Some Interesting Basketball Stats

11-12 Basketball Stat of the Day37

As NC State basketball prepares to begin ACC play on Sunday against Maryland, here are a few interesting stats.

• All 5 starters (Leslie, Brown, Wood, Williams & Howell) are averaging double figures in points. State hasn’t had 5 double figure scorers since the 06-07 team (Costner, Grant, McCauley, Atsur & Fells). Before that, you have to go back to 77-78 (Whitney, Austin, Warren, Pinder & Matthews) to find a State team with 5 double figure scorers.

• It would be hard to get more balanced scoring out of your starting 5 than State’s starters this season. All 5 starters average between 12.2 and 13.0 points per game.

• Richard Howell’s 9.9 rebounds per game is the highest average since Todd Fuller (also 9.9) in 95-96. To find a higher rebounds per game average you have to go back to Kenny Carr (10.3) in 75-76.

• Lorenzo Brown’s 6.7 assists per game is the highest since Chris Corchiani (9.6) in 90-91.

• C.J. Leslie’s 2.33 blocks per game is the highest since Thurl Bailey (2.64) in 82-83, just above Cedric Simmons (2.28) in 05-06.

• Scott Wood’s 3-point percentage of .471 is the highest since Archie Miller (.575) in 00-01 (qualification of a minimum of 1 3-pointer made per game).

• The team average of 77.3 points per game and 17.8 assists per game are the highest since Les Robinson’s last team in 95-96 (80.9 and 18.8).

About WV Wolf

Graduated from NCSU in 1996 with a degree in statistics. Born and inbred in West "By God" Virginia and now live in Raleigh where I spend my time watching the Wolfpack, the Mountaineers and the Carolina Hurricanes as well as making bar graphs for SFN. I'm @wvncsu on the Twitter machine.

11-12 Basketball Stat of the Day

37 Responses to Some Interesting Basketball Stats

  1. West Coaster 01/05/2012 at 2:47 PM #

    I agree that the points distribution is very nice, but I think the rest of the stats say more about the stiffness of competition; just think of the last stat on the list.

  2. Wufpacker 01/05/2012 at 3:09 PM #

    The stat that will make or break this team is bench scoring. If we can develop some depth, even just narrow the gap in the dropoff a little bit, this team could be fairly potent.

  3. tractor57 01/05/2012 at 3:45 PM #

    Over the last couple games the bench play seems improved. Maybe that is the competition but I do see some positives with every game. As the conference season begins we will tell a bit more – even with the apparent down year for the ACC.

    I’m no where near drinking the koolaid that this team is excellent but I see plenty of signs it is much improved over the Lowe led teams. Is that enough to make some conference noise? I hope so but only time will tell.

  4. 61Packer 01/05/2012 at 3:48 PM #

    The stat that will make or break this team is their ACC road record.

  5. TruthBKnown Returns 01/05/2012 at 3:53 PM #

    I like that we have so many double figure scorers. It shows that we’re unselfish with the ball.

  6. Texpack 01/05/2012 at 3:56 PM #

    If our 3pt% is above 37.5% in ACC play and we can make an average of 6 3-pointers per game we will win 10 ACC games. Below 35% and we won’t have a winning ACC record.

  7. ruffles31 01/05/2012 at 4:13 PM #

    ^61Packer, I disagree with your statement about the importance of the team’s ACC road record. I think it is the ACC home record that is the bigger make or break number.

    In the Lowe era, State won 4, 3, 5, 3, and 3 ACC home games in his 5 years. State won 1, 2, 1, 1, and 2 ACC road games in his 5 years.

    He had one year where he won more than 50% of his home ACC games. What this team needs to do is retake over the home court advantage. Based on the last 5 years, the goal for this team needs to be to win 6-7 ACC home games and then steal a couple on the road.

  8. lawful 01/05/2012 at 4:19 PM #

    Home court advantage? We lost that when we moved out of Reynolds. Packer is right.

  9. Khan 01/05/2012 at 4:23 PM #

    We’re also turning it over slightly more than 13 times per game and I belive our free throw shooting is around 75%.

    Going forward, and certainly against upper-tier competition, we will need to treasure the basketball with a greater magnitude. We’ll also need to carefully matriculate the basketball down the court with more thoughtfullness, and of course, propagate it into the ring more thoroughly and with greater frequency, from the charity stripe.

  10. old13 01/05/2012 at 4:31 PM #

    ^ 75% team average (I think it’s actually 77%+) for FTs is EXCELLENT! This is not a problem, although it amazes me how much it’s improved since the beginning of the season. 13 TOs per game isn’t bad but it would be nice to keep it under 10. The balanced scoring and assist per FG is fantastic. To me, this and the FT shooting are the strongest points so far. Howell’s rebounding is great but I’d like to see another one (Lesslie, Painter) increase theirs. D has been pretty good the last few games and may be really good if it keeps improving as the season wears on. Gott keeps saying that we’re good but not great. I think there is potential for great this season if they keep working.

