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Gameday: State Needs to Prove Worth vs Clemson

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9 years ago

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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.

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NC State Basketball

NC State’s Mohamed Diarra Will Not Return to NC State for Final Season

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8 hours ago

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April 24, 2024

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NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.

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Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.

Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.

Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.

The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross.  Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.

With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.

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NC State Basketball

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

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1 day ago

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April 23, 2024

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Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!

 

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This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.

James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.

News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.

After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.

He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.

James has 2 years of eligibility remaining. With James’ commitment, NC State currently has 1 scholarship available for next season.

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Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill is on a Visit to NC State

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2 days ago

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April 22, 2024

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Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) confirmed with me that he is currently on a visit at NC State.

Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons this season. He earned 1st Team All-MAC honors. Even though he was only at Bowling Green one season, he had one of the best seasons in school history, scoring 698 points, which ranks 5th all-time in program history for a single season.

For his first two years of collegiate ball, Hill played for Southern Union State College (JUCO) in Alabama. In 2022-23, Hill earned 3rd Team NJCAA All-American honors, and ranked as the #32 overall Junior College prospect.

247Sports ranks Hill as a 4-Star Transfer Prospect, and the #78 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.

According to a source, the NC State Coaching Staff is extremely high on Hill, and they are recruiting him as a Point Guard.

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NC State Basketball

What did an ACC Title & Final Four Mean to NC State Legend Dennis Smith Jr.?

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3 days ago

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April 22, 2024

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What did an ACC Title & Final Four mean to NC State Legend Dennis Smith Jr.? The man who won the ACC Rookie of the Year Award in 2017 gave me a statement.

It means a lot. It means a lot to the university, the state of North Carolina and a lot more to my dad, grandma, and myself. They have been NC State fans since forever, so their excitement level was though the roof when they saw BOTH of our basketball teams shining like that. It was a great feeling!

2017 was Smith Jr.’s only year of College ball, averaging 18.1 points, 6.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals. He earned 2nd Team All-ACC honors, and obviously, he earned a spot on the ACC All-Freshman Team.

DSJ was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the 9th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Smith Jr. just wrapped up his 7th season in the NBA. This was his 1st season with Brooklyn, playing in 56 games for the Nets. He averaged 6.6 points, 3.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, averaging 18.9 minutes per contest.

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