Inconsistent Wolfpack Falls Flat In Littlejohn: Clemson 73 – NC State 56

Lethargic.  Lackadaisical. Indifferent. Listless.  And for some, apathetic even.  Those words may be the best ones to use when describing the Wolfpack’s game in Littlejohn Coliseum tonight, where the Wolfpack gave up a one-point halftime lead to lose 73-56 to Clemson.

That scant one point lead was the result of the 7-8 minutes of effort the team collectively gave tonight after sporting Clemson a seven-point margin in the first minutes of a game that State simply had to have if it was going to have a legitimate case for the NCAA Tournament Committee.  “We had such a bad start,” NC State Head Coach Mark Gottfried said afterwards.  “We had good second half of the first half that last eight or 10 minutes. And what we really needed was a great start to the second half, and we didn’t. We came out flat again.”

Indeed.  It took the Wolfpack almost four minutes to get its first second-half points, but Clemson had already scored nine and would not need to look in its rear-view mirror the rest of the way.  Time after time, State players would mishandle the ball, have their shots blocked or simply miss open looks that they’d normally make with regularity.   —

Perhaps it was losing to Syracuse twice.  After losing a hotly contested battle against the country’s top college team, State had to travel to play another road game, this time in Clemson in a gym that’s not been a kind place to them in the past.  To earn a victory, State would need to be firing on all cylinders and it would need to play cohesive forty-minute basketball.  Neither happened. Point guard Tyler Lewis thought as much in his post-game remarks when he said “I felt like we had a hangover today.”

That hangover may hurt for a very long time: State is now 16-10, 6-7 in the ACC and in the position of needing to go on an extended run both to end the regular season and in the first days of the ACC Tournament to have even a marginal chance of playing in the dance.   Given that inconsistency is the tendency of the 2013-14 edition of NC State basketball, anything can happen, but more than likely the roller coaster ride that is this young team’s journey will continue and the trip will end somewhere in the NIT while other teams with lesser athletic talent play for the national title.

 

13-14 Basketball Mark Gottfried

Home Forums Inconsistent Wolfpack Falls Flat In Littlejohn: Clemson 73 – NC State 56

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  • #41713
    Alpha Wolf
    Keymaster

    Lethargic.  Lackadaisical. Indifferent. Listless.  And for some, apathetic even.  Those words may be the best ones to use when describing the Wolfpack
    [See the full post at: Inconsistent Wolfpack Falls Flat In Littlejohn: Clemson 73 – NC State 56]

    #41714
    pakfanistan
    Participant

    Disappointing. Not surprising.

    I think Kevin Sorbo said it best.

    #41716
    inhoc…
    Participant

    Lol “NC State sucks”, says everyone who isn’t a state fan. Get used to the reality folks…it’s slowly become the culture over the past 15 years and it’s in full effect now. No potential recruit currety in high school knows any different.

    Just win games, the important ones. No point in bitching and moaning anymore. The whole “brand” is an effing joke and the fan base needs to begin to accept that until there’s more #s in the W column.

    #41717
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Disappointing. Not surprising.

    ^Quite true. I’m frustrated that save a couple of end-of-game calls, this team could still be 8-5 in the league and sitting rather pretty with respect to garnering a bid. What’s done is done, though.

    Not giving up on the boys / season, and will cheer them on no matter what. Squarely behind the 8-ball though for making the big tourny. 🙁

    #41718
    archdalepack
    Participant

    Stopped watching basketball during the Herb years. Just stopped watching basketball during the Gott era! Will not have a heart attach over this!

    #41720
    Smasher
    Participant

    I turned it off after I saw Ralston Turner jack up another feet-not-set partially off-balance jumper with someone in his face early in the second half down by 7. I can’t help but think Gottfried isn’t going to last much longer here. It shouldn’t take this many years to coach your boys up and have them play defense.

