Pack downs Horns 77-74

11-12 Basketball79

State trailed 65-47 with 11:50 to play before finishing the game on a 27-12 run to pull out the quality win and move to 4-1 on the season. Leslie scored 17, Wood 16 and Brown 11.

Box Score (ESPN).

Recap (WRAL)

The game was on ESPN3.com, which many of us don’t have access to so we didn’t see it. Feel free to discuss this game below or over on the SFN Forums.

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11-12 Basketball

79 Responses to Pack downs Horns 77-74

  1. Packfan28 11/21/2011 at 10:44 PM #

    Man this feels good.

  2. eas 11/21/2011 at 10:51 PM #

    Please don’t wake me up…..I am currently dreaming that we just made a huge comeback vs. Texas and won!

    Way to go Gott and Co. If for some miracle we find out how to play defense we are going to have a good year. Maybe not great but darn good compared to anything we have seen in a long time.

  3. Howler 11/21/2011 at 10:55 PM #

    After the Vandy loss I posted that it would hurt us later if we end up on the NCAA tourney bubble. I love this team, but was criticized for stating an obvious fact. Now I am pleased to observe that if we are on the bubble, the Texas game could really help. I will be pulling for the Horns to do well the rest of the season.

  4. brickyard 83 11/21/2011 at 11:02 PM #

    I was able to watch on internet. It was somewhere around the 11:00 min mark or so when Texas #1 scorer got his 4th foul against Calvin. Then somewhere along the way I guess he said something to the zebras and the T’d him up for 5th and he was out. He had been avg 30 per game and had 17 at the point. After that Texas offense really struggled. I believe we made all 4 ft’s with Wood making two on the T and Calvin with his two for the original foul. Clearly a huge turning point in the game.

    Outstanding push by the fellows for sure… Go Pack

  5. wekiser 11/21/2011 at 11:10 PM #

    I know I may be getting the cart before the horse…but I see good things for us!! WE FOUND OUR COACH!

    “Don’t Give Up; Don’t Ever Give Up!”

    That was a great win! Also…love how Gottfried is pumped about winning!! Chest bumping the players….that is what I am talking about!!!!

  6. choppack1 11/21/2011 at 11:17 PM #

    “Can someone explain to me the fascination with Rick Barnes. I see an good recruiter that does nothing on the sidelines.”

    A) he’s from North Carolina
    B) He got into w/ Dean
    C) He goes to the tournament every year and he’s rarely on the bubble.
    D) He’s a great recruiter

    The only thing he doesn’t do is hang banner. He’s kinda of like the opposite of a basketball coaching version of Chris “All He Does is Catch Touchdown Passes” Carter.

    He wins everything but championships.

  7. runwiththepack 11/21/2011 at 11:32 PM #

    The last few days have been unbelievable.

    Maybe it’s soon to be Morning In Wolfpack Country again, finally. Don’t break our hearts again next week! I don’t want to lose this smile for at least a few days.

  8. apexpacker 11/21/2011 at 11:39 PM #

    Just like the Princeton game, this was a contest that Sidney or Herb would have lost. Sidney’s teams always faded down the stretch. Call it lack of conditioning or focus, with 5-6 minutes left they would just slow down. Herb on the other hand would have called multiple time outs in the last 30 seconds to construct some elaborate play – and then the team would have struggled to get the ball in bounds.

    Gottfried just stayed calm and trusted his players to do what they had practiced. When they were down he did not panic and when they started coming back he made smart substitutions and got key players rest so that in the last 2-3 minutes he had his best team rested and on the floor.

    A great win for a young program!

  9. howlie 11/21/2011 at 11:46 PM #

    It’s the basketball spring of Wolfpackerdom.

  10. HPWolf 11/21/2011 at 11:58 PM #

    Anyone else notice how cool and collected coach was on the sidelines. Even when we were down 18 he had a look of confidence on his face, no panic. I like that. Also noticed a competitive fire and determination in Leslie that has been missing till now. He has turned into a scrapper and with his talent he is going to have one hell of a year.

  11. TruthBKnown Returns 11/22/2011 at 12:03 AM #

    If State was down 65-47, doesn’t that mean we closed the game on a 30-9 run?

  12. Ashman87 11/22/2011 at 12:13 AM #

    When was the last time we felt this good about basketball. End of 2007? First part of 2006? 2005 NCAA Tournament? I mean, I wasn’t exactly sure what was going to happen this first year, but without a doubt Mark is our best coach that we’ve had since Valvano. Even if we have some struggles in late Febuary/ early March, I am really glad about where the program is heading. I haven’t said that in a long time and I’m sure most of you can relate to that.

