Hoops: The Young Pack Faces Its First Road Test Early Against Cincinnati

Basketball season has just begun, and the Wolfpack has played but one game so far in its 2013-14 campaign, but tomorrow they are leaving the friendly confines of the PNC Center and their home floor for a game against the Cincinnati in the Bearcats’ arena.

Not only is it a road game, it’s also a game that will be nationally televised,  it’s a game that will be well attended and it promises to be an affair that will be the sort of pressure cooker that is rare for November 13th in any college basketball year.  To be only the road so early is quite different than many other major programs, some of whom might not venture beyond a neutral court until conference play starts in the new year — and for NC State, despite the difficulties and challenges a road game so early poses, it’s a very good idea and perhaps exactly what the team needs as it gels for the season.

Catch him if you can: Wolfpack freshman Cat Barber

Catch him if you can: Wolfpack freshman Cat Barber

The opener against Appalachian State was encouraging, given that the bulk of NC State’s core from last season has left the program: starters C.J. Leslie, Lorenzo Brown, Scott Wood and Richard Howell are gone, leaving head coach Mark Gottfried to replace five of its top six scorers from a 24-11, NCAA tournament team.  While those departures may leave the Wolfpack looking weak and vulnerable on paper, anyone who watched the opener last Friday had to leave a bit encouraged: after shaking off first-game jitters, the new players meshed with returning team members Tyler Lewis and TJ Warren quite well when they were on offense, and on defense, despite a decided lack of height on the floor that they weren’t going to wave a red cape and cry out “ole!” to the opposition.

That’s not to say that State is by any means a top 25 program right now, but it also fair to say that Mark Gottfried’s cupboard is not exactly bare either.  We saw that Cat Barber is indeed as fast as lightning and that if he gets a lane to the basket, he can score as quickly as anyone we’ve seen in Raleigh in quite some time.  We saw that transfer Dez Lee is also dangerous with the rock and that he is a persistent scoring threat, the kind that will draw defensive attention and generally give other teams headaches.  We saw glimpses of Raulston Turner’s outside shooting, despite scoring only seven points. We saw that free throws were not necessarily going to be a misadventure the way they often were last season.  And again, we saw glimpses of cohesive defense.

But that was against Appalachian State, and that’s not the sort of team you measure yourself against effectively if you are an ACC team.  Tomorrow’s game will give us a much better picture.

Cincinnati is a team that prides itself on defense, and that is what they use to win.  Obviously, that will be a challenge, especially for inexperienced and not-fully-grown freshman players who are going to find out that the next level is not as easy as their AAU and shoe camp circuit days.  And while Cincinnati is not anyone’s idea of a 100+ point averaging squad, Sean Kilpatrick Justin Jackson and Titus Rubles can give defensive nightmares to the Wolfpack, especially given its height and experience deficiencies.

Add to that challenge will be the fact that it is a road game coming at a time when the young Wolfpack players are just starting to form their in-game personality.  Cincinnati has a pretty raucous student section, and they are looking at this game as a national showcase for themselves.  The 5pm game is the appetizer for the highly anticipated #Kentucky versus #2 Michigan State and the Kansas – Duke affairs, and it is fairly rare air for the American Athletic Conference team that’s not often in such a favored timeslot by ESPN.  In short, this will be a hostile atmosphere, and it almost certainly won’t resemble a first round holiday tournament game where the loudest sounds are squeaking sneakers and players yelling to one another.

All in all, that makes this a tough contest for the Wolfpack, make no mistake about it.  Win or lose, however, it will serve as one of the best object lessons that Mark Gottfried could possibly give his young squad.  Young teams need to be seasoned in cauldrons like this to know first-hand what to expect at Cameron Indoor Stadium, or Smith Center, or at the Carrier Dome — all places they will visit later on.  Young players used to having their way against prep ballers need to learn what it is like to face older, stronger and more experienced players intent on stopping them from getting to the hole.  On the other end of the floor, they need to know what it takes to keep those same older, stronger and more experienced players from scoring.

Bottom line: this is a tough ask for the NC State team. It’s too early to expect them to win, but it’s never to early to hope that they do and to support them no matter the shape of the scoreboard.  Win or lose, this is exactly what the doctor ordered and win or lose, it is the sort of game that will pay dividends this year and beyond.

Gametime: 5pm

Coverage: ESPN

13-14 Basketball NCS Basketball

322 Responses to Hoops: The Young Pack Faces Its First Road Test Early Against Cincinnati

  1. BJD95 11/12/2013 at 7:08 PM #

    Spread was 8. This is why one shouldn’t bet on college hoops.

  2. PackFamily 11/12/2013 at 7:09 PM #

    I don’t like how we laid down in the last few minutes.

  3. BJD95 11/12/2013 at 7:10 PM #

    We have to seriously tighten up our free throw shooting. The only aspect that really bugged me tonight.

  4. 1.21 Jigawatts 11/12/2013 at 7:10 PM #

    We went cold outside with 10 minutes to go. So we took it inside with drives, which the colorman said If you’re an offensive player you take it in and you’ll get a foul, but everytime we went in we were either fouled or our shots were goaltended but never was a foul called.