    #41721
    Lumpy
    Participant

    I don’t think we’re dead and buried just yet. But last night’s loss definitely brought in the priest to give last rights. It was an important game. With UNC facing Duke twice in the next week and another shot at Pitt, Clemson has a legit shot a 4th place. That could’ve been us. So of course we came out flat.
    I just don’t understand this team. I’ve seen them play great complete games against FSU, GT, and Syracuse. Games where they looked focused in most possessions, and withstood small runs by the opponent without falling apart. Then you watch games like last night and they don’t look interested in setting up anything on offense other than half court shots from Turner.
    As far as the rest of the season goes, I just hope that the bottom hasn’t fallen out like we’ve seen in years past. I’d like to see this team regroup. There are four winnable games left on the schedule. I could care less about the NIT, but 20 wins for this team that started out 1-4 in the ACC and losing to Central would be a pretty good finish to this season.

    #41722
    Packzingo
    Participant

    Unfortunately, the writing has been on the wall for some time! Young team with some future talent that will show moments of brilliance and hours of inconsistency. Like most Pack fans I maintained some “hope” but the reality is we are not a very good team. Stranger things have happen and who knows, maybe we’ll win out!! LOL…….

    #41724
    Rick
    Keymaster

    I did not watch as I knew what would happen.

    The Sorryexcuse game was a season killer ala the Damon Thornton charge call. We could lose out. This league is crap.

    #41725
    PackFamily
    Participant

    Disappointed but not surprised by the hangover. Gottfried is the best coach we’ve had since V. He may not be good enough but he is the best we’ve had.

    #41726
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    ^Agree, best coach since V, but not getting it done during the season….when they keep score.

    #41727
    PapaWolf
    Participant

    I attribute this 100% to the Syracuse game. These are mostly 18-20 year old kids who almost pulled off the upset of the year in the ACC. The discouragement of giving the game away, all the grief they were apparently getting from the haters, imagining “what if”, and back to back travel. All that stuff did them in.

    Not an acceptable excuse, no doubt about it. But that was not the team we’ve seen on the floor lately.

    #41728
    PapaWolf
    Participant

    ^^ Agree, best coach since V. Not giving up on him.

    #41729
    Whiteshoes67
    Participant

    Think everybody recognizes Gott’s the best we’ve had in a long time. Syracuse hangover? Probably some of that. But Clemson is a top-10 defensive team, we’ve struggled on offense all season. As someone in the other thread pointed out pregame, and Cory Alexander mentioned last night, we look far better moving the ball and attacking zones right now than man defenses, probably because we’ve seen so much zone. Agree, this was a disappointment but hardly a surprise.

    #41734
    sow61
    Participant

    I am really sad to already see people talking about getting rid of Gottfried. Seriously folks, it was hard enough getting someone for this job when you were playing for 3rd place behind Duke and UNC. Starting next year, you will have Louisville, Syracuse, Duke, UNC, who are all top 15 programs in the conference. Good luck getting a coach to face that. This is a young team that is inconsistent. Honestly, they have done better than I expected especially with the youthful front court that we have. This year we are feeling the effects of no recruits the year Lowe left, so we are left with JUCO transfers Lee and Turner instead of a few bluechip recruits that we might have gotten that year if not for the coaching change. Building a top program takes time. We are recruiting well but could be hurt next year if Warren leaves because we will still be pretty young. I think Gottfried is doing a good job, we just need to be patient. We have some good building blocks that should stay for 4 years that can set the stage for sustained success down the road if we continue to recruit well.

    #41735
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    Clemson’s D was fantastic. They also had some guys show big that don’t normally do so. Our defense and intensity was not good. If Warren is blanketed or having an off night, we are done against good teams. Nobody stepped up to fill the void for the majority of the game. And our PG play was not good. So it is what it is – another blowout loss to a good team, yet another lost opportunity. Not many more left. Still a chance, though, which is why you do not throw in the towel. If we do, I will be very disappointed in players and coaches alike.

    #41736
    john of sparta
    Participant

    getting used to it:
    1. in football, it was the call in the Clemson game that ended our season.
    2. now in basketball, Syracuse and refs ended it early. no NIT?

