NC State 85 Cincinnati 77

Box Score |Recap|

VERY NICE and BIG win tonight as the Wolfpack keeps scraping back to ‘par’ after the UNCO and ECU losses. You can see the importance of tonight’s game by clicking here.

* NC State wins three in a row and is now 2-0 against the Big East for the season.

* State scores over 80 points for the first time all season! as Costner, Fells, Grant and Hickson all hit double figures (and Degand had 9 before getting injured)

* Gavin Grant steps up and proves his MVP status as a senior. Grant single-handedly took over on key offensive possessions in the last three minutes of the game. Grant ended the game with 15 points.

* Of course, nothing good happens to the Wolfpack without something bad happening – starting point guard, Farnold Degand sprained his left knee in the second half and will undergo an MRI on Monday to assess the damage.

* Hopefully the Wolfpack realize that they won this game as much for with defensive effort and overall focus and energy.

* That was best game of the season for Wolfpack backcourt – particularly the point guards. Degand and Javier Gonzalez combined to manage the game effectively while contributing offensively with a combined 15 points.

* With Degand’s injury, the fans that wanted to see Marques Johnson might see more of him than they initially expected.

* State shot 66.7% from the three-point-line because of shot selectivity – State only shot 9 three-pointers all night.

* I will go out on a ‘limb’ and predict that NC State won’t lose any games this year where we shoot 67%+ from the three-point-line and get 15 points from the point guard position.

* The N&O’s ACCNow Blog had some good halftime comments here. They have since updated the comments after the game.

* State travels to New Jersey for a game with the Big East’s Seton Hall on Thursday night at 7:30pm. Seton Hall is hovering around #50 in the RPI and will provide State a fantastic opportunity to “trade-in” that UNO or ECU loss.

* At the beginning of the season the Seton Hall game was not officially on any television schedule. GoPack indicates the game will be on ESPNU; but, you know how many mistakes GoPack makes. We’ll check on the television situation for you.

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07-08 Basketball

64 Responses to NC State 85 Cincinnati 77

  1. wolfonthehill 12/23/2007 at 9:01 PM #

    VERY nice job getting this posted within 1 minute of the game ending.

    Great effort by the Pack tonight… great hustle, great job attacking the press, great job rebounding, great job fending off rallies and keeping it from being a nail-biter.

    We finished one, and we looked solid doing it.

    That’s the team we expected to see… I just hope Degand’s OK – that knee folded in a very unnatural direction.

  2. Sweet jumper 12/23/2007 at 9:04 PM #

    Good win. The effort was there tonight. We still could not put them away but hopefully that will come. Grant took over after Degand left with knee injury at 4 minute mark. Javi did a good job but he still makes me nervous. Western Carolina will be a good time to let MJ get his feet wet.

  3. packof81 12/23/2007 at 9:07 PM #

    Other than Degand’s injury, this was a great outcome.

    They played the game they’re capable of playing. I sure hope this trend continues.

  4. Sweet jumper 12/23/2007 at 9:11 PM #

    Everybody hustled tonight. The defense, rebounding and offensive motion were much improved. These last 2 games were much needed. We are learning how to win, and we did better at finishing than against Davidson. Hope Degand can play against Seton Hall. If not, MJ better be ready to back up Javi with solid play.

  5. redfred2 12/23/2007 at 9:11 PM #

    That was goOOOod!!!

  6. chilly water 12/23/2007 at 9:12 PM #

    GUYS.. how much you do you wanna bet that the the N&O is gonna say we won the game, mainly becuase the reffs called so many fouls on Cincy.. I promise there gonna mention that, probobly in the first paragraph if not the headline
    “State wins with help from Officials”
    or some crap like that. God I hate that newspaper

  7. McLovin 12/23/2007 at 9:13 PM #

    I LOVE JAVI! I really think he’ll develop into a fantastic player with experience. really liked the fast break pass at the end.

    Degand’s knee scares me. My sister played tennis at State and tore her ACL. Her knee moved in the same way as his and the doctor that checked Degand was the one that checked her.
    Come on negative!

    PS – McCauley looks like BIG BEN again!

  8. ClassOf2000Pack 12/23/2007 at 9:13 PM #

    Good play by the Pack tonite.

  9. Sweet jumper 12/23/2007 at 9:14 PM #

    Cincy was hacking all night and deserved the fouls. They got away with some brutal picks on Javi. I hope the N&O will report the truth.

  10. Packster 12/23/2007 at 9:16 PM #

    We made something like 35 out of 48 free throws. Costner played good in the first half. Hickson was in foul trouble in the 2nd. We got a lot more rebounds that we have been getting. Grant played a great game and was the reason we pulled it out. Cincy shot well throughout the game…especially at the end when they were draining 3’s every time down the court. Javi made CLUTCH free throws and despite turning the ball over more that I would like…we found a way to win.

