Lowe’s Love of Leslie Leads to Loss

State loses 60-50 in LittleJohn Coliseum tonight after a pitiful and embarrassing performance. After leading by 19 points, 31-12, with 6:10 remaining in the first half (and 34-29 at the half), Clemson outscored State 48-19 the rest of the game.

How ugly was it? Well, it was apparently the largest comeback in Clemson’s history.

How did it happen? Well, State had field goal droughts of 4:08, 6:03, 5:30 and then watched as Clemson ended the game on a 17-2 run over the final 7:59, with State’s final points of the game at the 2:20 mark. State had a total of 16 points in the second half, with six of them in the first three minutes of the half off Scott Wood three pointers.

State falls to 2-4 in conference play with a trip to Chapel Hill looming.

It took new Clemson Head Coach, Brad Brownell, all of a half of a year to take the lead over Coach Lowe. I don’t know a soul in college basketball who would/could argue that Clemson has more talent than NC State. So, spotting a team with more talent a 19 point lead equates to a COLOSSAL implosion.

This one is basically the point of no return for the Wolfpack Basketball program under Coach Sidney Lowe. Based on the weakness of our schedule and the lack of quality of our losses, the Wolfpack projects to need to win eight of our last ten regular season games to earn an NCAA Tournament berth. What are the odds of that happening?

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10-11 Basketball

97 Responses to Lowe’s Love of Leslie Leads to Loss

  1. tuckerdorm1983 01/25/2011 at 9:50 PM #

    I am going to bed now and crying myself to sleep and I don’t even care if I wet the bed. I am not sure we can even make the NIT.

  2. hoop 01/25/2011 at 9:51 PM #

    I’ve finally gotten it through my thick head. There is no rescuing Lowe from this debacle. Our record will not reflect the quality of the players on the team and we will be looking for a new head coach.

    The upside is that Yow will have a long lead time to put some feelers out and see who might be the highest quality coach who wants to come here.

  3. redwolf87 01/25/2011 at 9:51 PM #

    I saw the look tonight. I saw it in Sidney’s eyes.

    It’s the same look that Les Robinson had back in his last year, when we had Duke beat, and they had come back with one possession left, and there was a timeout. When I saw Les on the bench, I knew we were going to lose.

    And then Chris Collins goes down and throws up that cue ball of a shot, which goes in.

    Difference tonight? I saw the look late in the first half. A look of DEFEAT. HOPELESSNESS. FUTILITY.

    Indeed, this is Yow’s first tough decision. Not sure it’s all that tough, though.

  4. packalum44 01/25/2011 at 9:52 PM #

    At least Lowe will be a NBA head coach again next year.

    -Adam Gold

  5. freshmanin83 01/25/2011 at 9:53 PM #

    I thought I was patient with Lowe. This one stings. If he can not convey to his team that this in unacceptable then how much more of this before some permanent damage is done? On the other hand is this kind of play to be expected when you have freshman playing key roles and key minutes?

  6. BureauOfMines 01/25/2011 at 9:54 PM #

    “It’s beyond explanation that a team can look so good for the first 1/3 of the game, and so bad for the last 2/3.”

    And not just this game. That has been a pattern all along. How many big leads have been blown? It’s practically according to a script.

  7. kbrown 01/25/2011 at 9:57 PM #

    Three questions I have as a State fan. #1 Why are our top recruits never as good as a Duke top recruit? I think I know the answer.

    #2 How as a State fan do we get a 20 point lead and I am still trying to figure out how we won’t lose the game?

    and finally,

    #3 Who will our next coach be?

  8. Wolfy__79 01/25/2011 at 9:57 PM #

    ^no freshmanin! those freshman (harrow,brown) were typical. leslie, sucked. there were too many ill advised shots from wood, javi, tracy. basically the whole team. i can’t make any connection to the players here.. this one was due to a lack of coaching. what’s this mess on atleast 4-5 possessions in screening off balance long range jumpers early.. like ten seconds early in the clock? rediculous!

  9. Mike 01/25/2011 at 9:58 PM #

    DISGUSTING!

    I was wondering where Harrow and Howell were in 2nd half, and I see other posters wondered the same thing. I was thinking maybe Javi had pics of Sid or something since he got all the PT in the 2nd half. 31-12 to 50-60 – NO EXCUSE!

