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Time: 1:00
TV: ESPN2
Announcers: Dave O’Brien, Doris Burke
NC State head coach Mark Gottfried said after Friday’s practice that he doesn’t know if freshman BeeJay Anya will be ready to play on Saturday against North Carolina.
“That will be a wait-and-see for tomorrow afternoon,” Gottfried said when asked for an update on Anya. “We just want to see how he starts to move around. The most important thing is there’s nothing serious at this point.
“I think he has a pretty good bruise inside of his knee. We”ll see if he can get loosened up and get going. If he can then hopefully he can help us.”
New Year same up tempo Holes. I’ll give Roy Boy credit, when he says uptempo he means it.
Likely Starters:
#5 Marcus Paige
#43 James Michael McAdoo
#13 J.P. Tokoto
#2 Leslie McDonald
#3 Kennedy Meeks
Bench:
#0 Nate Britt, #22 Isiah Hicks, #42 Joel James, #11 Brice Johnson, #21 Jackie Simmons, #4 Luke Davis, #14 Desmond Hubert
To save time I’m going to sum this up:
– McAdoo, Johnson, Paige, Meeks, McDonald are the real threats on this team.
– If anyone is going to shoot a 3 it’s going to be Paige, though McDonald will take some too.
– Don’t foul Paige, he’s automatic at the line, the rest suck.
– McAdoo draws 7.5 fouls per 40 minutes. That’s good for 22 in the country. Unreal.
– The people to worry about the most for ORebounding are McAdoo, Johnson, Meeks, and James.
– Johnson only plays about half the game, mainly due to foul trouble, but takes 28% of the team’s shots. CHUCKER!!!!!
Once again the Pack face a team with a better defense than their offense. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Gonna need to ride another high eFG% to a victory.
I personally believe we will see the end of the universe when the Holes go to the FT Line…over and over and over and, well you get the point.
Magic Number: 65
NC State is 14-2 when they score 65 or more points. (NCCU, WFU)
*NC is 12-3 when they score 65 or more points.(Belmont, Texas, WFU)
Things that Make you go Hmmmmm:
– NC State has an 8-0 record when shooting the same number or more free throws than its opponents.
– NC State is 7-1 when making the same or more foul shots.
– UNC is 5-0 this year when shooting 50% or better from the floor and 3-0 when shooting 50% in both halves (Louisville, Boston College, Clemson).
Series Notes:
– The teams split a pair of meetings last season with each winning at home.
– Carolina has won 14 of the last 15, 20 of the last 22 and 37 of the last 46 games against NC State.
– Carolina is 72-22 all-time against NC State in Chapel Hill, including a 22-5 mark in the Smith Center.
– Carolina has won 18 of its last 21 games against the Wolfpack in Chapel Hill, losing in 2002-03, 2001-02 and 1997-98 since the 1991-92 season.
– UNC is 20-2 against NCSU under head coach Roy Williams, winning 15 of those 20 games by double figures.
– Carolina is undefeated against NC State in Chapel Hill under Williams (10-0).
Prediction:
Look I never, EVER, want to lose to the cheating smurfs but I never give us a fighting chance in Chapel Hell. I expect the smurfs to shoot 30+ FTs, while key players for State pick up quick fouls at the beginning of the halves to ensure they sit on the bench for extended period of times, and then late in the game Carowina players will get called for nonshooting fouls and the final team totals will look even. I expect Deputy Dog to have them fired up like he always does and do some sumo squats. I expect to see a bunch of GPA raisers doing their best high kicks. Maybe even hear some privileged white girl in the stands yell out to the State players to “Go Back To The Hood!!” Just remember though, we aren’t their rivals.
KenPom Predictor likes those cheating smurfs by 10. It’ll be worse. It’ll be much, much worse.
News Stuff:
UNC vs. NC State: Two teams rising at right time
Without getting into specifics, T.J. Warren summed up the general bleakness of N.C. State’s track record at North Carolina.
Asked about N.C. State’s last win in Chapel Hill, the N.C. State sophomore forward said: “It has been awhile.”
N.C. State’s last win in Chapel Hill? 2003.
N.C. State’s last win over Roy Williams in Chapel Hill? Never.
[snip]
Pack peaking at right time
The first ACC game against UNC has always been a mile-marker for N.C. State. This trip is no different for the Wolfpack, which moved up to No. 57 in the RPI after its best win of the season (over No. 32 Florida State on Wednesday).
N.C. State’s confidence has grown with each ACC win. The FSU win evened the Pack’s ACC record at 4-4. The confidence from the past three wins has helped put a pair of earlier 30-point losses, to Virginia and Duke, in the rearview mirror.
“A little bit, but you have to definitely remember that they are there because that could easily happen any game in this league,” freshman forward Kyle Washington said.
Washington said the Pack learned from the Virginia and Duke losses.
“If we didn’t, then we’d have a problem,” Washington said.
Third-year coach Mark Gottfried has been particularly pleased with his team’s resilience and spirit. The variety of contributions, from a variety of sources, during the winning streak also has been a key.
Guard Tyler Lewis, who has 10 assists and one turnover in the past two games, has been important, especially after the Pack turned the ball over 21 times at Duke.
Guard Ralston Turner’s jumper – he has eight 3-pointers the past three games – has helped open some space for Warren and Desmond Lee.
Washington has provided a spark with his mid-range game and defense.
“It has been a group effort,” said senior forward Jordan Vandenberg, who had a key block in overtime against Georgia Tech.
To Gottfried, the most important part has been his young team has gotten better since the start of ACC play. That’s what he wanted to see and hopes to continue to see.
“We’ve got to play the way we’ve been playing,” Gottfried said.
UNC coach Roy Williams on rivalry with N.C. State: It probably means more to me than typical UNC fan
North Carolina fans might not view N.C. State as much of a basketball rival, but Roy Williams does. It’s always been that way for Williams, who briefly reflected on Friday about how and why games against N.C. State game to be more important to him.
The Tar Heels and Wolfpack resume their rivalry – as one-sided as it has been for, oh, the past 25 years or so – on Saturday at the Smith Center.
“I always have appreciated the rivalry,” Williams said. “I’ve enjoyed it. But I think it is a big rivalry. It probably means more to me than the typical North Carolina fan. It’s just because of the closeness and some buddies that were North Carolina State students when I was in school here. It was a personal thing.”
Williams has told the story often before, but it goes something like this: When he went off to school at UNC in the late 1960s, some of his friends from back home in Asheville gave him grief about it. Those friends of Williams went to N.C. State. Williams took the ribbing personally, and his disdain for the Wolfpack was born.
Containing Warren top priority for Tar Heels, Tokoto
“He has to affect what you’re doing defensively,” Williams said of Warren at a press conference Friday. “We have to be willing to help off of him. We have to understand that he does a great job of when he misses a shot going right back up to the board and getting the rebound and putting it back in.
“We’ve got to get a body on him and wall him if it’s inside and bother his shot if it’s outside, but then get a body on him and stop him from getting to the boards. He’s about as efficient of a player as there may be is in the league.”
[snip]
Although the job of defending Warren will be a team effort, Williams said the player with the responsibility of shadowing the Wolfpack star – at least, to start the game – will fall on the shoulders of 6-5 sophomore J.P. Tokoto.
“I think he’s getting better and better defensively,” Williams said of Tokoto. “He, as well as a lot of other guys on the team, has got to stop fouling as much. I think that J.P. before he quits is going to be one of the best defenders we’ve ever had.”
Tokoto is going to have his hands full Saturday.