  11. McLovin 12/23/2007 at 9:16 PM #

    … and Costner looked like he got his form back too

  12. Packster 12/23/2007 at 9:18 PM #

    THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!!! ^^^^^^^^^^^

  13. Sweet jumper 12/23/2007 at 9:20 PM #

    Sidney just said that he was very happy with Javi in the last 4 minutes. He said that he noticed Javi taking a leadership role in the last few huddles. This game could be key in his development. I hope Degand’s MRI shows no internal derangement.

  14. stlouiswufpacker 12/23/2007 at 9:20 PM #

    Paging Marques Johnson… I didn’t think Sid would throw him out there against some formidable competition. WCU is just what the dr. ordered.

  15. redfred2 12/23/2007 at 9:23 PM #

    I hope Degand’s injury is not as bad as it looked and that he’s back out there next game, but maybe now some fans will realize that he has been quietly contributing more than they thought he was.

    Javi is still shakey out there but that was one helluva pass on the break.

    Gavin Grant worries me to death at times, but once again, he comes through in the clutch!

  16. Sweet jumper 12/23/2007 at 9:29 PM #

    Gary Hahn just said that Javi played 17 minutes with NO turnovers and scored 6 points on 6 of 8 from the foul line. I think he also had 3 assists and 2 or 3 steals.

  17. Noah 12/23/2007 at 9:29 PM #

    That looked like an ACL tear to me…the way he landed and immediately grabbed it and the way it buckled.

    Anyone complaining about the # of fouls called on Cincy didn’t watch the game. They should have been called for about 30 more fouls. #34 for them was committing about nine fouls per possession away from the ball. I thought he was going to kill someone.

  18. BJD95 12/23/2007 at 9:31 PM #

    Cincy is like a low-rent version of Duke. Their defensive philosophy is to hack constantly, betting the officials can’t possibly call a foul every 10 seconds. The Bearcats literally fouled us EVERY SINGLE POSSESSION. Usually, about 3 times before Hess and crew blew the whistle. It was very sweet for a moving pick to FINALLY be called in the last 2 minutes. I was drunkenly screaming at the TV by that point.

    The win covered up a really bad coaching blunder by Sid. When Degand got hurt, we had to sub in someone to shoot the FTs. At that point, we were only ahead 70-67. With a 90%-caliber Dennis Horner available on the bench, Lowe inexplicably went to 50% shooting, true freshman Javi Gonzalez, who made only 1 of 2. Had we lost that game by 1 point…I don’t even want to think about it.

    Degand’s injury was nausea-inducing on TV. It certainly looked like a complete blow-out. Remember, when you tear your ACL, you often can walk off the court. To that end, it was discouraging to see him limp off and be able to get back to the bench for the final minute or so.

    Speaking of Javi, after the FT misadventure, he played great. 4 of 4 FTs going forward, tough D and good ball-handling. Good job, Javi.

  19. wolfpack n da house 12/23/2007 at 9:31 PM #

    st louis
    I’m not so sure about this Western Carolina game. Cinci only beat them by 2.

  20. old13 12/23/2007 at 9:33 PM #

    * The PGs are looking more comfortable out there.

    * I thought I saw alot of last year’s “warrior” attitude tonight.

    * All the parts seem to be nearly on the same page now.

  21. Sweet jumper 12/23/2007 at 9:33 PM #

    Noah, I agree. Cincy got away with a lot of hacking. If a team is fouling like that the refs have to call them. They cannot try to even it out when one team is using their hands more and bumping more than others. Javi is tough kid to survive the 2 blind picks set on him.

  22. Sweet jumper 12/23/2007 at 9:45 PM #

    Nice article on GoPack.com about the 12/20/1958 Dixie Classic game between Cincy and State when Cincy had Oscar Robertson. We won 69-60. By the way, GoPack.com still does not have tonight’s results posted. Great job SFN!

  23. doug74 12/23/2007 at 10:01 PM #

    I love the way Coach didn’t panic after Mich St and ECU but kept being supportive of his guys. Some fans were acting like they wanted more of an authoritarian approach but Sid knows that carrots work better in the long run than sticks. It’s just human nature. Hope Farnold is OK. IF MJ does well I’d like to see DeGand come back to back up at the two. He shoots pretty well and we could use his speed there.

  24. redfred2 12/23/2007 at 10:03 PM #

    They were brutal, but those two picks on Javi looked clean, to me anyway.

    It may just be me, but I still do not understand the defensive positioning a large portion of the time. I swear on more than one occassion I thought Fells was trying to keep his man from going to mid court instead of cutting off his lane to the basket. It wasn’t just Fells either, most of the others were still giving away angles, but lucky Cincy didn’t seem to be able to take advantage of it.

    The missing word showed up tonight and that was a good all around “EFFORT” tonight though.

  25. ktpritch 12/23/2007 at 10:17 PM #

    That was a pretty soolide team effort – the best I have seen in a while. When Grant hit on that drive and then the 3 near the end of the game, i kept waiting for him to pull a Sam Cassell and run back down the court acting like he had stones the size of bowling balls.

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