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NC State Basketball

Pack on the Run: Can they keep it up vs. Jacksonville?

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NC State vs. Jacksonville
7pm | PNC Arena | ESPN3

2 games into the season and its pretty evident that the Wolfpack are much more suited in the open court than the half-court. Our fast break offense has been fluid and efficient, with Cat spearheading the attack. He has made it a point of emphasis to race the ball up the court in order to keep pressure on opposing defenses. A trademark of Coach Gottfried’s teams is in their ability to score quickly. A simple teaching point that Coach Gottfried likes to instill into his player’s mind is to push the ball, whether off of a make or a miss.

I have been pretty impressed with our ability to score in the open court off of turnovers as well as makes. Teams will not be able to celebrate a made shot, as the Pack have looked to push the ball up the court and establish a quick offense to get a good look early in the clock. It is imperative that the Pack score early in the shot clock, as all too often our offense has ended with a contested jump shot as the shot clock creeps inside 10 seconds.

An area of improvement that the Pack can make to be even more efficient in the break is to hit the big men as they cross screen. A key action occurs in Gottfried’s fast break offense, and that is as the ball rotates from one wing to the other, our big men cross screen for each other. Cross screens in the break can be a nightmare to defend against as it creates mismatches, and causes confusion. However timing is vital. All to often this season our big men have been a fraction of a second late, which has made entry-passes difficult and tested our guards patients. We must improve upon this. We will improve on this. Once the timing works out, we will be even more deadly in the break.

This will also help Kyle, BeeJay, Lennar, and Abu gain confidence early. One reason I think our big men have struggled to score this season is because we are not executing our offense adequately enough for them to catch the ball in the sweet spots. In my opinion we are catching the ball too far off the elbow, and the block. This causes the help side defense to have more time to recover, which is why we have seen our big men get in-trouble as they make their post moves.

How can we fix these problems? It takes time and I know the coaches are working diligently with our guys to clean up some timing issues as well as build chemistry. In order for our guys to get the ball in the correct spots they must work hard off the ball. Everything in basketball is predicated on movement and angles! A technique that Coach Gottfried teaches our players is to beat your opponent with your feet. You must get you feet ahead of your defender to beat him to your spot. Once BeeJay prefects this skill he will be an absolute terror underneath. Can you imagine trying to stop him if he catches the ball inside the paint with his defender pinned on his back? The only way is to foul him or give up the easy flush.

Thus far I have liked what I have seen from our team. All of our guys are giving maximum effort and are bringing the energy on the defensive end. Another trait that I like is in their ability to be coached. Players have been responsive to criticism from the coaches and have had positive body language. This fact tells me that the guys have bought in! As we clean up some of the little details this team will undoubtedly exceed expectations and look to push their consecutive trips to the NCAA to 4.

We’ll see tonight if the Pack can continue to run over Jacksonville.

 

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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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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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