  5. bill.onthebeach 11/12/2013 at 7:10 PM #

    Hey Coach….

    I would preferred a TO at 7 minutes to go instead of a T with 1 minute left…

    Just saying…

  6. Rick 11/12/2013 at 7:10 PM #

    How is that posing after the block not a tech?

    Cinn is just a bunch of punk thugs. Pieces of crap

  7. BJD95 11/12/2013 at 7:11 PM #

    We got tired, then a little frustrated. We will learn and improve our down the stretch play.

  8. TheAliasTroll 11/12/2013 at 7:12 PM #

    57 points is kind of depressing.

  9. BJD95 11/12/2013 at 7:12 PM #

    This is good prep for playing Duke and UVA, though. They clutch, grab, and pose just as much.

  10. 1.21 Jigawatts 11/12/2013 at 7:12 PM #

    We played like I expected us to, just didn’t expect King Karl and the ACC refs to show up in the final 10 minutes of the game.

  11. Rick 11/12/2013 at 7:12 PM #

    It is obvious we are a young team. We did not handle the adversity of the refs well. We need to learn how to as we will get screwed even worse when ACC play starts.

  12. nemesisj 11/12/2013 at 7:13 PM #

    This was a complete screwjob by the refs. We’ll improve. Enjoyed myself tonight, which is more than I can say for most of the games last year. Seems like we have all the pieces arranged to have a decent team.

  13. lush 11/12/2013 at 7:13 PM #

    Ha! Now comes the bs in the other direction.

    I think we lost when we gave up so many offensive rebounds in the first 30 minutes. That wasn’t exactly “solid ball”.

    You can’t win letting up that many second and third chance points. Refs only made the margin larger.

  14. vtpackfan 11/12/2013 at 7:13 PM #

    Playing that bad for 10 minutes is hard to take.
    The first 30 were mostly impressive.

  15. Adventuroo 11/12/2013 at 7:15 PM #

    Can’t decide on Rum/Coke; Tequila/Sangrita, Straight Crown; or a Black Russian….

    Maybe some combination thereof….

    We were great for about 30 – 35 minutes…..then it wasn’t so easy. Karl Hess will STILL critique the crew for allowing it to be close….

    BUT, we have to be able to play through fouls (legit or otherwise) and streaks….

    Defense and Rebounding looked ugly….but only at the end.

  16. Wulfpack 11/12/2013 at 7:15 PM #

    Chalk it up to a good learning experience. We can be a pretty good team. But not a lot of room for error. I like the fight in this bunch. We will have to fight hard to be a bubble team. But like the fight.

  17. Adventuroo 11/12/2013 at 7:19 PM #

    IF you look at the stats, the fouls were even….we had one more, the 6th man technical.

    Rebounding was not that bad

    Shooting percentage sucked.

    All in all, if you had not watched the game, you would be surprised (IMHO) at the disparity in the score.

  18. Wulfpack 11/12/2013 at 7:21 PM #

    I thought we played pretty well for first test on the road against a solid opponent. Young team. A lot of growth tonight. It is a marathon not a sprint. We keep improving and working hard and we could have a decent year. I am encouraged.

  19. Rick 11/12/2013 at 7:22 PM #

    The difference was one team was allowed to play more aggressive than the other

  20. lush 11/12/2013 at 7:22 PM #

    Does anyone have rebounding numbers? Offensive and D?

  21. bill.onthebeach 11/12/2013 at 7:24 PM #

    Forget the refs… guys… that’s part of the game…
    while many of your observations are 100% accurate, it is much more important that….

    At 55-53 (about 8 minutes to go … Our young kids acted as if they didn’t know what was coming next and tightened up, when with a little experience they will settle down a bit ….

    That 0 for 5 — three shot clocks possession around the five minute to go mark was the back breaker…

    If I saw that from here… it should have been “seen” from the bench where something more positive could have done.

    The Technical was stupid.

  22. xphoenix87 11/12/2013 at 7:25 PM #

    It was a valiant effort, but couldn’t get clean looks at the end of the game.

    Our situation in the post is pretty dire. Freeman is probably the most solid of the 3 frosh, but he doesn’t make much of an impact. Washington has the potential to be a special defender, but he lacks strength. Anya was just a disaster in the second half. He couldn’t grab the ball, and just got utterly abused on pick and rolls. You could see that every time he was on the floor, they ran P&R with his man constantly.

  23. BJD95 11/12/2013 at 7:25 PM #

    They were MUCH more physical than us.

    We will give up quite a few offensive rebounds, that’s a given. Problem is, we didn’t shoot or transition well enough (ie, leveraging the quickness and skill advantage of our smaller lineup) to counterbalance.

    I think our best case scenario would have been a 5-7 point loss, so I’m not that pissed off. It’s a very likeable team, as someone mentioned earlier. Breath of fresh air.

  24. Rick 11/12/2013 at 7:27 PM #

    “Forget the refs… guys… that’s part of the game…”

    While it is part of the game it should not be.

    Agreed about liking the team.

  25. Rick 11/12/2013 at 7:28 PM #

    ESPN 2 has what might be the worst basketball this side of junior high girls games.

    UVA
    VCU
    AC refs

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