    #41737
    Pack1997
    Participant

    Truth is we lack a a real shooting guard and have for years. A real shooting guard is one who can shoot as well as put the ball on the floor and beat someone off the dribble. We need one desperately. I know no one wants to hear how young we are but we are. None of our freshman are talented enough to be one and dones. They are all most likely 4 year players, which means we should be set when it comes to the front court for the next few years. Recruiting focus needs to be on guards now who can score both ways. With the big men we have we would be able to beat teams from outside or inside. Right now we are on dimensional and it shows.

    For anyone thinking Gott should go, you are a fool. Remember where we were before he was hired. Remember this ACC with it’s additions this year and next is much more difficult. It isn’t an excuse just reality. We play in the toughest conference in the country, with no sustained success until Gott arrived. This team is beating expectations, even though we all want to be in the tourney. I see this team being built the right way for long term success.

    #41743
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    BSW is exactly what the original was – a shooter. You can slot him at the 2 or 3, but he’s not going to do the slashing type stuff a “real” two guard will do.

    That leaves WBS, Cat, and Des. We’ve gotten very little from any of them of late, even when we’re winning. That means we get almost ZERO positive guard play. Looking at it that way, it’s amazing we are even in NIT contention.

    #41744
    VaWolf82
    Keymaster

    The ACC is about the 5th toughest conference this year.

    There is no thing as “building for long-term success”. Between the new trend of quick transfers when you don’t play and leaving for the NBA as soon as possible, there is no way to build for long term success.

    #41747
    Pack1997
    Participant

    I disagree VAWolf. Having quality 4 year players consistently on the team means you can build for long term success. You sprinkle that in with some star talent hear and there and that translate to longterm success. Take Duke for example, they average some top star talent but they have a large number of players that stick around for 3-4 years.

    #41750
    Whiteshoes67
    Participant

    ^Agree with BJD, but would add that Turner does utilize the pump fake and can get to the rim better than Wood. I’ve thought all year long the best offensive lineup was Warren at the four, with Turner and Lee on the floor together, plus a big and PG. Spread the floor and let them play. Speed up the tempo. We’re not going to shut anybody down with our D. We’re not a great rebounding team regardless, but Lee rebounds really well out of the 2G spot and is a solid defender. Instead, we’re running the high post. Square peg, round hole.

    #41751
    PackofMac
    Participant

    People please quit discussing any possibility of an NCAA Tourney bid. We can go 25-5 and still find ourselves on the buble so with the butt poundings we’ve taken this year it’s over. Lets now focus on ruining the tar holes season and anyone else we play.

    #41753
    SeaWolf72
    Participant

    I’ve been paying attention to this site for a while now and here are my observations..The “fan” portion of this forum is no where to be found. Most of you might as well be wearing blue. These ‘kids’ are just that, kids. Someone’s son and grandson. Don’t know how many of them read this stuff, but sure hope not many. You bash the kids, the coaches, the refs (well maybe that’s alright), and even each other. You can’t understand how we can’t build a program that competes with the blues. We have had enough transfers to field a pretty good NBA team. Why did they leave? Maybe they read these columns. I’ve seen ‘many’ kids come and go. Some druggies, amphibians, dumb as sticks, etc. We have a great bunch of kids here now, that want to be here (for now), smart, talented, and hopefully thick skinned. They need our support in good and bad games, up and down emotions. Coaches need time and support to get the job done. Let’s try to keep the ones we have and hopefully others will follow. The coaches’ jobs will be much easier if we don’t run their players off and ‘turn off’ recruits. How about putting the ‘fan’ back in StateFans Nation…Just sayin; Go Pack..

    #41756
    compsciwolf
    Participant

    Let’s not also forget the ACC did us no favors with the February schedule. One home game sandwiched between five road games? In this month we’ve been down to Miami and up to Syracuse (which was a well documented travel nightmare), to Chapel Hill (at least that one wasn’t much of a trip), to Clemson and we still have to travel to Virginia Tech. We only got Wake at home.

    6 games in 22 days with extensive travel for most of them. Even if some of them we just take a bus to, it wears on you. All teams typically struggle on the road, but it’s even harder when that’s all you get for a month.

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