    BTW English majors from Wellesley shouldn’t post on a board frequented heavily by engineers and agies!! :>)

  11. ruffles31 01/05/2012 at 4:46 PM #

    So you think road game record is more important than the home game record? Rome wasn’t built in a day. Gotta take it one step at a time. First step. Win ACC home games.

  12. Shadow722 01/05/2012 at 5:03 PM #

    Actually we are at 75.4% FT shooting. Which is “only” #1 in the ACC and 24th in the nation. But who’s counting.

    Going a bit further:

    Offensive Rebound % #23rd in the Nation
    PPP #18 in the nation

    Actually Scoring, Rebounds, Steals, Assists and FT are the LEAST of our problems this year. A bit better defense would help immeasurably in our final win-loss column…..

  13. triadwolf 01/05/2012 at 5:26 PM #

    I saw recently that 75% of our made baskets are off assists. That stat alone is outstanding, but when you consider that most of these guys played last year… It’s just incredible how different the mentality is now.

    Hopefully all these numbers will translate into wins and at least put us on the bubble. To date, Gott has to be an early ACC COY favorite along with Leitao (not saying he’ll win, but he has to be raising some eyebrows).

    Add in an additional outside shooter, play better defense, and add some depth; the next couple of years look promising.

  14. Khan 01/05/2012 at 5:26 PM #

    It was a throwback reference to the bygone days of yore more than a serious anaylsis. Oh well, better to block that from memory anyway.

    Regarding the home vs. away thing, it’s undoubtedly more important to win the games at home right now. Road wins are nice, but they’ll come. Not saying we won’t win some this year, because we should, especially given how bad some of the other teams in the league are. But should winning on the road be step 1? No.

    Step one should be solid fundamental improvement: Free throws, rebounding, togetherness, mental toughness, better matriculation of the basketball 🙂 which I think we’d all agree we’re seeing. Step two should be taking care of the home court, including beating the lower tier teams solidly, which we’re doing a better job of. This should lead to a solid NIT berth, bubble/low-end NCAA chance. Step 3 will be to add in key road wins. When this happens, we’ll be a solid NCAA tourney team.

    I expect playing in the NIT this year. Rating the alternatives though, I’d place the greater risk on being a bubble/tourney team rather than not at least making the NIT.

  15. Pack Mentality 01/05/2012 at 5:30 PM #

    Step 1) Win the games in which we are favored to win.

  16. Ed89 01/05/2012 at 5:33 PM #

    ^^^To date, Gott has to be an early ACC COY favorite along with Leitao (not saying he’ll win, but he has to be raising some eyebrows).

    LMAO…I assume you mean Bennett at UVa…This is his 3rd year after replacing Leitao…

  17. wolfmans brother 01/05/2012 at 6:16 PM #

    Khan, well-played. Sometimes you’ve just got to keep chopping wood on that innuendo for two halves to make sure you’re victorious.

  18. 61Packer 01/05/2012 at 6:34 PM #

    Under Lowe, we won what, 5 or 6 ACC road games total in 5 years? Despite several NCAAT appearances under Sendek, our ACC road record was dismal, and ditto for Robinson. During the 50s, 60s (yes), 70s and 80s we won at least as many if not more ACC road games than we lost. That’s what good programs do.

    This season, we play Duke, UNC, VT, GT, WF, BC, Miami and Clemson on the road. We should win at least 4 or 5 of those, and maybe 6. But if our record in those 8 games is 3-5 or worse, there’s no logical way we’ll be an NCAAT team unless we reach the ACCT finals or beat one of the Blues.

    I’m not downplaying our home games. I’m just saying that the next level for us would be to stop being road kill at places like BC, WF, Miami and GT for starters. Most teams I follow who have had the home success we’ve had (and we’re usually pretty good at home) will do much better on the road than we have.

    Having your fans’ support will help you win at home, but on the road, I think it’s the amount of confidence the coaches can convey to their players that they not only can but WILL come through in the clutch and win in a hostile environment. The last 3 Pack coaches could not do this; Sendek was the worst in that regard that I’ve EVER seen, even in home games. Who could ever forget the endings to the infamous BC and Syracuse home games that resembled Chinese fire drills at the end?

    It’s just a feeling, but I believe this coaching staff has raised the confidence level of this team well above what it’s been since the Valvano era. I really like the way they’ve played, and I really liked what I’ve seen the coaches do to improve these players individually and collectively.

  19. choppack1 01/05/2012 at 7:24 PM #

    Perhaps the best news is that our rpi is still decent after we finished the easiest part of our season. Hopefully, this team will continue to improve.

  20. bill.onthebeach 01/05/2012 at 7:51 PM #

    Yes….without a doubt, this team has come a long way in a short time and still has a lot of room to grow.