  10. Mike 01/25/2011 at 10:02 PM #

    Oh and the headline – I was also wondering why CJL played as much as he did. He had absolutely no clue what to do out there.

    We are down 10 with a minute left, and we let them run out the clock! They gave up – we finally fouled after they ran off 30 seconds. Next time Clempsun got the ball, then it was futile with only 25 seconds left.

  11. packalum44 01/25/2011 at 10:04 PM #

    Lowe lost me in season 2. I’m not sure why it takes so many to realize how awful he is. If Fowler was our AD, this would be the worst season ever.

    However, it is actually the most pleasant train-wreck I’ve been a part of. This season may be an historic inflection point for NC State basketball.

  12. 61Packer 01/25/2011 at 10:06 PM #

    I’m with you all the way, packalum44. But please spell his name correctly- it’s LOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

  13. wufpup76 01/25/2011 at 10:08 PM #

    “However, it is actually the most pleasant train-wreck I’ve been a part of.”

    ^If that doesn’t sum up NC State over the past two decades I don’t know what does.

  14. tuckerdorm1983 01/25/2011 at 10:10 PM #

    how LOW can LOWE go?

  15. tuckerdorm1983 01/25/2011 at 10:11 PM #

    I am actually watching Obama. Thats how discombobulated I am.

  16. wolfy85 01/25/2011 at 10:14 PM #

    That was painful, a few people have the stats wrong. After taking a 31-12 lead at the 10 minute mark, we manged just 19 points in just over 30 minutes, and 16 in the entire second half.

    I’m done with Hoops this year and probably until we get a new coach and some stability. It simply isn’t worth my time and emotions. We went from beating the crap out of Clemson tonight on the road to playing perhaps the most pathetic 30 minutes of the season. Call it what you will, I’ve never seen anything quite like that.

    BTW, the title of this article talks about CJ Leslie, and yes he was terrible tonight, but the entire team quit after the first 10 minutes of the game. So bash the entire team, and especially the coaches, it was a train wreck for the last 30 minutes out there.

  17. Wulfpack 01/25/2011 at 10:24 PM #

    Can someone with some time on their hands please research Sid’s ACC road record and how it pairs with the worst of all time across all of Div 1? I’m near certain it has to be in the top 10.

  18. AC_Wolf 01/25/2011 at 10:25 PM #

    Let the guys that built the lead….stretch the lead. We’re sharing minutes b/t too many guys. Rest for Harrow should be 2 minutes at a time….not 8 minutes in the 2nd half, ….it seemed that long anyway.

  19. 61Packer 01/25/2011 at 10:26 PM #

    Flash: Sidney Low sings country:

    I had a tiger by the tail it was plain to see
    But I wasn’t much when he got through with me
    We’re still losing leads and turning mighty pale
    Wolfpack basketball is on its tail…..

  20. PackInsider 01/25/2011 at 10:27 PM #

    I suck at following twitter, but it seems to me like EVERYONE is on the same page about Lowe tonight. It’s over.

  21. Wulfpack 01/25/2011 at 10:27 PM #

    I didn’t watch tonight. Had class. I won’t watch this team again this year.

    I did catch Woods post game comments and he basically said this team is a bunch of softies.

    This team isn’t even close to being on the NIT bubble. UNC will put us out of our misery, as they did last year.

    Donahue and Brownell didn’t take long to step on Sid. Guys, we don’t only have the worst ACC coach, but quite possibly the worst coach in all of basketball.

  22. packfan03 01/25/2011 at 10:32 PM #

    This sucks. Just fight. Stop erroneously substituting, stop worrying about team dynamics, just fight.

    What disappoints me most is that Lowe knows his job is on the line, yet refuses to simply play our best players. 25 minutes from Harrow isn’t going to cut it. He shouldn’t come out of the game.

  23. packfan03 01/25/2011 at 10:34 PM #

    I feel as if Lowe cares too much about player’s feelings. I don’t understand wilting – our team seems to embrace it.

    MAN UP.

  24. packalum44 01/25/2011 at 10:35 PM #

    ^ Lowe doesn’t know who is best players are. That is how incompetent he is.

  25. AC_Wolf 01/25/2011 at 10:37 PM #

    Why do so many teams come back on us by taking it to the hole and we never use that same end of game strategy.

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