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ECU Shocks Wolfpack for First Win Against an ACC Opponent

By Bethany Bradsher

Dec 9, 2007

The East Carolina players and fans teamed up Saturday night to make sure that North Carolina State’s first trip to Greenville was one they would never forget.

With a deafening crowd chipping in, the Pirates (4-5) fell in behind junior Sam Hinnant and his 30 points to claim a 74-69 victory over the Wolfpack (4-3). It was ECU’s first-ever victory over an ACC opponent.

Before the game, NCSU coach Sidney Lowe emphasized the importance of shutting the crowd out of the game and staying competitive in the home stretch.

But even after they tallied a nine-point lead early in the second half, his team couldn’t hit the shots and keep the focus they needed to silence Minges Coliseum.

“They made the plays down the stretch when they had to, they made shots when they had to, got a couple of rebounds when they had to, and we weren’t able to do that,” Lowe said. “We missed the shots and they made them. That’s pretty much what it boiled down to.”

Senior Gavin Grant scored his 1,000th career point less than two minutes into the game, and early on he looked poised to be a dominant force inside. But the Wolfpack never led by more than seven, kept in check by a scrappy Pirate defense and the hot hand of ECU junior guard Sam Hinnant.

Hinnant poured in 19 points in the first half alone and was 6-for-8 from the three-point arc for the game. His ultimate highlight film from the night would have two clips -- – a launch from several feet beyond the three-point line at the halftime buzzer to send the teams to the locker room in a 38-38 tie and a 3-pointer from the left side with 2:13 left in the game to push the Pirates to a 67-64 lead they would never lose.

That late lead opened up even more when, immediately after Hinnant’s trey, ECU senior Cory Farmer stole Brandon Costner’s inbounds pass and made a quick jumper. After that five-point swing, the Wolfpack never came closer than three points.

“That was big, but at one point after that we got it down to three with them shooting free throws,” Grant said. “They missed the free throw and we didn’t get the offensive rebound. I think that was probably the most important play in the last three minutes of the game.”

In some cases, Hinnant’s dominance was a matter of weak defense, Lowe said, but even when NCSU was covering him well he hit some unlikely shots. He keyed a 55.6 percent three-point percentage for the Pirates that was a difference-maker when measured against the Wolfpack’s 31.3 percent, Lowe said.

“He made unbelievable shots,” he said. “He made some when we were right on him, but there were some when we gave him a step. I said to the guys, ‘Don’t ever leave him.’ And a couple of times we just loosened up and he came off and shot.”

“As soon as I hit the first one, I knew I was going to have a good night tonight,” Hinnant said.

When the teams took the floor after half, the night looked like it might belong to NCSU after all. The Wolfpack surpassed its largest first-half edge just three minutes into the second half, outscoring the Pirates 9-0 behind the leadership of Grant and junior guard Courtney Fells. But ECU head coach Mack McCarthy said that his team successfully made the adjustments to shift the balance.

“They changed the way they were defending a couple of things, and it disrupted what we were doing,” McCarthy said. “So we had to correct that. And then we made a couple of defensive mistakes, and we just had to correct those. After we made those adjustments, I felt like it was going to be a back and forth game as long as we gave great effort.”

“We knew they were going to come on harder, but we just had to show that fight, we had to show heart, and we did it,” Darrell Jenkins said.

One of those second-half tactics was to put extra pressure on freshman center J.J. Hickson, who was held to only three second-half points. His team learned what happens when they fail to seal the deal, he said.
“Basically we’ve got to learn how to put teams away at the end,” Hickson said. “We let teams stick around and stick around and stick around, and you see the ultimate outcome.”

McCarthy, who has been coaching at the college level for more than three decades, said that the Pirates’ 82-67 loss against Clemson on Wednesday helped prepare them for both the intensity of ACC competition and the volume of the home crowd when facing a big-time opponent.

“I’ve coached a long time and in a lot of great places, and I don’t think I’ve ever been in a building as loud as that was,” said McCarthy, who is in his first year as the Pirates’ head coach after serving as associate head coach under Ricky Stokes for two seasons. “There were some times that it was deafening in there, and there’s no question that the crowd played a factor in the outcome.”

That learning curve from Clemson to N.C. State was perhaps no more evident than in the rebounding play of sophomore John Fields, who had 11 boards for ECU Saturday after pulling down only one on Wednesday. He sat next to McCarthy as they viewed the tape from the Clemson loss, which made an impression, he said.“This win will probably jump start the program, get everybody believing in us and feeling good about Pirate basketball,” Fields said.

As for the Wolfpack, Grant said their challenge is to become a more cohesive team before they face the rigors of the ACC schedule. The sooner the Wolfpack players learn to step back and support the players who are making the shots the sooner they will win on a consistent basis, he said.

“It’s definitely not panic time, but the urgency’s got to pick up a little bit,” Grant said. “No disrespect to ECU, but you don’t want to lose games like this. I just want us to play the right way. I think right now a lot of things are happening that shouldn’t be happening. Some people are being selfish with the ball, and I think we just need to let it flow.”