January 14, 2012
NC STATE BASKETBALL
JP GIGLIO (N&O)
Wolfpack defense ready for next test
Out of 338 NCAA Div. I basketball teams, N.C. State ranks 312th in defending the 3-point line.
Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried didn’t need to look up that statistic to know his team has to improve its perimeter defense and needs to do so quickly.
N.C. State (12-5, 1-1 ACC) visits Wake Forest today and the Demon Deacons (10-6, 1-1) boast two of the best wing scorers in the ACC in Travis McKie (18.0 points per game) and C.J. Harris (17.7). They rank second and third, respectively, in the ACC in scoring.
“We have to be better than we’ve been on the perimeter, or those guys will have big nights,” Gottfried said Friday.
Closing out perimeter shooters has been a season-long issue for N.C. State, which has allowed opponents to shoot 38.1 percent (114 of 299) from behind the 3-point line. Georgia Tech made 60 percent (9 of 15) of its 3s in Wednesday’s 82-71 win over the Wolfpack in the RBC Center.
EDWARD G. ROBINSON III (N&O)
Deacons not believing what they hear
Wake Forest basketball players never believed what they were hearing.
After a disappointing 2010-11 men’s basketball season – the Demon Deacons finished 8-24 overall and 1-15 in the ACC – outsiders pronounced them doomed for a repeat this season. “We definitely watch ESPN and see how people have us picked last automatically based off last year,” Wake sophomore forward Travis McKie said.
Added junior guard C.J. Harris, “That was nowhere close to the case.”
Wake has done everything in its power, despite a shortened roster with just six scholarship players, to prove naysayers wrong. Entering today’s home game against N.C. State (12-5, 1-1), the Deacons (10-6, 1-1) sit near the middle of the conference standings and are confident about their ability to play spoiler this season.
JP GIGLIO (N&O)
Preview: N.C. State
RON GREEN JR (N&O)
Preview: Wake Forest
GoPack.com
Wolfpack MBB Travels To Wake Forest
NC State hits the road for the first time in ACC play when it travels to Wake Forest on Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m. All the action can be heard on the NC State Radio Network and seen on the ACC Network in markets featuring conference schools. Nationally, it can been seen on the ESPN Full Court package or via ESPN3 on the internet.
Both teams enter Saturday contest coming off a loss in their previous outing. The Pack fell at home to Georgia Tech, 82-71, this past Wednesday night. The Demon Deacons suffered a 70-64 loss at Maryland also last Wedneday.
The Wolfpack is led in scoring by sophomore C.J. Leslie and junior Scott Wood. Leslie is averaging 13.7 points per game (11th ACC), while Wood is averaging 12.8 per game (17th ACC). Junior Richard Howell is third in the league in rebounding averaging 9.2 boards per game (3rd ACC).
Wake Forest features the dynamic duo of Travis McKie and C.J. Harris, who rank second and third in the ACC in scoring. McKie is scoring at a clip of 18.0 per game, while Harris is averaging 17.7 per outing.
Akula Wolf (Backingthepack.com)
We Have A Depth Problem
They had eight guys in double-figure minutes, State had seven. We could say that both squads combined for a total of 200 minutes apiece, and Georgia Tech happened to spend their 200 minutes a little better than did NC State. Georgia Tech had five guys who scored in double figures, NC State had five guys in double figures.
“Even Wake Forest (10-6, 1-1) has enough frontcourt depth to hurt N.C. State on Saturday in Winston-Salem unless Leslie and Richard Howell can avoid foul trouble.”
Even NC State has enough frontcourt depth to hurt Wake Forest on Saturday unless Ty Walker and Nikita Mescheriakov can avoid foul trouble. Read that stupid sentence again.
Akula Wolf (Backingthepack.com)
Previewing The Wake Forest Demon Deacons
What a difference a year makes–that actually looks like a real offense. I guess if there’s a good thing about being really, really bad, it’s that it’s a lot easier to make big strides in the right direction when that’s the only way you can go. The Deacs are playing better basketball at both ends, they’ve already won more games overall than they did all of last year and equaled their conference win total (one).
They still are far from good at either end, but at least now it appears they’ve gotten back to place where they can be competitive in most games. Jeff Bzdelik still hates offensive rebounds, and that’s never going to change, and he doesn’t want to talk about it. (Something about an accident in his driveway when he was seven years old.) Due to the sensitive nature of this particular issue, and although I am the founder/treasurer of the Offensive Rebound Anti-Defamation League, I am not at this time seeking a legal inquiry.
Bret Strelow (FayObserver.com)
Three things to know: N.C. State vs. Wake Forest
3. Knock on Wood
Following the loss to Georgia Tech, a game in which he went 2-for-9 from 3-point range and 3-for-11 from the field, junior Scott Wood apologized to his Twitter followers for playing what he called the worst game of his N.C. State career, also promising that the Wolfpack won’t end up with another 10th-place finish in the ACC. Wood has room to improve on his 8.75 scoring average over four games against Wake, and reaching the free-throw line a bit more could boost those numbers. Wood is 39-for-39 at the line this season, and he has hit 49 in a row dating back to last season. J.J. Redick holds the ACC record of 54 consecutive makes.
PackPride.com
Gottfried: “We Have To Be A Lot Better”
“We’re running down the floor on a fastbreak and throw the ball out of bounds. We dribble it behind our back, it goes out of bounds. That’s not necessarily not playing hard, that’s just playing poorly. Our guys have played pretty hard, that hasn’t really been an issue.”
