WRAL Sports Fan

North Carolina State University

Fells defense hurting his offense?

By Tim Hall

Feb 28, 2009

It's been a roller coaster of a season for N.C. State.  Just when the Wolfpack began to string a couple ACC wins together, it ran into tough road contests at North Carolina, and most recently Wake Forest.

Now losers of two of the last three, the Wolfpack hasn't received double-digit scoring from senior Courntey Fells in any of those games.

While Fells is normally devoted to defending the opposing team's top scorer, head coach Sidney Lowe is looking for a balance of strong defense and the offense he knows Fells can give.

"You can see where it can affect him," Lowe told Mike Maniscalco on 99.9 The Fan. "We are trying to get to the point where we're telling Courtney 'you have to be able to do both'."

"We still need him to score for us," Lowe reiterated. "When we have played well and won ball games he has given us double-digit numbers."

Fells scored just seven points in the loss at North Carolina, nine points in the narrow win over Virgina, and eight points in Thursday's loss at Wake Forest.  Fells didn't attempt more than eight shots in any of those games.

The Wolfpack still have opportunities for quality wins left in the season with three games left against NCAA bubble teams.  Sunday night Maryland (17-10, 6-7) visits the RBC Center in what proves to be a very important game.

"It's definitely a big game, this is a big game," Lowe said.  "This could come down to the biggest game of the year for us."