WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

Pack Falls to Maryland, 67-58

By Tim Peeler, GoPack.com

Mar 3, 2008

Raleigh, N.C. — So much for Dereck Whittenburg’s return saving N.C. State’s season. Jim Valvano and his team seem to be going backwards, after losing its second consecutive game with the senior guard in the lineup.

This time, it was at home against Maryland, with the opportunity to move into third place in the ACC standing on the line. But the Wolfpack collapsed in the final six minutes and lost 67-58 in the next-to-last game of the regular season.

Ahead nearly the entire game, the Wolfpack (16-10 overall, 7-6 ACC) faltered down the stretch, allowing the Terps to finish the game on a 15-1 run. After shooting 57.6 percent from the field in the first half, the Wolfpack made only 9 of 26 shots (34.6) shots after intermission. That included missing its last seven shots, whiffing on the front end of a one-and-one opportunity at the free throw line and committing three turnovers.

“Our shooting did us in. You can’t shoot well for 35 minutes and expect to win,” said discouraged N.C. State coach Jim Valvano. “Bias hurt us at the end, but we just couldn’t put the ball in the hole, from the floor or from the free throw line, when we needed to. Now, we’ve got one day to bounce back.”

And only one day of practice to figure out why the return of senior guard Dereck Whittenburg has caused the team to fade rather than surge. Whittenburg led the team in scoring, just as he did in Saturday’s loss at Virginia, with 15 points. Sophomore Lorenzo Charles also had 15, his career high, and senior Thurl Bailey added 13.

But Whittenburg’s presence in the lineup seems to have poisoned the chemistry that had developed in his absence. Without the senior guard, the Wolfpack was 9-5 and had won four in a row before he returned to the lineup against Virginia on Saturday. With wins over North Carolina and Duke, the Pack had put itself into position for its second consecutive NCAA Tournament bid. Now, however, Valvano’s team seems destined for the National Invitation Tournament.

“I’m concerned,” said Valvano, whose team hosts Wake Forest Saturday at Reynolds Coliseum in the regular-season finale. “But I tried to put myself into Dereck’s place. He wants to end on an up note. His rhythm isn’t quite there yet.”

Neither is the team’s, as it tries to make another dramatic style change with Whittenburg in the lineup. Freshman Ernie Myers, who averaged more than 18 points a game while starting in Whittenburg’s spot, played only four minutes against the Terps and did not score a point.

“We learned to play a certain way without Whit,” Valvano said. “Now we have to change again.”