt 02/27/2009 at 8:53 AM #

    Missing from the stats above are rebounds:

    Wake 42 (13 ORs)
    State 27 (7 ORs)

    There were some individual plays…turnovers or a bad shot, but I think that rebounding was the difference in the ballgame.

  22. primacyone 02/27/2009 at 9:06 AM #

    At least we were able to score a basket on a designed play after a time out.

    That’s been missing for 15 or so years. Had two last night on well designed and well exectuted plays.

  23. Astral Rain 02/27/2009 at 9:08 AM #

    Well, State has its identity, and that is a team that can score in bunches, but doesn’t ballhandle or defend that well. Also, the improvement in Sid and the team has been pretty good this year, though the problem was it took too long. Hopefully that doesn’t happen next year.

    Sounds like an NIT team to me. I’m ok with the NIT this year. NCAA better be next year though.
    Hopefully win the last 3 (or at least 2), get to 8-8/7-9, then see what happens. 8-8 is a mark most of us would take at the beginning of the year, 7-9 would have been expected.

    Gotta remember most projected 5-6 wins.

  24. wufpup76 02/27/2009 at 9:15 AM #

    Well, onward and upward.

    It’s hard to be tough on the team, they had a real shot at winning the game and not many at all suspected that (idiot me actually thought we could win … seriously).

    You don’t want to ‘settle’ for improved play when there are plenty of things we could’ve done better last night to help win, but this team has come a long way. It didn’t give up or give in and can hopefully keep building on that and finish strong. It’s actually a very competitive team against some of the better teams around.

    McCauley said after the game that he didn’t see any reason why the team couldn’t finish strong and get to 8-8. Here’s to hoping they do just that.

    We owe those m’fers from Maryland plenty, and knocking those sob’s off the bubble on Sunday night would more than make my night. They’ve dealt us plenty of crushing defeats over the past few years … time to return the favor.

    GO PACK

  25. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 02/27/2009 at 9:46 AM #

    I guess you can analyze the game all day but in my view State just couldn’t seem to get a break when we needed one.

    I won’t be critical of the refs because I think they were decent but how can a team press the entire first half and out rebound state by a huge margin and commit only one foul? I haven’t looked at the first half stats but I’m pretty sure Wake had only one foul 18 minutes into the half. The refs called a couple of cheap fouls at the end of the half against Wake to try and make the box look respectable. I find it unbelievable that State doesn’t reach the one and one in either half playing and extremely aggressive team.

    At the end Costner blocks a shot called a jump ball, Wake’s ball- score. State gets a critical offensive rebound and the phantom foul on Javi, Wake’s ball- score. Farnold fouled on the drive and misses both free trows. State plays good d for 34 seconds and Wake hits a 30 foot 3 with Costner up close on D.

    The bounces and the calls (mostly fair) seemed to always go to Wake right when State was getting back in the game. Just wasn’t State’s night but the team played well and had a chance up until the very end. Disappointing but not discouraging.

    I agree about Fells. He should of never been back in the game after the first 10 minutes. Maybe Ferg should of got a shot last night but I guess you know Fells has talent and hope that he gets in the game.

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