“Wake’s speed at point guard is a concern. The wing scorers, when you look at our team right now, one area where we need to be greatly improved is on defense, especially from behind the line. So that’s a concern. Scott Wood, C.J. Williams and Lorenzo Brown have to be better than we’ve been on the perimeter or those guys are going to have big nights.”
“[C.J. Leslie and C.J. Williams] of them are going to ending up guarding [Travis McKie], and maybe even Richard Howell, depending on who we have in the game. It’s going to be a combination of a lot of guys, he’s a very good player and so is Harris. Depending on who we have in the game, for example if we’ve got Deshawn Painter and Richard in the game and they put McKie at the four, Richard is going to have to guard him for a minute or two or maybe ten minutes.”
“There’s not a bigger C.J. Williams fan than me. I love this guy, he’s played at a very high level. I’ve challenged him, it’s time to cut to the chase. He has to be better defensively on the perimeter, period. We’ve put him on best scorers with the anticipation that you aren’t going to shut guys out, but he has to step that part of his game up for our team to take a step. To become better, we have to have a perimeter, shutdown guy and we think it’s him. So, I’ve challenged him in that regard.”
“As a coach you have to figure out what is the best way for your team to defense. I don’t know that we’ve discovered that quite yet, to be honest. Let me say this, when you have a discussion after a loss, everything is 911. If we would have had the same discussion after the Maryland game I may have given you a different answer… it’s still something we’ve got to discover for our team.”
PackPride.com
The Sports Xchange
Can State Get Back On Track?
The Wolfpack has started a process that involves a specific goal: Win 11 ACC games.
That’s the figure that first-year coach Mark Gottfried has thrown out as a likely necessity in order for N.C. State to reach the NCAA Tournament. It’s unusual for a coach to offer such a public statement, but with a 1-1 start in the ACC and a game Saturday at Wake Forest there’s reason to believe that the Wolfpack would be wise to take care of business against the Demon Deacons.
“Now whether we can get there or not, that’s a whole other story,” Gottfried said of the 11-victory goal in league play. “We do probably have a long, long way to go. But I’m not ever going to hide from that.”
While most coaches are so in tune with the one-game-at-a-time lines that looking at the big picture is prohibited, the Wolfpack players are aware of their mission.
“We want to get 11 wins,” forward Richard Howell said. “That’s what we need and I feel like that’s something we can definitely accomplish.”
In former coach Sidney Lowe’s five seasons, the most ACC regular-season victories Wolfpack managed was six. So if N.C. State wins at Wake Forest, it will be one-third of the way to that mark after the first three games.
ACC BASKETBALL
Andrew Skwara (accsports.com)
ACC Weekend Preview, Jan. 13
N.C. State (12-5, 1-1 ACC) at Wake Forest (10-6, 1-1)
When: 1 pm (EST)
TV: ACC Network (Sirius 134/XM 197)What’s at Stake?
After suffering a loss to a .500 Georgia Tech team at home earlier this week, this is an increasingly important game for N.C. State. Falling to a team of Wake’s stature (ranks 88th in the RPI) would further damage the Wolfpack’s resume and take away much of the confidence Mark Gottfried’s team built up with its six-game win streak in December. Wake has a chance to move to 2-1 in ACC play, which would be a big step for a program that won just one ACC game last season.Key for the Wolfpack
Tighten up the defense. Giving up too many shots and putting Georgia Tech on the free throw line too much cost the Wolfpack in the last game. The Pack must be able to get more stops on the defensive end in order to win consistently in conference play, especially on the road.Key for the Demon Deacons
Slow down the pace and make it a half-court game. Getting in a shooting contest with a balanced team like the Wolfpack is a mistake. The fewer possession and fewer shots taken, the more it works in the Deacs’ favorNumbers Game
Wake Forest’s 7-foot-2 Ty Walker had eight blocks in Wake’s loss to Maryland last Wednesday, which is the most by a Wake player since Tim Duncan in 1997 … N.C. State’s Scott Wood has made 49 straight free throws, the second longest streak in ACC history … Wake’s Travis McKie has scored in double figures in 15 of 16 games this season … Wake is looking for its 100th win over N.C State … The Wolfpack leads the all-time series 134-99.Prediction
N.C. State 72, Wake Forest 65 – The Deacs are no longer a pushover in this league, but they don’t quite have enough offense to keep up with the Wolfpack and all its scoring options.
Bret Strelow (FayObserver.com)
Layup Lines: Ushering in the ACC hoops weekend with a look at boorish behavior and burrito violence
Two things you should know about Chapel Hill web commentator Fred Black: He’s fed up with the “boorish” fan behavior at North Carolina games, and he can navigate his way through a thesaurus.
Black took UNC fans to task for recently booing chancellor Holden Thorp and Gov. Bev Perdue. He even delivered a quick jab to “a school up the road” for the behavior of its students.
N.C. State fans are capable of showing their support in extreme and, as was the case Wednesday, bizarre ways, but some of the stunts by college kids can be pretty amusing.
Crank up the “Party Rock Anthem” for:
N.C. State at Wake Forest
As the Wolfpack’s home loss to Georgia Tech proves, sometimes things happen that are just hard to explain.
N.C. State needs to get back on track against a Wake Forest team that won its ACC home opener and rallied to put a scare into Maryland. The Wolfpack blew out Wake two times last season, but Saturday’s game at Joel Coliseum should be more competitive.
Either way, N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried is bound to rip off his blazer at some point. As long as he doesn’t throw it on the court …
