On a night when even the NC State dance team couldn’t get its act together and Richard Howell couldn’t make it out of the tunnel for warm ups, the basketball team could do little right in a 20-point loss to the Hokies of Virginia Tech. The 72-52 defeat marks the fifth straight ACC loss for the Pack and puts the Pack in last place in the ACC at 2-8, just a half game behind 2-7 North Carolina. The Tar Heels fell to Duke by 10 Wednesday night in Chapel Hill.
Howell, scheduled to start for Dennis Horner, cut his leg on the way out to warm up and had to receive stitches.
“Richard was going to start and on his way out to the floor for warm ups he cut his leg on something and cut a big gash in his leg and had to get stitches,” Sidney Lowe said. “He tried to go but he couldn’t really run and couldn’t get back on defense. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and it will be day-to-day.”
Virginia Tech wasted little time Wednesday night, hitting its first 10 shots and building a 26-7 lead with 10:59 left in the first half. The Hokies shot nearly 53% from the field for the night and better than 42% from three point range. NC State’s stat line couldn’t have been more different — 28% shooting and 0-11 from behind the arc.
Josh Davis said the team needs to start games better to get things turned around.
“We just have to come out harder, it’s tough to pick up the energy from the start. I’m not really sure what’s going on we just have to practice and work hard and we just can’t keep doing this,” he said. “[Lowe]Â just told us the truth, things we have to work on. We’ll have spurts in the middle of the game but we just have to play like that the whole game.”
NC State cut the lead to seven at 38-31 with 17:50 left in the second half, but Virginia Tech promptly went on an 11 to one run to stretch the lead to 17. NC State never got any closer than 13 the rest of the way.
The lone bright spot for the Wolfpack as a team came on the glass, as NC State held a 45-37 edge and collected 27 offensive rebounds. And while did create second chance opportunities by hitting the glass, the Pack could only generate 12 second chance points.
“We didn’t convert as many as we needed to but it certainly says we were battling,” Lowe said. “That’s a very good ball club with arguably the best back court in our conference. It’s a very good team.”
Dorenzo Hudson and Malcolm Delaney led the way for the Hokies. Hudson scored 14 of his team-high 23 points in the second half and Delaney tallied 15, with 10 coming in the second 20 minutes.
Dennis Horner did much of the work on the glass for the Wolfpack, pulling down 16 rebounds (nine offensive) while also scoring 13 points. Josh Davis and Tracy Smith both scored 12. No other member of the Wolfpack broke into double figures. Farnold Degand, Javier Gonzalez and Scott Wood shot 2 of 19 combined in 70 minutes.
“They punched us in the mouth and we just sat there and looked at them while we were bleeding. It’s tough. We’re going to have to get this turned around somehow,” Wood said. “If you ask me I’ve played terrible. This is probably the worst season I’ve had in my life. I don’t know what’s gone wrong. Instead of shooting 500 shots a day I’m going to have to start shooting 1,000.”
Lowe, who was visibly frustrated following the game, said there is nothing to do but keep working.
“I don’t feel helpless. You go to work, that’s my job. The thing that’s frustrating is you can’t shoot the ball for them, and we shoot a lot in practice. You can’t get out there and do it for them,” he said. “You can’t make decisions for them. You try to put them in situations, you work on passing to the post and that’s all you can do. I don’t feel helpless because you just go back to work, there is another game coming.”
The Wolfpack hits the road again following tonight’s game and will take on Carolina in Chapel Hill Saturday. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.
