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Gameday: State Needs to Prove Worth vs Clemson

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Don’t say that you were surprised when NC State fell to Boston College immediately after their huge road win at UNC. If you were then you had disregarded the fact that they’ve lost the previous 9 games following a win over UNC. To be honest, we though we could disregard those stats.

See, we thought this team had turned the corner. We thought the defense had finally bought in. We thought we could finally trust this Wolfpack team. I guess we were wrong. Gottfried’s group came out and laid a massive egg. The defense was slow, lazy and not focused. The offense was sloppy, disjointed and not focused. There was a lack of leadership on that court this past Saturday and that is the most disturbing part of it all.

Tonight they look to change their course once again as they travel to Clemson to take on the Tigers. It was only a little over a month ago that the Wolfpack allowed Clemson to walk into their house and beat them like a drum 68-57. With a lot more on the line tonight, let’s hope the Pack can take care of these 3 keys to the game…

 

Stop the Guards
In their last meeting Jordan Roper and Rod Hall ate NC state alive. They hit 5-8 3pointers on their way to a combined 29 points. This time out the Pack will need to make sure this doesn’t happen. Lacey and Berber will be tasked in stopping this. But what should we expect? Who knows. Before the BC loss, in NC State’s previous three games they only allowed an average of 55ppg. Against Boston College (the last place team in the the ACC) they allowed 43 in the first half and 79 for the game. Unacceptable and downright embarrassing. They’ll need a little more ‘want to’ against Clemson.

Get Better Shots
If you remember correctly, the last time these teams met Malik Abu was on fire. He was scoring at will early on and went for 15 points and 12 boards. The problem was that he had no help. State shot an abysmal29% from the floor against Clemson, mostly because they were taking ill advised jumpers most of the night. Caleb Martin was 1-6. Barber was 1-6. Dez Lee was 0-4. Kyle Washington was 1-6. The only people that shot decent were Lacey, Turner and Abu, who all combined to go 15-35 (still not setting the world on fire, but passable.) With State really needing a win, they are going to need to be smarter on offense. Barber will be huge in this one. His ability to break down the Clemson defense and help State get easy buckets will be the difference in the game.

Lacey has been off and State desperately needs him to  turn it around. Over the past 2 games Lacey is 8-26. A number of those misses have actually been bad misses and even a few airballs. If the Pack wants to make a late season run they’re going to need Lacey to get hot and start scoring at a better clip. He’ll have an opportunity to shoot over top and get back in his comfort zone against a smaller defender in Jordan Roper (at 6’0). If Lacey struggles, so will State.

Run Your Offense
There are times (a lot of them) when this team’s brains just goes MIA. I know Gottfried preaches attacking and gives his guys a green light, but there has to be some sort of boundaries. State goes on huge stretches where they take awful shots, long 2’s with no rebounder in place and really get themselves into a hole. After a few possession of misses it’s like no one wants to shoot the ball and State goes into passive mode. This is when teams make giant runs against the Pack. This team needs to learn to get to the line a lot better. Outside of Dez Lee this team doesn’t have a run stopper. A guy that barrels his way to the hoop with his main intention being to get to the foul line. He encourages contact and invites the challenge at the rim, but he understands how to use his body. Barber doesn’t absorb contact well, Lacey doesn’t sell fould on his drive well enough and Raston, well, he usually tries to get contact, but his lack of balance in the paint never gets him the calls. This team needs to figure out other ways to score when shots aren’t falling. Gottfried has a very good, very effective offense, but State rarely takes the time to run the back cuts or the high lows that he has in place. Instead they constantly run corner’s for Turner to get open 3s and if that’s not open it’s one on one time for the guards. That type of play isn’t going to get your far in March and NC State is running out of time to change.

 

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THEOKEEP
THEOKEEP
9 years ago

Have they ever tried a small unit where they put Caleb at the 4 to get more floor spacing, being that state doesn’t usually have to bigs dominating at the same time when they are in anyways.

NC State Basketball

NC State has Won 5 ACC Championships this Year

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NC State has won 5 ACC Championships this year, which is the most of any athletic program in the conference this year.

