Pack Wins Opener 69-53

09-10 Basketball General92

RALEIGH — N.C. State wants to win with its offense running through Tracy Smith. The Wolfpack also has to learn to how win without its big man.

With Smith in foul trouble, N.C. State struggled to survive against a Georgia State team filled with ACC castoffs on Thursday night. Ultimately, Smith got on the court long enough to offset a miserable shooting effort and lead the Wolfpack to a 69-53 win over the Panthers in the season-opener.

Smith’s game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, in only 25 minutes, were enough for N.C. State’s 16th straight season-opening win. A late 18-5 run, capped by a Scott Wood layup at 3:42, brought the previously lifeless crowd of 9,502 at the RBC Center to its feet and allowed them to exhale.

–Link to Statefansnation message board discussion of the game

–Shooting a concern for the Pack

-Box Score

–Link to Gopack story, coaches quotes, and player interviews.

09-10 Basketball General

92 Responses to Pack Wins Opener 69-53

  1. wolfpackbball 11/13/2009 at 3:07 PM #

    Well, basketball season again. I’m never very vocal during any season other than basketball, but I am a lurker year-round.

    I’m looking forward to getting to know a new team this year. I’m hoping to see a group that plays hard and is easy to pull for. Wins and losses aren’t the barometer I’m using this year, but that doesn’t mean others can’t use that as their standard. I fully understand any and all frustrations at the state of our athletics program right now. I understand people feeling and saying negative things.

    It does bother me to see Lowe lumped in with Fowler. I cringe when I see Lowe called a buffoon and dragged through the muck. Rather than resort to name-calling in regards to Lowe, maybe we can express our discontent in a more civilized manner. I think he’s earned that much respect from any fan.

    There ARE some ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ situations that arise on this board in regards to calling out posters and making comments regarding opinions. And that’s fine. This isn’t my blog. The authors can do and say as they choose, and if my sensibilities are overly offended then I know how to not read SFN.

  2. theghost 11/13/2009 at 3:09 PM #

    And some of these other statements to me legitimize accusations of unreasoned negativity. Someone is interested to see how we play against Akron, therefore we’re comparing ourselves to Akron, therefore Lowe sucks. Amato lost to Akron at home, therefore Lowe sucks. Only 8000 people want to go to an off-campus hockey rink in bad weather to see a GSU game that apparently doesn’t count anyway, therefore Lowe sucks. Last year’s team was criticized for not playing hard, so if this team plays harder… Lowe sucks.

    Not attacking those who criticize, but I am attacking those who criticize without basis.

  3. Alpha Wolf 11/13/2009 at 3:10 PM #

    I agree with BJD that Akron will present a better picture of the team. They’ve played one exhibition and one regular season game now, and they can start making adjustments based on game film and what the coaches are observing in the heat of battle.

    We will know more if the Pack improves or if it regresses.

    The game after this, we should see even more incremental improvement. Or not, if that comes to pass.

    This team is establishing its identity. We can start making more reasoned predictions as they become who they are going to be this year.

  4. theghost 11/13/2009 at 3:42 PM #

    “nonsense.”

    So if I said I thought Lowe was outcoached last night and GSU outhustled the Pack, you would disagree with me because GSU’s talent is so inferior that any analysis of the game is meaningless? And isn’t a knock on Lowe that he hasn’t even brought in ACC-caliber talent?

    Hard for me to believe that someone can be such an astute observer and student of the game that he can call Sidney Lowe incompetent, but on the other, be completely unable to critique his coaching performance against a mid-major from the CAA with comparable size and an acc transfer at point.

  5. BSIE80 11/13/2009 at 5:00 PM #

    We won the game. Great job Sid and team. Keep working hard.
    Great to see Horner & Mays step up and finish the game strong. Javi and Tracy had great games.

    As far as the various discussion concerning team/coach/AD support- remember this is a college sport. This is not life or death.

    My philosophy is to support the team/coach/school/AD/etc. I do so because I am an alum. All I hope for is to see us recruit good character student-athletes and work hard and compete. Yes, I long for the titles/championships, but I’m not going to cry/whine about it.

    I think some of you are too obsessed with NCSU sports competing for championships. You might want to switch your support to UNC/Duke/Kentucy so you have more happiness in your life.
    Or maybe that wouldn’t satisfy either.

  6. NCMike 11/13/2009 at 5:16 PM #

    And on another note….Harrison Barnes to UNC. Oh well

  7. ldr of the pk 75 11/13/2009 at 5:31 PM #

    Radio kept mentioning a former Wolfpacker now playing for Ga State. If they have a former Wake guy, a former State guy, they can’t be the absolute worst of teams. Or were these former ACC players not really ACC players when they were here? Could have been the same guy, I never know what’s going to come out of our Radio Heads.

  8. theghost 11/13/2009 at 5:50 PM #

    the wake guy was Dukes, the starting PG who played a good bit and had a decent game. He had some PT at Wake. The State guy was Marques Johnson – didn’t do quite so well.

