Pack's Problems Too Much To Overcome Against UNC

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Pack's Problems Too Much To Overcome Against UNC

Sidney Lowe offers some instruction to Javier Gonzalez just before the end of the game against the Tar Heels.

By J. Mike Blake

Jan 12, 2008

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N.C. State had been incubating its bad habits for the past month, failing to shoot, rebound or defend well during the tail end of the seven-game winning streak that led up to Saturday’s 93-62 blowout loss to rival North Carolina.

But in this game, the No. 1 Tar Heels (17-0, 2-0) punished the Wolfpack for its mistakes from the word “go,” jumping out to a 43-13 halftime lead.

Players had been deflecting questions over the past three games concerning the poor play against inferior opponents. But without the “a win is a win” argument to masquerade the existing problems now out the window, the team’s tone is far from upbeat anymore.

“It’s tough. It really is. I’m speechless because I didn’t see that coming. I thought we were much better than that and unfortunately we didn’t play up to our potential,” Ben McCauley said.

“We thought we were doing well with that seven-game win streak. A lot of the things we did against those teams that are out of the ACC, like coming out sluggish in the first half, really hurt us tonight. Carolina jumped on that, kept going and didn’t stop.”

The rival Tar Heels closed out the first half on a 34-4 run over the final 15 minutes, breaking the 9-9 tie for good.

“Today was not a good day,” coach Sidney Lowe said.

Carolina didn’t have to play like the top team in the country. State was incapable of mustering any momentum after those first five minutes of play, and the teams were never any closer than 27 points after halftime.

While Carolina also went 6-of-11 from beyond the arch, State failed to hit a first-half 3-pointer for the second game in a row. It didn’t hurt against North Carolina Central, but it killed them against the team from Chapel Hill.

“A lack of scoring and beating [previous] teams how we should beat them, that played a major part in our loss today. That’s something that coach pointed out after the game, our mistakes earlier in the season are costing us right now,” J.J. Hickson said. "When you don’t make shots, it’s hard to win.”

In the first half, the Pack shot 17 percent from the field, including 3-of-21 on shots in the paint.

“We weren’t missing shots, we were missing lay-ups,” McCauley said. “And that’s unfortunate because we have guys that can make those. I’m kind of stunned.”

Courtney Fells, who played 34 minutes and tied for a game-high 16 points, said he thought his team’s effort was there, but the way in which the team was out-rebounded suggested otherwise.

State’s feeble attempts at cleaning the boards resulted in 18 Carolina offensive rebounds and being out-rebounded by a 50-34 margin.

The first half was full of the mistakes that resembled those against Presbyterian, North Carolina Central and Western Carolina. The Pack bricked its perimeter shots, turned the ball over, lost players on defense and watched as eight of its dribble-drives were swatted away by Carolina defenders.

However, unlike those opponents, the Heels had the players to capitalize and by the time the halftime mercifully rolled around, the game was long out of reach.

Even when State shot 58 percent and scored 49 points in the second half against a content Carolina team, the deficit was never trimmed to lower than 27 points.

Despite having more difficulty with turnovers, 17 in all, and the 34-4 scoring avalanche of the Heels, State was never panicked or flustered – almost to a fault.

“They didn’t seem frustrated. They weren’t arguing at each other or anything like that,” Deon Thompson said.

Coming in, it was undetermined if either Fells or Dennis Horner were going to be healthy enough to play significant minutes. Both men played more than 17 minutes but the rout went on regardless.

The 31-point defeat was the largest margin of victory in the series since 1993. It was not the way the Pack imagined starting ACC play after some predicted in the preseason it would challenge Carolina for the ACC title.

Glaring problems from the recent games carried over, resulting in a game in which State wasn’t much of a challenge.

However much room for improvement was present going into the Carolina game, the same amount exists after it. And with a date at Clemson, a team that pushed Carolina to the wire, the team knows there’s little time to make that stride.

“Anytime you lose to a team and lose to them big you don’t forget. But at the same time we play on Tuesday,” coach Sidney Lowe said. “We have to take something from this and understand this is how it is. This is how it’s going to be in the ACC and you have to be ready to play for 40 minutes. Hopefully we’re understanding that and will be better on Tuesday [against Clemson].

Also from the N.C. State locker room…

Sidney Lowe on the first half struggle…

“We started to play a little one-on-one. Even in the post some times we weren’t patient. We were taking four, five, six dribbles trying to get there and they were converging in and at times when we were shooting we were trying to shoot over three people as opposed to kicking the ball out first and re-post and try to get a one-on-one situation. In the second half we did that better.”

“Taking a bad shot against this team is pretty much like a turnover.”

On what he said at halftime…

“If you feel that your team’s not working and not playing hard then, yeah I’d get disappointed in that. I just thought we made some poor decisions so there’s no reason for me to come in there yelling.”

J.J. Hickson on what was said at halftime…

“[Lowe] pointed more of the positive things that we did that the negative. We know what we did wrong so there’s no use in repeating it over and over again. We played much harder in the second half and made shots.”

On if the loss was a wake-up call…

“It was kind of a wake-up call, but we had a wake-up call long ago way back when we played Michigan State. We just need to take better shots. It’s a lack of concentration and we have to play harder.”

Most Recent Comments

WAKE UP N.C. STATE!!! WE need to stop making the excuses of poor shooting in the first half and losing the point guard from last year. We were out played 100%. I love NCSU and believe in them. We need to get to the basics of basketball, playing defense and rebounding. IF NCSU would just focus on playing hard tough defense and limit their opponents to 1 shot, then yesterday would have never happened. 1 for 23 in the paint did not hurt them, it was ALL the EASY shots Carolina got on the other end of the floor. Plus all the easy 2nd shots Carolina got on the other end. We(NCSU) have issues and it has nothing to do with offense. It is our teams lack of effort on the defensive end. It is pathetic. Yes there are times we play good defense but don't give it just a few times. Give it an whole game with the defensive intensity that you guys are capable of. Heart and Hustle guys! Heart and Hustle! I believe in you!!!