State overcomes Florida hangover, beats Holy Cross

09-10 Basketball38

After a first-half performance that looked like the entire Elon game (which for those who have forgotten was absolutely terrible), the Wolfpack got it together in the second half and beat Holy Cross 87-70. The Wolfpack scored 54 points in the second half.

There were stretches in tonight’s game, especially in the second half, where NC State looked like it should playing Holy Cross — completely dominant. The problem was that those stretches were paired with scoring droughts and periods where the Pack looked lost. Holy Cross has been an NCAA team in the past, but the group that came to the RBC Center tonight was not overly impressive.

Farnold Degand’s solid play at the point tonight (12 points and 9 assists) showed once again that Julius Mays should not play at the one, ever. Mays did have a solid game offensively (15 points) as far as shooting the ball goes, but he’s not a PG.

Since Sidney Lowe’s rotations have yet to show any signs of consistency, here’s a thought on how to handle this group of guys.

Starters

Javi Gonzalez
CJ Williams
Scott Wood
Dennis Horner
Tracy Smith

First off the bench

Farnold Degand (for Williams)
Josh Davis (for Williams or Wood)
Richard Howell (for Horner of Smith)

Bench

Jordan Vandenberg (for Smith)
Julius Mays (lord help us)
Deshawn Painter (not sure what’s up with Painter, he didn’t play against UF or tonight)

Comment with your thoughts on the rotation issue and check back tomorrow for more on the basketball team at this point in the season.

09-10 Basketball

38 Responses to State overcomes Florida hangover, beats Holy Cross

  1. Thinkpack17 01/07/2010 at 11:02 AM #

    We should take a page out of Marquette’s book. They lost two heartbreakers in a row and still didn’t pack up shop. They should be 3-0 in the big east right now.

  2. packfan03 01/07/2010 at 11:14 AM #

    I’m still getting over the fact that Holy Cross had twice as many opportunities from the stripe than we did. It seemed that all of the seemingly subjective calls (bumps in the paint being the primary culprit) were called on their end and not on ours. At one point in the first half, we had committed six fouls to their one.

    Not sure if anyone caught the post game, but Farnold impressed me there more than in the game itself. He held himself accountable for missing free throws down the stretch against Florida and spoke of how he prides himself on defense more than offense.

  3. bradleyb123 01/07/2010 at 12:02 PM #

    Holy Cross has been an NCAA team in the past, but the group that came to the RBC Center tonight was not overly impressive.

    You don’t think shooting 62.5% from three point land in the first half was impressive?

    Good team or not, when a team shoots like a good team, they may as well be one. I’m not arguing that HC is a good team. But that first half doesn’t concern me because they shot an ungodly percentage from three, making contested shots, as well, and we still managed to lead at halftime.

    I was never worried because I knew it was only a matter of time before we went on a big run like we should against a team of this caliber. And we did. Last year, I would have worried that the team would fold down the stretch, but as usual, we just played better and better as the game went on.

  4. Thinkpack17 01/07/2010 at 12:13 PM #

    “Good team or not, when a team shoots like a good team, they may as well be one.”

    What a strangely elegant statement.

  5. hball57 01/07/2010 at 1:53 PM #

    What impresses me with this team is how we don’t let bad things bother us. I think it is reflected in how much better we do in the second half of games. We keep working, keep playing hard regardless of what happened before. Last year’s team seemed to disappear when the first bad thing happened.

    In teh begining of the year, Sidney said we would like this team. I think he may be right.

  6. hball57 01/07/2010 at 1:57 PM #

    I don’t quite understand the comments on Sid’s substitution pattern this year. He clearly has defined roles for this team. Javi/Julius, CJ/Farnold, Wood/Davis, Horner/Howell, Smith/Vandenberg or Painter. He starts subbing about the same time in the first half and he subs back in based on how they are playing or fouls. Sometimes I wonder what people are questioning. He does reward players for playing well; if you sub in and are doing well you get to stay in longer.

  7. ryebread 01/07/2010 at 4:17 PM #

    Here are some pros that I saw out of last night’s game:
    1) Second half scoring: we mashed the gas and pulled away. We’ve not been able to do that in the past.
    2) Mays bounced back with a very nice game after a horrible one against FL.
    3) FT shooting: If we shoot that percentage every game, then we will win far more often than not.
    4) We survived a team that shot an out of this world percentage from 3. Past teams haven’t been able to do this.

    As for rotations, I think SL is playing CJW so that he keeps his confidence. Honestly, if we’re not going to really play up tempo and press, we don’t necessarily need 10-11 players getting minutes. I’d probably play Javi and Mays as the starting guards and bring FD off the bench. At the forwards, I’d play Wood, Horner and Smith and then bring Howell and JD off the bench. That’s an 8 man rotation with capable “end of bench” players if needed.

    We need the win against UVA on Saturday. It’s an extremely winnable game.

  8. 85pack 01/07/2010 at 7:54 PM #

    I like the starting five that Derek suggested. Can someone please send it to Lowe ? Having a set 5 and not changing it every game would have to provide more consistency. Allow the starters to gel. How did Horner look last night ? We don’t need anymore starters banged up before conference play gets cranked up. Every year it happens.

  9. hball57 01/07/2010 at 9:50 PM #

    “Having a set 5 and not changing it every game would have to provide more consistency.”

    We have used the same starting 5 all year, with the exception of the Arizona game when Tracey couldn’t play.

  10. wolfmanmat 01/07/2010 at 10:10 PM #

    Alot of guys want to blast Sid about why CJ is starting, but few look at it from Sid’s perspective. First, it is about who CLOSES games, not who starts. Farnold was in there the last 10 minutes of the Florida game. He’s the closer. Next, it’s about having a “spark” off the bench. You aren’t bringing in CJ for an offensive “spark.” In fact, we have no bench player who is an offensive spark. You see this ALOT in the NBA…sixth men who are offensive sparks. Sid is an NBA type coach. If the team struggles, then Degand brings a spark. It’s a good strategy IMO.

  11. Conrad 01/07/2010 at 10:56 PM #

    Degand need to start at what position & what school ? Most deftly not at State. Because if we had a solid point guard i could have seen this team finishing in the top 3 in the ACC. But since we dont have one we will probably finish 4 thur 7 at best.

    Lowe player rotation is because this team is young & he is still trying to see these guys best fit at.

  12. bradleyb123 01/08/2010 at 4:11 PM #

    What a strangely elegant statement.

    Thanks! I think?

  13. bradleyb123 01/08/2010 at 4:13 PM #

    I think I saw somewhere that there’s a rumored shake-up in our starting lineup for Saturday’s game. Anybody heard about that?

    I bet Degand gets the nod over CJW.

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