For quite a while last night against Eastern Kentucky, NC State’s basketball team looked like it did a few games back in their shock loss to NC Central: befuddled by the Colonel’s 2-3 zone defense, the Wolfpack couldn’t buy a bucket. At the 5:08 mark of the first half, Eastern Kentucky led 22-12, State was missing jumpers everywhere, and the only player keeping them in the game was Tyler Lewis, who came in off the bench and gave the Pack a steady hand when it needed it. State also stepped up its defense, and beat the Eastern Kentucky zone by scoring in transition, and before the half ended, it had fought its way back into a game that was on the verge of getting away from them.
The second half was a continuation of the end of the first: the Pack shot better, defended better and scrapped better, and in a little more than five minutes took a 36-35 lead it wouldn’t surrender the rest of the way, eventually winning 75-56, with the margin of victory built mostly on a 17 point run. It was a solid win for a young team, and one that will look good on NC State’s resume, given that Eastern Kentucky is a team that expects to vie for the Ohio Valley Conference Crown.
But, with all due respect to Eastern Kentucky, it’s also a game that shows that the Wolfpack needs to up their game a bit, especially when conference play starts next month. Mark Gottfried knows it too, as in his post-game comments he quipped that he expects to see a lot of the same defensive strategy that Eastern Kentucky brought to the game. “We’re going to see a lot of zone, I think, this year.” He then added that “We better get better at it or we’re going to have some long nights.”
There are several ways to beat the zone, with good outside shooting being the most obvious solution. The lack of it is what led to the deficit the Wolfpack had to dig out of last night, and it is something that State players need to improve upon. Raulston Turner is a player who is said to have a great three point shot, but it appears that the transfer has fallen into a slump — he had a 2-7 night from the field, netting four points, and making none from beyond the three point arc. Normally prolific scorer Dez Lee also struggled from the field as well, having a 1-6 night for five points. He converted one three point attempt during State’s big run down the stretch in the second half, but other than that it was a forgettable night for him. That said, State needs to pick up its long and midrange game in order to force a zone to extend itself to the point where dish-penetrations are more effective.
Another way to beat a zone is to play solid defense and quickly move to the offensive end on transition. For a relatively quick team like State — and one that has a lightning-fast threat in Cat Barber — that is an important facet of the game. Barber is already a good defender, with some mentioning recollections of Anthony Grundy when they watch him, but some of the other guards seem to be beaten all too easily off the dribble or give up wide-open threes by being in poor position. Collectively, as a group, they need to up the consistency of their defensive effort. We saw a good bit of that in the second half, but in the first stanza, it wasn’t quite there. Against Eastern Kentucky, you can recover. Against Duke, Syracuse or UNC, you’ll probably get run out of the gym by halftime.
Finally, when a team is struggling to score, it needs to convert every free throw it possibly can. State shot 13-19 for a 68.4% conversion rate last night, which isn’t bad, but players like Lennard Freeman continue to prove that they need some reps in the gym shooting from the charity stripe: Freeman was 1-5 from the line, and obviously it’s something that both he and Mark Gottfried would like to see him improve. The good news is that with dedication, good coaching, practice can make perfect. Whether that happens is pretty much up to the young player. Doing so will make him a far more potent weapon.
Fortunately, it appears that this is a team that has the capability of doing all of the things mentioned above, and more beyond that. It is a group that plays together, and one that seems to play for each other and not as individuals trying to highlight themselves for a potential NBA contract. They seem to encourage other and actually enjoy each others’ successes, something that Jordan Vandenberg put on vivid display towards the end of the game last night. After he slammed home a hard-fought basket in the paint, he was pumping his fists emphatically in clear enjoyment of the success he’d attained, but what was most telling was the reaction of the players on the floor and on the bench — they were enjoying Vandenberg’s display as much as he was. That shows that this edition of NC State basketball is an actual team. Teams can collectively achieve more than the sum of their parts.
On the other hand, the lack of team spirit can make a team achieve far less than the sum of its parts. That’s something that Wolfpack fans only need to go back to last spring to remember, and it looks like this is a squad that won’t have that problem. Over the long haul, these guys will probably increase their consistency, gain skill from experience and by the latter half of the year be one helluva tough out for all but the most elite of programs.