The Wolfpack has won ACC Titles in Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Wrestling, Men’s Basketball and Gymnastics.

The last time NC State won 5 ACC Championships in one year was 1979-80.

As far as I can tell, here’s a look at the Wolfpack Conference Titles from 1979-80:

Football
Women’s Basketball
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Swimming & Diving
Men’s Tennis

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NC State Basketball

NC State is 1 of 4 Schools to Have Both Men & Women’s Basketball Teams in Sweet 16

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NC State is 1 of 4 schools to have their Men and Women’s Basketball teams BOTH advance to the Sweet 16, along with Duke, Gonzaga and UCONN.

NC State and Duke are the only two schools in the country to send both Basketball teams to the Sweet 16, and also send the Football team to a bowl game.

This marks only the third time in school history that BOTH teams made the Sweet 16.

Years NC State’s Men & Women’s Teams Made the Sweet 16

1985
1989
2024

Despite the fact that the Men’s team has made the Elite 8 six times (1950, 1951, 1974, 1983, 1985, 1986), and the Women have made it 2 times (1998 & 2022), in the three occasions they both went to the Sweet 16 in the same year, neither team advanced to the Elite 8.

In 2024, Why Not Us?

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NC State Basketball

#3 seed NC State Holds on Against #6 Seed Tennessee, Defeating the Vols 79-72 to Advance to the Sweet 16

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#3 seed NC State held on last night, defeating #6 seed Tennessee 79-72 in Reynolds Coliseum to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 5th time in the last 6 tournaments.

The Wolfpack led by only 1 after the 1st Quarter, but they looked like they had things under control at halftime, leading by 18 points.

At one point, NC State led by as much as 20 points in the 3rd Quarter, but the Lady Volunteers weren’t about to give up.

With 4:19 left in the 4th, Tennessee cut the lead to 2 points, but NC State might have bent, but they wouldn’t break.

Junior Guard Aziaha James led the way with 22 points and 7 assists, which were both team highs. She scored 7 points in the final 3.5 minutes, helping to squash tue Last Vols’ comeback attempt.

Junior Guard Saniya Rivers had 20 points (6-14 FG) and 6 boards.

Freshman Zoe Brooks was clutch off the bench, chipping in 16 points and 6 boards.

This marks the 16th time the NC State Women’s Basketball team has advanced to the Sweet 16.

The Wolfpack will play #2 seed Stanford on Friday night at 7:30pm on ESPN in Portland.

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NC State Basketball

A Historical Breakdown of the Series Between NC State & Marquette

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#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette in the Sweet 16 on Friday night, which will mark the 6th time the two teams have played one another.

The first time the Wolfpack and the Golden Eagles played one another was also in the NCAA Tournament, and it just so happened to be the 1974 Championship game, with NC State winning the game 76-64, giving the Pack their first National Championship.

Wolfpack led the way with 21 points, and Tommy Burleson had a double-double of 14 points and 11 boards, with 7 blocks, which is tied for the 8th most in school history in a single game.

NC State also had 12 steals in the game, which is the most by a Pack team in an NCAA Tournament game.

The next time the two teams would meet was on January 21st, in Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack won 89-76, and it was a night for the history books for Point Guard Chris Corchiani. In that game, set ACC career records for assists with 861 and steals with 276.

The following year, the Golden Eagles picked up their first win against the Wolfpack, winning 66-42 in Milwaukee.

It would be over 15 years before NC State and Marquette would play one another again, and this time it would once again be a home-and-home series in back-to-back years.

On December 22nd, 2008, the Wolfpack lost a close one at home, falling 65-68. Wolfpack Forward Brandon Costner hit all five 3-Point attempts in that game, which still stands as the best 3-Point Percentage in a single game in school history.

The following year, on December 5th, 2009, the Wolfpack would claim the lead in the series again, defeating the Golden Eagles 77-73 on the road. NC State big man Tracy Smith had a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds. Point Guard Javier Gonzalez had 15 points and 7 assists, and Wing Scott Wood knocked down 4 of his 6 three-point attempts.

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