Miami 81 – NCSU 71 in the ACC Tournament Semifinals

It wasn’t in the cards from the opening tip for the Wolfpack today, as the Miami Hurricanes defeated the Wolfpack 81-71 in the ACC Tournament Semifinals in Greensboro. State got off to a very sluggish start — not getting off of the blocks scoring-wise until 5:25 had ticked off of the clock — and they never fully recovered from that initial drought. That was probably due to having a short bench and their third game in as many days, as the Pack looked like a group with tired legs playing against a top ten team looking to grab its first ACC hoops title.

While there are no real moral victories in tournament play, State has little to be ashamed of in this game today. Their mental intensity was there, the defensive effort was not lacking, and they did win the second half 42-40. In fact, the Wolfpack trimmed the Miami lead down to six midway through the second stanza, but just didn’t have the air to climb up the last bit of the mountain the first half left them to climb. In that woeful first twenty minutes, State missed its first five shots from the field, and committed three turnovers. Their first points came at the 14:35 mark when senior Richard Howell finally put the ball in the net, but by then Miami was almost at full sail and the Pack could never quite track them down.

Credit Miami’s defensive plan, as CJ Leslie was stymied much of the game by the Hurricanes, and by their own rebounding intensity. Miami is a team with great size, depth and speed, and it seemed like every Wolfpack parry was answered with a flurry of Hurricane baskets that put to rest the question of who’d be playing on Sunday for the ACC Championship. Durand Scott of the Hurricanes was the ‘Canes MVP, tossing in 32 points and making 5 of his 8 attempts from beyond the three point arc. Shane Larkin also had a decent day against State, canning 23 points, mostly from the free throw line.

For State, it’s now up to the NCAA Selection Committee as to where and who their next game will be. The Wolfpack is a certain at-large pick, but their seeding is very much in question — some have them as high as a ten seed in the Field of 64, while other prognosticators see NC State as a 7th or 8th seed in their Regional brackets. That position will leave the Pack with a gargantuan task if it wants to earn a Final Four berth. No matter what, however, to get to Atlanta, one will have to defeat the big dogs in the Dance sooner or later, and for State, that task may be at hand as soon as the weekend should it win its first round game.

12-13 Basketball ACC & Other NCS Basketball

114 Responses to Miami 81 – NCSU 71 in the ACC Tournament Semifinals

  1. john of sparta 03/16/2013 at 8:11 PM #

    8 skate or donate.
    8 makes a 1up.

  2. JeremyH 03/16/2013 at 8:28 PM #

    Giving a #1 seed a potential matchup with us in the round of 32 would be so rude to them.

  3. Rochester 03/16/2013 at 8:33 PM #

    Considering that Duke, a likely 1-seed, just lost to a team that probably won’t make the tournament, it’s hard to get too worked up over seeding this year.

    If we show up with the intensity we had Thursday and Friday we can beat just about anyone. If they haven’t played us yet, they will have a tough time deciding who to guard. I like our odds of making it at least past the first weekend.

  4. JeremyH 03/16/2013 at 8:33 PM #

    I thought that all of Purvis, Warren, and Lewis gave us a nice preview of what’s to come next year by the way. As long as we can get another big or Jevoni (block that stuff) Robinson takes on a painter-like roll, we’ll be ok next year.

  5. NCSU84 03/16/2013 at 8:47 PM #

    What really irks me is that THIS may have been one of our best opportunities to win the ACCT and we blew it. It started with the FSU game which would have given us a first round bye. Next year Syracuse joins the league and, the year after that, Louisville. With Duke, UNC, Syracuse, and Louisville in our conference, we may remain a second tier ACC team in the years to come. I hate to admit that, but the facts do not lie. Those four teams are perennial powerhouses and we will have an uphill struggle each and every year.

  6. vtpackfan 03/16/2013 at 8:52 PM #

    Watching Coach, Woo and Calvin post game presser was a hoot.

    SW on fatigue “we get so catered to that fatigue shouldn’t be an issue”

    Calvin answering a strange prefaced question with “I don’t understand what you are asking”. BTW he’s used this one before and it never gets old.