  9. Gene 11/13/2009 at 9:34 PM #

    I think Lowe has a good understanding of basketball. You don’t hang around in the NBA as a coach or assistant coach for 20 years and not know a damn thing about basketball.

    The bright side, so far, about this coaching staff is the development of Javi Gonzalez. Us fans had written him off as a wasted scholarship half way through last year, but he showed the coaches something in practice and may be a solid ACC point guard this year.

    Right now we aren’t going to out recruit the top teams in college basketball, so we need to have some scholarships going to two and three star recruits that develop into solid ACC caliber players by their Junior or Senior years. Hopefully other players will also develop and improve.

    The down side is the coaching staff’s inability to handle players in years 2 and 3. The loss of Degand in year two really set this team back that year, but there should’ve been no reason for the chemistry to be bad. They should’ve sold Hickson starting and other players contributing off the bench as a positive, rather than let those problems fester and ruin the season.

    I wrote ‘coaching staff’ above because though Lowe is new to college basketball, his assistants each have been around the college game for 20+ years each and somehow didn’t understand the chemistry issues that could plague this team, as well as the need to set up off-season goals for the players.

    So far Lowe’s tenure hasn’t been good, but I still believe Lowe’s not totally clueless about basketball. I’m not expecting too much out of this years team. I just hope we can develop some kind of identity for the future, such as Tom Izzo’s teams rebound well. We need to have some area where we can really excel and make that our brand to build on for the future.

    All I know is there’s no formula for guaranteed success in hiring a coach to come into the ACC, with maybe the exception of Carolina hiring Roy Williams from Kansas.

    As apathetic as I am, I’m still willing to give Lowe some more time to get things turned around. I just want to see if we can have some sort of positive team identity emerge this year. If not, I don’t think Lowe will be able to get things done.

  10. VaWolf82 11/13/2009 at 9:55 PM #

    but I am attacking those who criticize without basis.

    Hard for me to believe that someone can be such an astute observer and student of the game that he can call Sidney Lowe incompetent, but on the other, be completely unable to critique his coaching performance against a mid-major

    15 ACC wins in three seasons gives a rather robust basis for criticism and justification to question Sid’s coaching ability.

  11. theghost 11/13/2009 at 11:05 PM #

    ^really not interested in arguing with you, but I’ll point out that you’re mixing quotes from two different posts on different thoughts, and you’re not addressing either one.

    Point one is that reasoned criticism of Lowe is fine, but somehow manufacturing a complaint out of players hustling and people wanting to see the Akron game is nonsensical.

    Point two is that your assertion that no critique of Lowe can be made of the GSU game is pretty ridiculous from anyone who is always ready to critique and/or ridicule every step that Lowe makes. But hey, if you can’t say anything bad, don’t say anything at all.

  12. VaWolf82 11/14/2009 at 1:09 AM #

    Point two is that your assertion that no critique of Lowe can be made of the GSU game is pretty ridiculous from anyone who is always ready to critique and/or ridicule every step that Lowe makes. But hey, if you can’t say anything bad, don’t say anything at all.

    You have me confused with someone else. If you actually bother looking for a quote to support your claims, you will find that I have spent far more time debunking the foolish claims of some than addressing Sid’s coaching. Sid is paid quite well to do many different things….among them win. So far he has failed miserably at that goal.

    If you go back even farther, you will find that I almost never addressed the decisions that Herb made during a game. I simply documented his record as a way of debunking those that claimed Herb and his Seeds of Greatness were all that State fans should ever want for their program. Unfortunately, Sid’s record is so bad, that detailed documentation is not required.

  13. packalum44 11/14/2009 at 12:19 PM #

    One concern I have is the substitution. Tudor wrote that there were bizarre substitutions which has always been a huge issue with Lowe and IMNSHO lost us several games over the past few years.

  14. Alpha Wolf 11/14/2009 at 12:50 PM #

    ^ Yes, let’s hope that Sid finds his top 7 players pretty quickly and doesn’t do that Kitchen Sink Substitution Plan like he’s done in other years.

  15. theghost 11/14/2009 at 1:02 PM #

    ^^^well, you’ve got me there. I definitely won’t be reading back through five years of articles to read your thoughts. Maybe I do have you confused with someone else. So, I’ll concede that you don’t critique anything beyond W-L record and other people’s analysis. I amend my previous statement to read:

    “Point two is that your assertion that no critique of Lowe can be made of the GSU game is pretty ridiculous. If you can’t say anything bad…”

    This argument is already a terrible waste of time. You may have the last word.

  16. Ed89 11/15/2009 at 11:28 AM #

    ^^^^^^15 ACC wins in three seasons gives a rather robust basis for criticism and justification to question Sid’s coaching ability.

    How about 2-13 vs. Atlantic Division rivals in 3 years for our Football Coach? Criticize and Question away.

  17. bradleyb123 11/16/2009 at 6:23 PM #

    “15 ACC wins in three seasons gives a rather robust basis for criticism and justification to question Sid’s coaching ability.”

    Last I heard, State was 1-0. More criticism isn’t warranted or justified. Yet.

    As Ed89 said, I wonder when we’ll start giving equal time to criticizing TOB.

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