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NC State scored a season high as they defeated Bucknell 99-86 and improved to 5-3 on the season.

For the first time this season, NC State’s offense looked polished. There were less quick shots, there was more ball movement, and they attacked the basket. I don’t think it’s a coincidence then why they shot 54% and had 3 guys over 20 points on the night. The poise and focus on offense just seemed different yesterday afternoon. Instead of rushing down court and taking a long contested 2, they were working it around, dumping it down, re-locating and finding some really good looks against Bucknell’s matchup zone.

Big numbers from the guards:
The Wolfpack guards really lit it up in this one. Freshman Maverick Rowan showed why Gottfried has had so much confidence in giving him the green light early in the season. He dropped a career high 27 points on 9-14 shooting (4-7 from 3). Rowan was on fire for most of the game, but did not force the issue. Almost all of Rowan’s 14 shots came within the flow of the offense. If the type of play (TYPE of play, not number of points) is what Pack fans can expect from Maverick, then NC State has themselves a real valuable asset for the next few years.

Cat Barber continues to re-evolve back into the last season Cat of last year. He’s playing more aggressive, initiating more contact and running the team like true PG. He finished with 24 points on 8-17 shooting and 8-10 from the line. It was also great to see Cat play with a lot more fire and emotion in this one. He in attack mode and was really going at Bucknell all night long. The type of pressure he puts on teams when he plays with this aggressiveness is massive. There is no rest for the opposing point guard and if Cat is hitting his jumper, as he was yesterday, then he becomes nearly unstoppable.

Caleb Martin is filling probably the most important role that Gottfried wanted to fill coming into this season; versatile and consistent scorer. Martin is getting better game by game as he’s settling into the role of go-to scorer. Early in the season he was forcing shots and taking 3s out of the flow of the offense, but to his credit, he’s gotten better and better each game. Against Bucknell, Martin let the game come to him. He picked his spots and was very effective when he had the ball in his hands. He finished 7-12 (5-9 from 3 pt range) for 21 points.

 

Bigs were efficient and solid
Abu had a bit of a bounce back game against the Bison. After two games of playing less than 15 minutes, he registered 24, scored 11 and grabbed 9 boards. He really set the tone early by attacking and trying to get to the rim. While Gottfried and company would like to see Abu be an even bigger part of the offense, with the guards hitting on all cylinders and Bucknell throwing a matchup zone at them, there was less of a need for the bigs to be scoring.

Freeman was actually the most impressive big man on this day. His 10 points and 13 boards were all well earned and great to see. Freeman, while always a physical defender and tough rebounder who also runs the offense well, sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. He doesn’t usually fill up the stat sheet, but he certainly is a huge part of this ball club. I think there is definitely untapped potential offensively with Freeman if he can continue to learn how use his body to keep defenders from blocking his shots, he could be doing this night in and night out. We’d love to see Lennard study up on some Richard Howell film to see how big rich used his wide frame to shield defenders and allow him to score on the blocks.

Anya played 21 minutes in this one but failed to register a point, or a shot attempt and only grabbed 2 boards. The refs were a little hard on him though. Anytime he tried to do anything, he was hit with a personal. Beejay fouled out once again.

 

Defense still an issue

While we’d love to say that NC State has improved in all aspects, we still are seeing some problems defensively, and we’re not alone. “We have to improve defensively in a great way,” Gottfried said. “We’re not going to be able to outscore everybody. It was nice today . 99 was nice, but we didn’t do it the other day against Michigan.”

It’s not talent. NC State has a lot of that. It’s not size. The Wolfpack is big and long. It’s really just focus and awareness. Teams eat up State off screens. Bigs are at times slow to hedge out and other times hedge and extend too far. They just need a defensive discipline that they don’t yet have. This should be the team’s goal going forward. Allowing 86 to Bucknell really shouldn’t happen. Sure they are a bit of a matchup problem for the Pack (since they all can shoot), but you have to be able to slow them down and find ways to make scoring hard for them. The Bison did shoot 51% and 48% from 3, so those are numbers Gottfried’s group should be a little worried about.

Other than defense, this was a huge step forward for the Pack. The younger guys gained confidence and the leaders showed up and led. Next up is South Florida at their place on Dec 12th at 4PM.

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NC State Basketball

An NC State Win Over Marquette in the Sweet 16 Would Be…

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Awesome. Obviously.

#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette tomorrow night in the Sweet 16. What would a win mean for the Wolfpack? Many things, but here’s just a few:

It would give NC State 25 wins on the year (25-14), which would be the most wins since 1982-83, when the Wolfpack went 26-10, winning the National Championship.

It would mark the 12th time in school history that NC State has won 25+ games in a single season.

1982-83 – 26-10 

1973-74 – 30-1 

1972-73 – 27-0 

1954-55 – 28-4 

1953-54 – 26-7

1952-53 – 26-6 

1950-51 – 30-7 

1949-50 – 27-6 

1948-49 – 25-8 

1947-48 – 29-3

1946-47- 26-5

It would be the 7th time NC State has advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament.

1950

1951

1974

1983

1985

1986

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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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