    Coach when asked about having to face great Guards three games in a row quipped with “I don’t hear anyone talk about the depth of our league. VT whipped Iowa and Virginia went up and beat Wisconsin in their place. You would think listening to people that there are a 100 teams in the Big 10 and Big East. We lost today to a team with 17 ACC wins”. End of presser.

  7. graywolf 03/16/2013 at 9:09 PM #

    One bright spot was the play of the freshmen…..they can play. Lets hope there are no sophomore jinks. We will still be young but we should be OK.

  8. ADVENTUROO 03/16/2013 at 9:19 PM #

    In G’boro in the RV lot…..desolate. MH’s leaving. Sold my finals and will just hang out, party, watch BB and the race.

    Talked to several UNC fans….Karl Hess is NOT their favorite ref. The game was all over the map….no consistency in the calls.

    Our game pretty much the same. The Zebs did NOT keep us off the scoreboard for 5+ minutes….but they impacted our momentum. Very poorly called and real momentum shifts.

    What I found interesting was that this year is only the second year, in about 10 or 12 where Hess did NOT officiate for ALL schools. WF got a break several years ago.

    I PERSONALLY think that we were allowed a “cooling off period” or blackball season after last year. It WOULD have been interesting if we had made it to Sunday. My money….and a case of Crown Black would have been on NO HESS tomorrow.

    On to the NCAA…..I think that 7 is going to be heaven….but a lot of strange things can happen.

    Really going to pull for the seagull..

    Speaking of Seagulls…..did anyone check out the NEW and improved PC FSU mascot, Cimaron….the one trick shetland pony with war paint….

    WOW….what a wussy……

    I’ll take Mrs. Wolf and she will win 12 out of 15 rounds and maybe get a TKO….if not she will win on points.

  9. JaxPackMan 03/16/2013 at 9:27 PM #

    I won’t say that a State win should have been expected today. The real disappointment is watching the egg that was laid in Tallahassee the last game of the regular season and the other close loses that prevented a higher seed and first round bye. At first you think it is a maturity issue that keeps the team from excelling in these critical games, but then you see other teams with young guys doing very well which makes you wonder if it is game coaching or players. Who knows?

    Meanwhile, even though Duke falls out early you know who gets to the finals. Some how the more things change the more the stay the same…PackMan and Jacksonville, FL

  10. xphoenix87 03/16/2013 at 9:39 PM #

    If we had to lose to someone, I’m ok losing to Miami. If we weren’t going to win the championship, I’d like to see them win it. There are definitely some thugs on Miami (Gamble seriously looks like a gang member, especially given the fact that he seems to always be sneering), but I like Larranaga a lot and he’s done a tremendous job with these guys. Also, I understand not liking some of the Miami players, but if you can’t appreciate Shane Larkin then you just don’t like basketball. He’s a tremendous point guard and a really, really smart player.

    I still think there’s a lot of fight in this team. If we end up as an 8 or 9 seed, we’re by far the most dangerous 8 or 9 seed in the field. When we play aggressive, scrambling defense (like we did early on in this game), we can contend with anyone.

    Also, I can understand complaining about Gott’s rotation if he had a different roster to work with, but a 7-man rotation was the ONLY option with this roster. We’ve seen what JV brings to the table, and it’s effectively nothing. He’s had 3 years to show any glimmer of development, and he’s terrible, just awful. We had a short roster of useful players, so we played a short rotation. I have no problem at all with that.

  11. mak4dpak 03/16/2013 at 10:03 PM #

    Again even with a bye, we have to play 3 straight games,and today was the third, and we just didn’t show up. And I would rather lose to the U, than the holes. We need to get some junior college transfers that are skilled players to fill our void, and give us more depth on the bench.. Go Canes!

  12. 8pack 03/16/2013 at 10:19 PM #

    “They should all practice their foul shooting for at least an hour and a half every day. Please.”

    This^

    I read and hear that statement all the time. Its not like these guys dont practice shooting FTs.

    First off… we are an average FT shooting team. Few teams shoot really well at the stripe in this era of college basketball. We are not awful, and we are not great. We have some above average games, and some below (like today).

