February 5, 2012
NC STATE BASKETBALL
J.P. GIGLIO (N&O)
Wood, Pack make it five straight over Wake Forest
N.C. State will always have Wake Forest.
The ACC will regularly take a game against North Carolina away from the Wolfpack when the league expands to 14 teams, but State and Wake will continue to play twice a season.
Since 2006, that has been a good thing for State. The Pack beat the Demon Deacons 87-76 on Saturday for the fifth straight time and the ninth time in the past 12 games.
Scott Wood’s 23 points lifted the Pack in a closer call than the earlier meeting this season, a 76-40 wipeout in Winston-Salem, and the two lopsided State wins from last season (by 25 and 21 points).
C.J. Leslie and C.J. Williams each added 18 points for the Wolfpack, who improved to 17-7 and 6-3 in the ACC. Lorenzo Brown finished with 15 points and eight assists.
J.P. GIGLIO (N&O)
Observations
N.C. State point guard Lorenzo Brown snapped out of his five-game mini-slump with 15 points and eight assists in a season-high 38 minutes.
It was the first time he scored in double digits since a 20-point performance Jan. 14 at Wake Forest. Brown hit six of 11 shots and only had two turnovers – his fewest in seven games.
“I’m proud of him,” N.C. State guard C.J. Williams said. “He been down on himself but he picked himself up this game.”
NATE TAYLOR (N&O)
Deacons able to keep it close, at least
Guard C.J. Harris described this game as a boxing match. Punches in the form of runs were exchanged.
“They just had one more than us,” said Harris, who led Wake Forest with 21 points in 38 minutes. “We knew if we would have came out (in the second half) with emotion, we could cut the lead down.”
But the Demon Deacons couldn’t withstand the third surge from N.C. State.
After tying the game at 50-50 with 13:30 left, the Deacons suffered breakdowns on both ends of the court, resulting in their demise.
Turnovers and quick shots on offense translated into fastbreak points for N.C. State. On defense, the Deacons gave space to the Wolfpack’s best shooters in Scott Wood and C.J. Williams.
LUKE DECOCK (N&O)
State fans to Wake: ‘Not Our Rival!’
As N.C. State wrapped up yet another win over Wake Forest on Saturday, a number of fans started chanting “Not our rival!” – the same chant North Carolina fans had used against the Wolfpack 10 days ago.
At that point, the Chapel Hill chant was a slam on a rival who had lost 11 straight games between the teams. By the time the ACC office got done manicuring the new 14-team, 18-game schedule, playing Edward Scissorhands with 60 years of basketball tradition Friday, it was a statement of ACC policy. The N.C. State fans on Saturday were protesting as much as they were gloating.
[snip]
Williams understands that nothing compares to the frisson generation by two massive public schools – the flagships, if you will – within the same state. About all Wake Forest and N.C. State can offer is Big Four tradition and Chris Paul’s gentle caress of Julius Hodge.
From North Carolina’s perspective, the rivalry with N.C. State will always be slightly imbalanced because of the preeminence of the rivalry with Duke. And that’s fine, because there are few rivalries in sports that can compare. There are also few within the ACC that can compare to North Carolina and N.C. State, but that rivalry has been cast aside in favor of expediency and a yearly home-and-home with Wake Forest.
“It’s disappointing. It is,” N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. “I share the same disappointment with our fans. I’m new here, but I’m learning.”
The ACC’s dominance and success was built on rivalries like N.C. State and North Carolina, not the television markets delivered by ex-Big East schools or the money delivered by ESPN. Dilute those rivalries, and you risk destroying the product for which ESPN has paid so dearly.
Brett Friedlander (starnewsonline.com)
Wolfpack building momentum for the stretch run to come
It’s a stretch that will either make or break N.C. State’s chances of getting into the NCAA tournament this season.
And no, I’m not referring to the upcoming threesome of games at Duke, then at home against Florida State and its new non-rival North Carolina. Rather, it’s the must-win matchups against ACC bottom feeders Boston College, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech.
The Wolfpack has already squandered one opportunity against those seemingly overmatched opponents by not showing up for its game against Georgia Tech back on January 11.
Another such lapse would an even bigger disaster.
Because BC has an RPI rating of 231, Wake 131 and Georgia Tech 148, coach Mark Gottfried’s team can only hurt itself in the eyes of the NCAA tournament committee. The best it can do is win, avoid falling into bad habits and start building some momentum for the difficult stretch run to come.
Akula Wolf (BackingthePack.com)
NC State 87, Wake Forest 76
To no one’s surprise, Wake Forest put forth a much better effort in the rematch, because the announcement that Wake and State would be primary partners going forward completely changed the approach and intensity leading up to this game. Whereas once they despaired for want of a reason to go on, now they had purpose. And so it was that C.J. Harris rose above and dropped through the rim 21 points-worth of success, and Tony Chennault restored seven possessions, and La Forward Nikita…let’s move on.
Joedy McCreary (AP)
Scott Wood leads N.C. State Wolfpack past Wake Forest Demon Deacons, 87-76
Points came in bunches for North Carolina State – especially for Scott Wood, and especially when the Wolfpack needed them most.
Wood had season highs of 23 points and six 3-pointers in N.C. State’s 87-76 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday.