    I will be watching three things, not in any order…

    I. Turnovers… for my engineer friends, turnovers should be broken into categories…

    1. Those made when running a ‘set offense’
    2. Those made on the fast break

    and

    A. Excessive Creativity/Individualism… plays attempted when the play was not there, such as the behind the back dribble against a double team, the pass that can’t be caught and the pass that puts the next guy in an unfavorable or impossible position for success.

    B. Bad hands…passes that should have been caught…shots that should not have been attempted.

    Type 1A is the leading indicator of success or failure, followed by 1B. I don’t worry about Type2 unless we make more than one in a row.

    If Type 1A turnovers are less than 10 in games under 70 or 12 in games over 70 we should be in position to win at the end of those games.

    II. Attitude…First, I would like to see a little more positive emotion between the guys…congratulating each other on good plays, correcting each other on bad ones. Most of the time, some of our guys on the bench–including starters– are watching and some are cheering. One, in particular, when on the bench, is either looking at the crowd, thinking postgame or sulking because he’s not on the floor.

    FWIW, Painter appears to be the real cheerleader on this team and he more plays, the better we may be as a team from a togetherness/attitude standpoint.

    Second, is the the ‘killer’ instinct, the ‘ice’ in their veins: the “tie game, on the FT line, 2 secs left in the DeanDome, TOTAL CONFIDENCE based on experience kind of instinct.

    Haven’t seen this yet from this team.

    Some nights you win because you have more talent than your opponent; some nights you win because you had more heart and desire than your opponent. We will need both.

    III. The dead zones … the 5-7 minute periods where we go O-for whatever???, especially late in first half and from the 15 to 5 point of second half. ESPN’s game flow dynamic graphs illustrate these perfectly. Avoid those and again we should be in position at the end of the game to win.

    To be fair, I think this category applies equally to players and coaches…Coach needs to prove himself too. This ain’t going to be like SEC BBall.

    So any night, against any ACC opponent, except one, if our coaches and players can do all three of these we should be in position to win…the rest is pure luck. And if so over the season, I think we can win 75-85% of our conference games home and away.

    I am feeling lucky.

    Disclaimer: Bench play… If our bench gets a lot of minutes and it’s not a blowout… all bets are off. Good news, Coach Gott has settled into the 7 man rotation fairly quickly and I look for him continue to do things that keep our bench off the floor.

  21. Shadow722 01/05/2012 at 7:56 PM #

    With ACC RPI’s looking like this:

    2. Duke

    18. North Carolina

    39. Virginia Tech

    52. Virginia

    54. NC State

    66. Florida State

    73. Miami (FL)

    110. Maryland

    112. Wake Forest

    156. Georgia Tech

    231. Clemson

    261. Boston College

    I’m not sure we are finished with the “easiest” part of our season, yet, until we hit Jan 26th….

  22. tuckerdorm1983 01/05/2012 at 9:21 PM #

    a decisive win against the twerps is a step in the right direction. Going into the UNC game we play five games. If we are 5-0, then somebody better hand me the kool-aid because I need a drink. I figure that is what you folks in the 10-6 club are drinking right now. 2-3 or 3-2 seems more realistic to me, but I have to see for myself.

  23. Thompson44 01/05/2012 at 9:42 PM #

    Does anyone have any idea when the day of Reckoning at Chapel Cheat is going to happen? I have a cake to order, balloons to put up and guests to invite.

  24. howlie 01/05/2012 at 10:07 PM #

    Own the Virginians.
    Own the Floridians.
    NCAA.

  25. ncsu05mit10 01/05/2012 at 10:09 PM #

    We’ve improved in every statistical category except for two: defense and turnovers.

    I think we’ll get better on the turnovers as Brown gets more comfortable running the point. It seems we’ve also had a lot of turnovers due to aggressive passing in traffic– it’s hard to fault guys for giving that extra pass or trying to thread the needle for an easy bucket, and I think our guys’ decision making will get better.

    The item that I really want to see improvement on is defense. Our perimeter D has been pretty terrible, and mediocre competition seems to find easy lanes to the bucket too often due to poor weak side help. Stiffer defense will create more turnovers (which we do VERY little of) and will help the team avoid those long droughts of scoring — this especially comes to mind against ‘Cuse. When you watch UK, UNC, Duke, etc play, there’s just a different level of defensive intensity.

    I’m not worried about our bench scoring– Gott has indicated he’s OK with a 7 man rotation, with Vandy likely to take a medical redshirt. We need Brown and Johnson to be a serious threat from the perimeter keep the post open, which is our bread and butter.

    Overall, I’m very pleased and extremely optimistic, though realistic that we’re probably an NIT team. If we improve our D, I think we could be an NCAA team, but I’m not too confident that happen in one season.

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