    As a coach, I can tell you that free throw shooting boils down to 3 main things: 1) Form 2) Focus 3) Confidence… but not necessarily in that order – they sort of feed off each other.

    This is what I see from three that struggle the most:

    TJ : leans his shoulders back and slightly falls away as he releases…(see #1) This explains his sporadic, make one/miss one type trips and, in turn affects his confidence (#3) Good news: can be fixed ( I have even seen Coach G demonstating this to him after a miss.)

    RP : No confidence (#3) He rigidly stands on the line waiting for the ball from ref with a worried look – its that obvious. Form is ok, until he falls away at the very end of what is normally a rushed delivery (#1) Good news: Can be fixed with a more relaxed approach (this is true for the rest of his game, too-he seems to try too hard – needs to relax and have fun with his immense talents.

    CJL : Lack of focus (#2) causes inconsistency in form (#1), resulting in lack of confidence (#3)

    My point is that these are not issues that are necessarily solved by more reps at the line in practice. For example, if TJ is leaning back during delivery and release in practice, he could shoot 5000/day and it wouldnt help.

    Today, we saw another factor come into play as well. Fatigue is not the friend of the FT shooter. Zo also seemed to be hampered by the heavily taped right hand, as he is normally around 77%, but had a rough day at the line.

    Oh, how I would love an un-paid position with the team to work with these guys.

    For the smart-asses on here who will surely doubt me, I shot +95% at the line all four years of HS, and coach travel level HS players.

  13. ADVENTUROO 03/16/2013 at 10:33 PM #

    BTW….

    My Light Blue Shirt & Tie Index (LBSTI) was spot on today. Gott’s LIGHT blue shirt was visable from my seats on the first row of the overhang (which is considered as a LOWER of all things) had a great view as I was just across the court from the team.

    LIGHT BLUE…..need I say more…

    Someone ought to tell Debbie YOW and all the NCSU colors do NOT contain hues and shades of Light Blue….

    His comments on the 10:00 news confirmed my initial sighting…

    WHITE with a RED TIE….

  14. Wulfpack 03/16/2013 at 10:45 PM #

    Lunardi and Palm each have us at an 8 seed matched up in the East against either San Diego State or Mizzou. They both have us facing Louisville in the second game. That hurts.

    I can live with the FSU loss and today’s subpar start. We still have a shot. But what I am most disappointed about is that UNC has had a better year – this a year when they are down and we should be up. Making the Sweet 16 this year is going to be tough.

  15. wolfpack4ever 03/16/2013 at 11:07 PM #

    ^^Adventuroo,

    That was the first thing that my wife said when we watched the team come out on the court. We were almost directly across from the bench in the lower level. “Why is he wearing that light blue shirt”.

    Our colors do not contain any blue. We are Red & White. That should be addressed soon, very soon!!

  16. mak4dpak 03/16/2013 at 11:07 PM #

    For the second game in a row, Lo, and CJ had a terrible shooting game. Brown’s only points were at the FT line, no FGs. and as a team I counted from the box score 10 missed FTs, not including 2nd chance on 1 and 1s. For what ever reason we just didn’t show up, but for our team leaders to do the same is inexcusable. Hope Brown and Leslie get their act together for the NCAAs.

  17. xansbro 03/16/2013 at 11:25 PM #

    xphoenix – it may not have been the glory year we were hoping for way back in November but I agree with you, I think we’ll be a # 8 seed and will likely make a # 1 very, very nervous when they see us in their bracket. What I’ve seen from Gott’s 2 teams is an ability to step it up in tournament play. I agree, too, that a 7 man rotation was the best he could do – though I still say that DeThaey showed enough promise and ability that he could have likely given us solid minutes if we could have kept him around. TDT is seldom brought up when others talk about the what ifs. TDT was, unlike the others mentioned, on the roster this year and I feel had enough skill and enough size to help us more than he was being vitalized earlier in the year

  18. WeAreCured 03/16/2013 at 11:48 PM #

    8Pack:

    I don’t doubt you at all. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. If you don’t fix what ails you, you’re just reinforcing the negatives with muscle memory. They should work for an hour and a half a day on proper foul shooting/figuring out proper foul shooting. Going from a slightly below average free throw shooting team to an above average free throw shooting team would equate to more wins, plain and simple.