C.J. Leslie and C.J. Williams scored 18 points apiece for the Wolfpack (17-7, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference). They shot 52.5 percent – 31 of 59- and never trailed in the second half to claim their fifth straight win in the series – all by double figures – and second consecutive season sweep.
N.C. State also scored seven points on one first-half possession and received a four-point play in the second from Wood, who finished 6 of 10 from 3-point range – one shy of his career high set two years ago as a freshman at Florida State.
“Offensively, it’s nice to see him get in that groove where everybody in the gym thinks that every shot he shoots is going in,” N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said. “And that’s where he was today.”
Stephen Schramm (FayObserver.com)
Scott Wood living the life of a sharpshooter
C.J. Williams doesn’t play his roommate Scott Wood in H-O-R-S-E.
Sure, they’ll mess around with trick shots – like Wood’s new feat of banking it off the top of the shot clock in through the hoop – but Williams won’t challenge the Wolfpack’s sharpshooter anymore. Wood said he only gets to play the occasional brave manager.
So when Wood put together an outing like his afternoon in the Wolfpack’s 87-76 rout of visiting Wake Forest, Williams wasn’t shocked.
“I expect that out of him,” Williams said.
Wood hit six 3-pointers and scored a season-high 23 points against a feisty Demon Deacons team, He hit eight of his 12 shots.
“It’s nice,” Wood said. “Sometimes I feel like somebody else is guiding it in for me because not every time it feels that great. But when shots are falling and you see a couple go in, it’s big for you.”
GoPack.com
Wood Catches Fire as Pack Torches Wake, 87-76
Scott Wood scored a season-high 23 points on a stellar 6-of-10 shooting performance from three-point range, launched NC State to a 87-76 win and a season sweep of Wake Forest Saturday at the RBC Center.
“Scott Wood was pretty good in just about every facet,” said NC State head coach Mark Gottfried. “He defended well, gave up a couple of looks here and there, but mostly it was great to see him get in the groove where everybody in the gym started to think that every shot he took was going in.”
The Wolfpack boasted four double-digit scorers, highlighted by Wood. C.J. Williams and C.J. Leslie each poured in 18, Williams on 8-of-13 shooting and Leslie on 6-of-13 including 5-of-7 from the line. Leslie bounced back in a big way after being held scoreless in the Pack’s first meeting with Wake.
“We’re all watching C.J. Williams have a sensational senior year,” said Gottfried. “He’s really improved and he’s contributing in so many ways. He had a run there where he would come off a down-screen and find that good mid-range jumper, made some really impressive shots.”
Richard Howell collected his ninth double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Lorenzo Brown scored 15 in the win while dealing eight assists to only two turnovers.
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
Flexibility crucial for Scott Wood’s marksmanship
Junior Scott Wood broke the ACC record for most consecutive free throws and now is making a run at the NCAA Division I record.
Wood went 7 of 7 from the free throw line en route to 21 points at Miami Jan. 22 to break the ACC mark once held by former Duke shooting guard J.J. Redick, who made 54 straight free throws. He added another five free throws to help NC State put away Boston College 56-51 on Wednesday in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Wood hasn’t missed a free throw this season, making 53 straight, and he is up to 63 consecutive free throws dating back to last year.
“Luck and just concentration is the main thing,” said Wood about his streak. “You just have to block everything out and just know it’s a free shot and no one is going to guard you. You have to take advantage.”
Wood joked that he wasn’t nervous about the free throws that tied or broke Redick’s record, but he did have to calm himself down on the next set of free throws that occurred later in the 78-73 win over the Hurricanes. Wood has made at least four free throws in eight different games this season.
“It would be a shame to break the record and then miss a free throw,” Wood said. “I was actually trying to make that one more than the others.
“The Miami players would say, ‘You can miss one any day now.'”
Jacey Zembal (TheWolfpacker.com)
NC State spurts past Deacs
NC State used several dominating runs to put away its new ACC partner Saturday.
NC State and Wake Forest found out Friday that they are guaranteed to play each other home-and-home in basketball each year due to the arrival of Syracuse and Pittsburgh. The result is two out of every three years the Wolfpack will play North Carolina just once.
The well-balanced Wolfpack swept the season series thanks to a big game from junior small forward Scott Wood. The long-range sniper poured in six three-pointers en route to 23 points in the 87-76 victory over the Demon Deacons in front of 15,525 fans at the RBC Center.
“Shots were falling, and once you see a couple go in, you have that confidence,” Wood said. “You have spurts and teams are going to make runs, and then teams are going to come back at you. You just have to withstand their runs and have more runs than they do.”
NC State junior small forward Scott Wood went 6 of 10 from three-point land en route to a game-high 23 points in the Wolfpack’s 87-76 win over Wake Forest on Saturday at the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C.
NC State improved to 17-7 and 6-3 in the ACC with a road game at Georgia Tech up next Feb. 9. Wake Forest fell to 11-12 overall and 2-7 in the ACC, and are on the heels of four-straight losses.
WRALSportsfan.com
Gottfried: “Good win for our team”
WRALSportsfan.com
Wood describes what it’s like to be in the zone
WRALSportsfan.com
Howell: “We started out sluggish”
WRALSportsfan.com
CJ Williams on the Wake Forest win
