* Why do I feel as though that half of basketball took longer than most?
* State once had a lead as large as 11, but goes into halftime up only 4. The Pack hit one field goal in the last nine and a half minutes of the first half.
* Had it not been for a series of great defensive plays by Cedric at the end of the half the Pack could have very well been down at the half . On every defenseive possession of the last three minutes of the half, Simmons either caused a turnover, blocked a shot &/or pulled a rebound.
* Damn, I love Cedric Simmons. He should never come off the court unless he is sucking air. By the time Ced leaves Raleigh he may crack my all-time Top 10. Simmons had a wonderfully balanced first half — active on offense, defense and the boards (pulling at least 6 rebounds in the first half) Next step in Ced’s development is hitting shots down low on which he is fouled.
* Thank goodness Sendek sat Tony Bethel when he did…who knows how many points we would have scored and what our lead would have been, otherwise. Bethel achieved his season high of 12 points in the first 35% of the first half.
* Cameron Bennerman also made the mistake of getting engaged into the offense and hitting a nice three-pointer. As soon as he found that rhythm, it was time for some rest.
* Speaking of Bennerman, a technical foul for pulling on the rim like he earned is not excusable for a senior. I thought that our seniors stopped playing with bones since the likes of Kenny Inge and Damon Thornton left Raleigh.
* I thought that the officials called a pretty decent first half. One thing that scares me about the Wolfpack’s offense is that we need so much spacing to execute. We therefore need officiating that adheres to upholding the NCAA’s stated emphasis on defenders checking the offense away from the ball. We got some of these calls in the first half. Enjoy it while we can — we’ll play Duke and Carolina soon enough.