    I too was a +95% foul shooter in high school. I even won the county-wide Crime Free, Drug Free Shootout sponsored by Mr. David Thompson. Meeting him and showing him my touch from the line and three point arch is a very fond memory. Beep beep! That was the sound of me tooting my own horn.

  19. PittsburghPackFan 03/17/2013 at 12:09 AM #

    Ugh.

    Still mostly pleased with the season.

    Win or lose another game, the Pack has shown that you better show up if you want to beat them.

    At least they don’t wither just at the sight of certain opponents, which I haven’t always been able to say in my 17 years of running with the Pack.

    Can’t wait to see who our victims are next week.

    Go Pack.

  20. triadwolf 03/17/2013 at 12:30 AM #

    No shame in losing to Miami, but it was a very winnable game. Even after that initial 5 to 10 min. debacle of a start, they had their chances.

    It may have been fatigue, but they left 8 to 10 points on the table with easy transition opportunities that were missed. In the first half it seemed as if they were giving Miami’s defense too much respect and ended up altering shots, making unnecessary extra pass, etc. The missed free throws were almost definitely due to fatigue.

    It’s a shame it took them so long to get going offensively, as this may have been one of their best defensive efforts of the year. Howell’s injury may have hurt our defensive rebounding, but Miami also had quite a few long rebounds fall right into their hands. Charge on Zo was bull and came at a critical time; however the charge on Howell was a good call.

    Oh well, get some rest lets be ready to play (hopefully Friday) next week.

  21. JeremyH 03/17/2013 at 1:11 AM #

    WeAreCured thanks for sharing a cool story. Nice community here.

  22. Rick 03/17/2013 at 7:43 AM #

    Sounds like it is good I did not get to the see the second half. I thought we could win it. I am glad there are only a few boo birds on this board as the monkey boards are in full melt down mode.

    If you cannot appreciate the past two years of Pack basketball you might as well switch to another school.

  23. TLeo 03/17/2013 at 8:26 AM #

    I am glad I was not able to watch this game. After such great effort the first two games and how we should have beat them in Raleigh, I allowed myself to think we would win this one.I should have known I’d be dissapointed again.
    I agree with a lot of others that this year was a great chance to win the ACC and this team blew it with their lack of focus and effort at times. Not ready to give up yet (way too early) and it’s great we will make the NCAA a second year under Gott, but these guys are just too inconsistent to go very far in my opinion.
    As dissapointing as this year has been in some ways, we are still much better off than under the last two coaches.

  24. triadwolf 03/17/2013 at 8:43 AM #

    I still think we have a pretty good chance of making the field of 16 again. The tournament is a lot about match-ups and I feel that we are a tough one for more teams in the tourney than are a tough match-up for us – by a pretty large margin. We are a hard team to prepare for on a short turn-around even if we are playing a 1 or 2 seed the first weekend.

    Our toughest challenge will be facing a deep, big, physical team (i.e. a Miami type) with the refs letting them play. Although we’ve proven that we can be competitive in those types of games if we don’t get in foul trouble down low.

    As long as we’re not one and done, I’ll consider this season at least marginally successful. Next year will most likely be a toss up with our youth, but the following season could be really, really promising.

    I know that God doesn’t care much about the outcome of sporting events, but I’m off to church and I will pray that he doesn’t allow a team representing pure evil to walk away with another ACC banner.

  25. vtpackfan 03/17/2013 at 10:13 AM #

    We did some self inflicted damage to our chances but I think BJD picked up on the overall storyline. We would have had a 10* better chance of winning had BC not freaked with Miami in the Quaters. When a 1 seed gets their resolve that tested they almost always get sharp and focused the next game.

    An 8 or 9 seed would be a bit of a bummer (no chance we drop lower). My expectations are lower then last year: the first round game will be like our match up with Kansas and if we play on the weekend it will equate to the elite 8 game vs UNC we fell seconds from. A Sweet Sixteen 2013 banner would look the same as a Final Four. Have to let go of the ridiculous preseason ACC favorite, Vitale “teams who can make a deep run” hype, once and for good.

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