The Wolfpack couldn’t overcome foul trouble and awful shooting in the second half, as Wake Forest squeaked out the 1 point win.

TJ Warren scored 22 points for NC State, but he was their only source of offense and fouled out with less than 3 minutes to play. State and Wake then went back and forth before Dez Lee seemingly clinched the game with 2 FTs at the 9 second mark. But in typical NC State fashion, Codi Miller-McIntyre went the length of the court, took 3 steps (two separate euro-steps) and finished over Kyle Washington. Another heart breaker for the Wolfpack.

Here are some of our notes from the game:

– Great hustle, great fight, poor execution. I thought this team played hard and really hustled the whole game against a more mature Wake team. The consistency of reffing in the ACC is absolutely horrid. Against Virginia they let a football game breakout, and here against Wake, the slightest hand check was a foul. Now, just because I’m praising their heart does not mean I think they played smart. They didn’t and that’s becoming a pattern. Poor shots, indecision on offense, and mental lapses on D. It’s happening all too often and it’s killing the Wolfpack.

– Cat Barber needs to become a true PG. Barber has NBA level quickness and has all the talent in the world, but right now his style of play is hurting the Wolfpack. This team can not win games playing improv style basketball. It’s sloppy, it’s unorganized and there is no leadership or flow to be found. Barber needs to become a leader and a point guard, or he needs to move over to SG. What I’m saying might be unpopular and might rustle some feathers, but you need to pick your path. There’s no such thing as a championship team with a volume scorer as their PG, it just does not exist. Sure there are tons of great scorers that play PG, but they are game managers, distributors and team leaders first, and are only scorers when they have to be or the opportunity presents itself. Barber probably wants no part in hearing this from anyone, because he is playing hard and he is putting up points, but study great teams, study great point guards and you’ll see a very clear pattern. I also realize that Barber is young. That needs to be taken into consideration. It’s not like he’s really trying to be a selfish player, he’s just trying to make things happen for his team,  which is fine, but he needs to understand that at this level the way you do that is much different. He’s never been taught how to lead or taught how to control the flow and pace of a basketball game. He’s just always been a scorer first and PG second. So the blame does not fall completely on him…yet. However, the trend we’re looking at here is not skewing the right direction right now. Let’s look at some stats:

Since the Missouri game, here is your Cat Barber shooting lines by game:
2-11, 4-14, 2-10, 4-12, 1-6, 2-12

15- 65. That’s 23% shooting from a guy who is taking the second most shots on this team. That is killing the team FG% and killing the offense. Barber has obvious skills, but he’s using them the wrong way. Sure he can get to the lane at will, but why pull up with a hand in your face, or force a contested layup over 2 or 3 bigs. Why not draw the defense, and dish out. Or create some havoc and and set up a cutter. Look I’m not pointing this out to harp on, or bring down the kid. I’m doing this to bring a point to light that if this team wants to progress and Barber wants to become a true leader and true point guard, that he’s going to have to take leadership and game management seriously and stop thinking of himself as a go-to scorer or an Allen Iverson type guard. I know this team does not have many weapons, but they have more than they are showing. All they need is a guard to get them the ball int he right places. Right now it’s not happening and NC State’s offense is a mess.

– Horrible, horrible consistency from ACC refs. I don’t think this game was called lopsided. I think both sides were called pretty evenly. So kudos to the refs for that. But that’s not to say that there is no problem with the reffing in the ACC, because there is. The consistency is horrendous. One night you’re allowed to play a rugby match with UVA and the next night if you rub elbows with a guy and he flails his hands, you get a call. It’s become a joke, to be honest. This league needs to bring in some fresh faces and new blood to the circuit. You’ve got some guys that just fade into the background and call as fair a game as they can without interfering too much with the pace of play. Then you have some other guys, and you’re LUCKIE I don’t name names, who’s ego force them to control games by calling them tightly. The more they blows the whistle the more control they have to dictate the drama at the end. Don’t kid yourselves, these are humans out there.  You really think they put their emotions aside when they call a game?

The point is, these are young kids who are having a hard enough time figuring out how to play against bigger, stronger players in this league. The last thing they should have to think about is changing the style of their play based on how the ref feels like calling the game that day. State is struggling with this and looked scared and nervous last night…not at Wake Forest, but at the fact that if they so much as touch somebody they might have to sit on the bench with foul trouble.

–I’m sorry Jordan Vandenberg. After a stretch there where Anya played well and Vandy kind of faded back, I made the comment that maybe it was time to give Anya more minutes. I was proved wrong last night. Jordan really showed up and played well. He really was a force in the first half and helped State get out to a nice lead by allowing them to control the paint. He finished with 10 and 7 and outside of Warren, was the biggest difference maker NC State had. If he brings that level of confidence and energy every night, he needs to be on the floor.

–Bigs need to be more involved. This is a must. I want you to look at this next line. NC State bigs (Vandy, Freeman, Washington, Anya) were  9-13 from the floor. That is about 70%. These guys are ready. Washington is ready to start getting more opportunities. Freeman has shown nice touch around the basket lately. On the other side, NC State guards (Barber, Lewis, Turner, Lee) were 6-26 from the floor. That is an abysmal 23% from a group that took twice the amount of shots. I left out Warren because he is a no brainer. You go to Warren when he’s on the floor, but after that, why aren’t we looking to our bigs more. I know WF went zone for most of the second half, but there are ways to get the bigs involved in the zone. Freeman and Washington should touch the ball at the high post at least once per possession against the zone, to see what opens up. Instead State works it around the arc until the shot clock expires.

– Not having Lewis available in the 2nd half hurt NC State. I’d love to see the +/- on Lewis in this one. State fell way behind early on against Wake, but came surging back when Lewis entered the game. Barber came back in at the end of the first half and held the lead, but the wheels fell off in the second half and no one was there to stop the bleeding. Lewis left with dehydration issues and did not return. They need Tyler for his ability to calm down the basketball game and get the team back in a flow. Then you can come back with Cat and finish them off.

– Dominant on the boards. Another big plus for the bigs in this one as they out-rebounded Wake 34-25. These guys are doing big work for a group of mostly freshmen. They had 14 offensive rebounds to Wake’s 3.

–That Codi Miller-McIntyre game winning shot….was a walk.