Connect with us

NC State Basketball

Gameday: Keys for a NC State upset over #15 UNC

Published

9 years ago

on

The day started with a surprise snow storm that blanketed much of central North Carolina and it if the Wolfpack comes prepared it could end with a surprise upset heard ’round the ACC.

Despite a hard snow for much of the morning, ACC officials are saying the game will go on as planned. With NC State already in Chapel Hill, travel should not be a real issue for the team. What will be an issue is offensive rebounding, stopping Marcus Paige and finding a way to get Trevor Lacey going early.

Let’s take a deeper look at the keys to the game:

The bigs must come up big:
If NC State wants a shot in this game they are going to have to come ready to battle on the boards. UNC has made a living off of rebounding and scoring on the blocks. In the first meeting with Carolina Kennedy Meeks, Brice Johnson and Isaiah Hicks combined for 37 points and 19 boards. While State did win the rebounding battle the first time, it won’t be so easy on the road at UNC where the Heels have been playing great and have only lost 2 conference games (both to teams ranked in the top 15).

Gottfried has tinkered with his front court but has seemingly finally found something that works. That something is going with the more physical front line of Abu and Freeman (with Anya coming off the bench). The odd man out right now is Kyle Washington, however I wouldn’t count him totally out of this one. Washington gives State the ability to draw the UNC bigs out of the paint with his short baseline jumpers. In the first meeting it was Washington who really sparked the Pack with 17 points on 8-14 shooting.

 

Stop Marcus Paige
The junior point guard has made a living off of killing State. Last year he single handedly beat TJ Warren and the Pack at the PNC and just last month he was the catalyst in their victory over State with his 23 points and 9 assists. Stopping him is paramount and will fall on the shoulders of the red hot Cat Barber.

Barber has been a real reason State has turned the corer as of late and his confidence on offense has bled over to his tenacity on defense. All of the sudden he’s become the leader of this team and as the leader he has taken on a lot of new roles. Gottfried hopes today he takes the role of ‘stopper.’

Paige will also now have to be burdened by guarding Cat. In their first meeting he was guarding a guy who stood around the perimeter and passed side to side. Tonight he’ll face a different animal, one who never stops attacking and creating. This certainly will play a role on his fatigue level and hopefully take him out of his flow on offense.

 

Get Lacey Off
When Lacey gets going State is hard to stop. The problem he faced at the midseason mark was that teams would put bigger, stronger defenders on him. This made it tough for him to create space off the dribble for his pull up. He’s the nation’s leading isolation scorer, but against Carolina he won’t be able to shoot over top of anyone.

Lacey will certainly be hounded by JP Tokoto who is one of the ACC’s best defenders. Tokoto is long, tall and athletic, but he’ll be forced to really press up on Trevor. The good news is that over the past few games Lacey has opened up his game. All of the sudden he’s been finding success in attacking the basket. If he does this he is literally impossible to guard. Press up to close and he can muscle by you. Play off of him and you’ll get a jumper in the eye. If Lacey can get hot he can carry this team over the Heels, but if he allows Tokoto to shut him down like he did last time out (4-13 shooting), State will be in trouble.

 

Keep Ralston Hot
The other huge factor in this game is that Ralston Turner is getting hot again. Over the past few weeks Turner had gone ice cold and had really become a liability to the Pack, but as of late that’s starting to wear off. He’s dropped 28pts over the last 2 games and is shooting 50% from beyond the arc over that time. He’ll be guarded by Justin Jackson who, while tall and wirey, is not really great at chasing around a spot shooter. Turner getting his shot to fall early is huge for the Pack in this game.

 

If State can take care of those things then there’s no doubt they’ll be in a very good position to win this game, however even then the Heels are a tough matchup. This is a team playing their best basketball over the past two games. Remember, they were a few minutes away from knocking off Duke in Cameron before coming out a blowing GT out of the water 89-60. There is a lot on the line tonight and we should be in for a great matchup in the Smith Center.

Related Topics:
Click to comment
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NC State Basketball

NC State Women’s Basketball Releases Their 2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule

Published

21 hours ago

on

July 26, 2024

By

NC State Women’s Basketball team released their 2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule yesterday.

Image

RALEIGH, N.C. – The NC State women’s basketball program has announced its non-conference slate for the 2024-25 season, as revealed on Thursday.

The Pack will play eight of its 11 games, in addition to a preseason exhibition, at Reynolds Coliseum. Coming off a historical 2023-24 season that was highlighted by the program’s first Final Four since 1998, second in program history, head coach Wes Moore is entering his 12th season at the helm. With a strong home court advantage, the Pack has accumulated a 117-15 (.886) record at home since the renovation of Reynolds Coliseum was completed in August 2016.

NC State will participate in the Pink Flamingo Championship at Baha Mar in Nassau, Bahamas on Monday, Nov. 25 and Wednesday, Nov. 27 against opponents that will be announced at a later date. As previously announced, NC State will play the defending NCAA Champion South Carolina at the Ally Tipoff at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte on Sunday, Nov. 10, as well as host Ole Miss for the SEC/ACC Challenge on Thursday, Dec. 5.

The Wolfpack will host Anderson (S.C.) for an exhibition on Tuesday, Oct. 29 before officially starting the season at home vs. ETSU on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Following the Ally Tipoff, NC State will return home to host Kent State on Thursday, Nov. 14.

NC State’s first true road game of the season is at TCU on Sunday, Nov. 17. The Pack will then play Coastal Carolina at home on Thursday, Nov. 21 before its trip to the Bahamas for two games (Nov. 25-27).