  13. ancsu87 11/22/2011 at 12:43 AM #

    Randy – “You heard it here first: Mark Gottfried is going to go down as the BEST Coaching hire in the last 30 years in any sport at NC State.” Does Norm Sloan or Jim Valvano ring a bell. I really like Coach Gott but he ain’t one of those two yet. When he wins a NC then he is.

    Choppack1 – “Can someone explain to me the fascination with Rick Barnes. I see an good recruiter that does nothing on the sidelines.”

    A) he’s from North Carolina — SO; Valvano was a NY boy who won our hearts
    B) He got into w/ Dean – Did he ever beat him in a game; verbal fights don’t mean shit
    C) He goes to the tournament every year and he’s rarely on the bubble. — Same knock on Dean Smith for years by State fans
    D) He’s a great recruiter — Valvano showed avg/above avg kids with great coaching is better than great recruits.

    The only thing he doesn’t do is hang banner. He’s kinda of like the opposite of a basketball coaching version of Chris “All He Does is Catch Touchdown Passes” Carter.

    He wins everything but championships. — NC State ain’t about regular season. It is all about peaking at the right time and catching Duke and UNC-BS in total titles and reclaiming our place among the elite.

    F Barnes ….

  14. ancsu87 11/22/2011 at 12:49 AM #

    Randy — “You heard it here first: Mark Gottfried is going to go down as the BEST Coaching hire in the last 30 years in any sport at NC State.” —– Where were you when Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano were on the sidelines? Remember Dick Sheridan. I like Coach Gott a lot … but it is 5 games into his first season.

  15. ancsu87 11/22/2011 at 12:54 AM #

    choppack1 — I respectively disagree with your comment in the following ways:
    November 21st, 2011 at 11:17 pm “Can someone explain to me the fascination with Rick Barnes. I see an good recruiter that does nothing on the sidelines.”

    A) he’s from North Carolina — SO WHAT; Jim Valvano was from NY City. I would take him any day of the week over a NC native
    B) He got into w/ Dean — Verbal whining media fights is not the same as actually beating Dean on the court.
    C) He goes to the tournament every year and he’s rarely on the bubble. — Same knock NC State fans had on Dean for years until Georgetown threw them a NC.
    D) He’s a great recruiter — In college good recruits and great coach is more important

    The only thing he doesn’t do is hang banner. He’s kinda of like the opposite of a basketball coaching version of Chris “All He Does is Catch Touchdown Passes” Carter.

    He wins everything but championships. — NC State is not about this. We are about winning more NCs and passing Duke and UNC-BS on the title count so we can reclaim our place as an elite program and leader of the ACC (i.e. Everett Case/Norm Sloan). We never needed Rick Barnes.

  16. ryebread 11/22/2011 at 12:59 AM #

    I watched the game. Honestly, I have rarely ever seen one seemingly innocuous play make such a large difference in a game.

    For those that didn’t see it, we could NOT stop this senior guard from Texas. He was strong, fast, was a solid dribbler and could shoot. The entire first half and the first 8 minutes of the second half, he just took us to the basket at will off of a ball screen. We tried every defender on him. We tried zone. We hedged the ball screen. If we made him give it up, he’d just get it back off of a down screen and make a shot. One player literally single handedly beat us for ~28 minutes. He was averaging 29 PPG on the season and had about 17 at the time.

    We were down 18 having trailed by double digits most of the second half. We’d make a little run and then Texas would spurt away again. The game was solidly in hand — the only real question was the final margin.

    We had a fast break and Leslie went up for a lay up, missed, but was luckily bailed out by a somewhat chippy foul call. That was the fourth foul on the senior guard. As he walked to the bench, he evidently said something to the refs, who immediately T’d him up. Suddenly Texas was without their best player.

    Wood went to the line and made both the technical free throws. Then Leslie hit both of his free throws. We got a couple of stops, nailed a couple of threes and the comeback was on.

    After being down 18, we went on a 28-2 run to take an 8 point lead. During that stretch, we attacked on defense, on offense and on the glass. Unfortunately we backed off at about the 2 minute mark and almost lost it. If we’d have kept on the throttle, we could have potentially blown Texas out of the gym.