The Pack will close out the non-conference slate with four straight games at Reynolds Coliseum, starting with the SEC/ACC Challenge game vs. Ole Miss (Thursday, Dec. 5). NC State will then host Old Dominion (Sunday, Dec. 8), Davidson (Wednesday, Dec. 11) and James Madison (Thursday, Dec. 19) to wrap up non-conference play.

With NC State’s known non-conference opponents, six are coming off postseason tournament appearances. Three received NCAA Tournament bids (Kent State, Ole Miss and NCAA Champion South Carolina), two were invited to play in the WBIT (TCU and James Madison) and one played in the WNIT (Old Dominion).

NC State’s Atlantic Coast Conference schedule will be announced by the league office at a later date. NC State will play Wake Forest, Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Miami, Notre Dame, Pitt, Virginia and Virginia Tech at home. The Pack will take on Wake Forest, Cal, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, North Carolina, SMU, Stanford and Syracuse on the road.

Season tickets are sold out for the 2024-25 season. Tip-off times and television designations will also be released at a later date.

2024-25 Non-Conference Schedule

Tuesday, Oct. 29 – Anderson (Exh.)

Tuesday, Nov. 5 – ETSU

Sunday, Nov. 10 – South Carolina $

Thursday, Nov. 14 – Kent State

Sunday, Nov. 17 – at TCU

Thursday, Nov. 21 – Coastal Carolina

Monday, Nov. 25 – Opponent TBD &

Wednesday, Nov. 27 – Opponent TBD &

Thursday, Dec. 5 – Ole Miss +

Sunday, Dec. 8 – Old Dominion

Wednesday, Dec. 11 – Davidson

Thursday, Dec. 19 – James Madison

$ – Ally Tipoff (Spectrum Center, Charlotte, N.C.)

& – Pink Flamingo Championship (Baha Mar, Nassau, Bahamas)

+ – SEC/ACC Challenge (Raleigh, N.C.)

 

Continue Reading

NC State Basketball

NC State Legend Julius Hodge Named Head Coach at Lincoln University

Published

2 days ago

on

July 24, 2024

By

NC State Legend Julius Hodge has been named the Head Coach at Lincoln University.

This marks Hodge’s first stint as a Head Coach.

Hodge has been in the Coaching world since 2015, when he served as Director of Player Development at the University of Buffalo under Bobby Hurley. Then, he spent 2016 and 2017 as an Assistant Coach under Herb Sendek at Santa Clara. From 2018-20, Hodge served as an Assistant Coach at San Jose State. Hodge has spent the past three seasons as an Assistant Coach at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

At NC State, Hodge earned 1st Team All-ACC honors in 2003 & 2004, and 2nd Team honors in 2005. Hodge was named the ACC Player of the Year in ’04. He earned the All-Freshman Team in 2002.

Hodge is 1 of 11 players in NC State history to earn 1st Team All-ACC honors more than once.

His 2,040 career points scored rank 3rd in NC State history. Hodge also ranks 1st in Free Throws Made, 14th in Rebounds, 7th in Offensive Rebounds, 6th in Assists and 7th in Steals.

Congrats Julius! You deserve this!

 

Continue Reading

NC State Basketball

WATCH: Getting to Know NC State’s Trey Parker

Published

4 days ago

on

July 23, 2024

By

NC State Men’s Basketball is releasing videos helping fans get to know the new players on the 2024-25 roster.

Below is the video of Freshman Trey Parker (6’1″/178), with a transcript underneath.

“My name is Trey Parker. I’m an incoming Freshman from Fayetteville, North Carolina.” 

“I was recently playing at Overtime Elite. It was a great experience. A whole lot of development and great energy.” 

“Coach Levi (Watkins) recruited me. As soon as I got to the campus, it was a great experience. They just gave me that big inspiration to feel like I’m home, and feel like a great student outside of basketball.”

“I knew I wanted to be a part of the Pack back in November of 2022. I just felt like it was a great fit for me.”

“Living in North Carolina, and now playing in North Carolina, is a big opportunity. There’s a lot of people from North Carolina looking up to me, and I want to give them what they want to see.” 

“Being close, allows for them to bring the whole city out. It just feels like I’m already at home.” 

“Y’all stay tuned. Showtime is coming this year.”

_______

Parker originally signed with NC State in November of 2022, as a member of the 2023 recruiting class. He decided to reclassify, making him a member of the 2024 class.

Parker is a consensus 3-Star prospect, though 247Sports’ Composite Rankings have him as a 4-Star prospect. 247 ranks him as the #135 overall player in the 2024 recruiting class, the #26 Shooting Guard, and the #13 player in the state of Georgia.

Continue Reading

NC State Basketball

Jersey Numbers for 2024-25 NC State Men’s Basketball Team Revealed

Published

1 week ago

on

July 18, 2024

By

The NC State Men’s Basketball team revealed the Jersey Numbers for their 2024-25 team yesterday.

Image

Numbers that are Staying the Same

Michael O’Connell – #12

Ben Middlebrooks – #34

Dennis Parker Jr. – #11

KJ Keatts – #13

Jordan Snell – #22

Numbers that have Changed

Jayden Taylor – #1 –> #8

Breon Pass – #10 –> #4

Numbers of New Players

Mike James – #0 (He wore #0 at Louisville last year)

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield – #1 (He wore #5 at Louisville last year)

Paul McNeil – #2 (He wore #2 in High School last year)

Dontrez Styles – #3 (He wore #0 at Georgetown last year)

Trey Parker – #5 (He wore #5 in High School last year)

Marcus Hill – #10 (He wore #0 at Bowling Green last year)

We don’t know what number Ismael Diouf will be wearing at NC State next year yet. 

 

 

Continue Reading