    This thing wasn’t pretty, but the team learned more out of tonight’s game than they have any thus far. We have some things to work on — perimeter defense, free throws down the stretch (Brown and Leslie were 0-4 in the last minute), rebounding (we got killed on the boards for 30 minutes), the last two minutes, and being smart on the break when trailing. At the same time, the team learned that no lead is insurmountable as long as they play together. That lesson will go a long, long ways as the season progresses.

    Great win! Go Pack!

  17. ancsu87 11/22/2011 at 1:10 AM #

    Great summary Ryebread.

  18. MrPlywood 11/22/2011 at 2:07 AM #

    To add to rye’s synopsis (I think I have this right) at 2:28 Howell came off a screen and made a jumper to put State up 77-70, but Johnson was called for a foul on the screen. Pretty bad call IMHO and it took 2 points off the board. Texas eventually scored to make it 75-72. So from a potential 7 point deficit to 3 points in a short span gave TX some hope and it was closer than it needed to be in the final 2 minutes.

    Also, I absolutely LOVED the alleyoop to Calvin coming out of a timeout that got State within 2. That was crucial. How many times have we seen zero production in that situation?

  19. 8pack 11/22/2011 at 2:42 AM #

    ^It was actually a 30-9 run to end the game (from the 11:50 mark -down 65-47, to winning 77-74). Just amazing.

  20. packalum44 11/22/2011 at 3:07 AM #

    Don’t you know Amille Jefferson wish he would have signed with the pack in the early period! Don’t underestimate this win in regards to recruiting. If we can make the dance we are golden with Amille not to mention 2013 class.

    The personal snub by Barnes also makes this so much more satisfying than most can imagine.

  21. Gene 11/22/2011 at 3:18 AM #

    What impressed me is even before J. Brown fouled out and got T’ed up, the team didn’t panic, when down by 18. We cut the deficit to 10 points and looked like we could make a comeback. A couple of turnovers and a couple of made shots by Texas and we’re down 18.

    Other Wolfpack teams would’ve quit at this point. This team didn’t quit. Players didn’t give up on the game plan or system and try win the game on their own, like they would have in years past.

    They started to chip away at the 65-47 deficit again and cut it to 65-52, when J. Brown committed his 4th fowl on a fastbreak lay-up, which would’ve cut the deficit by another two points to 65-54, if Leslie made it/hadn’t been fouled.

    The technical foul and J. Brown fouling out was just gravy and a big point in the game, but the team didn’t quit, when the “comeback” to cut the deficit to 57-47 got blown up and Texas went up 65-47.

    That was impressive to watch a team play through that run by Texas and keep trying to get the win.

  22. tvopack 11/22/2011 at 4:52 AM #

    Am I the only one who get tired by how some people comparing how the game could have ended with Sendek or Lowe? I believe we should move on and congratulate Gott and the team without being negative about the previous coaches, especially Lowe who got us the recruits.

    I watched the whole game on ESPN3 and love the win. It’s an amazing come back. The foul out of Texas top scorer helped us tremendously.

  23. Pack1997 11/22/2011 at 7:23 AM #

    tvo, it is only logical to compare this team and staff to the previous coaching staff. I don’t think it is meant to knock Lowe, just to point out the difference, which is night and day!

  24. Wulfpack 11/22/2011 at 7:28 AM #

    Not a knock on Lowe – just shows the stark contrast between what an experienced coach and his staff can do for a program.

    And it looks like Gott can get the recruits with the best of them. Enough on the “but Lowe was a great recruiter” stuff. So are a bunch of other coaches. NCSU has NEVER had any issues getting talent to Raleigh. It’s what you do with that talent that really matters. For the past 20 years, we haven’t done jack with it. Looks like that’s about to change real soon.

  25. Wulfpack 11/22/2011 at 7:34 AM #

    Barnes is a good coach but I was never enamored with him like some were. He hasn’t made it past the second round the past three seasons and he’s just getting owned by Kansas. Only one Final Four – you would think he’s God the way some talk about him. He has won only one post season conference tourney championship (Providence, 1994) in his 21 years as a head coach. He has an overall record of 19–18 in the NCAA tournament (17-12 at Texas). In eight of his twelve years at Texas, the Longhorns have gone on to lose to a lower seed in the NCAA Tournament.

    Don’t get me wrong – a very good coach but I think we can groom our own to be as good or better in time. Gott most definitely has more fire burning inside of him. He’s out to prove something.

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