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NC State Basketball

Pack Peels Orange, Punches Ticket 71-57

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9 years ago

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Cat Barber dominated the pace (10pts, 6 assists, and 7 boards), Trevor Lacey found his shot (19pts) and Ralston Turner lit it up on his senior night (19pts) as the Pack dominated Syracuse 71-57. This win very likely locks NC State into the NCAA Tournament. What seed they will be awarded is yet to be determined. Let’s take a look at how they dismantled the orange.

Barber Controlled This Game
Cat Barber’s arrival has been well chronicled, but his entire repertoire was showcased in this one. Not only was he strong with the basketball throughout, he single handedly broke the Syracuse press anytime they applied pressure. He was slippery, quick and very decisive as he pushed the tempo and made good decision after good decision. His 6 dimes led the team and was the main reason NC State’s offense ran so effectively in the 2nd half. Now that he is knocking down jumpers teams are forced to play up on him and respect him on his drives. This is forcing help to step up, and when they do, Barber is finding the open man. If they are too slow, he makes them pay with a quick 2. An aggressive Barber was the difference today and will be going forward.

Gottfried’s Scheduling is Paying Off
There were a lot of people knocking Coach Gott midway through this season, but you can go ahead and classify them as shortsighted. Gottfried methodically mapped out a schedule for NC State that allowed them to play quality opponents all season long. Early in the season State often looked overwhelmed by pressure and throw off by physicality but as of late you can see those experiences paying off. The Wolfpack guards have been strong with the basketball and have looked like seasoned vets against full court pressure. Syracuse trapped a lot down the stretch and showed different looks out of their zone but NC State rarely looked surprised and quickly made them pay for their aggressiveness. Those early games will certainly pay off during tourney time.

Turner and Lacey Getting Hot
These two guys were big and need to big going forward. They combined for 38 points on the night and hit a ton of big shots (especially in the 2nd half.) Like it or not State is going to go as far as Turner and Lacey can take them and against Syracuse they took the Pack all the way. Turner was coming off a big game against Clemson in which he scored 23 points. Lacey on the other hand has really struggled to find his stroke over the past few weeks. Tonight was another big showing for Turner, but it was the late season breakout Lacey was needing. He started off the night hitting his first 3 from the corner and never looked back. He finished 7-14 from the field and 3-7 from beyond the arc, which are close to his averages before his little slump. Beating Syracuse’s zone isn’t easy, but when you have some hot shooters it really opens things up. Turner’s big game came on senior night after a night of failing to get much sleep.

“I couldn’t really sleep last night.” Said Turner. I was up thinking about this game and my time here at NC State. This was a great way to go out, with a win.”

Interior Defense
While the Pack might have the youngest front court in the ACC, they sure aren’t playing like it this season. First they shut down the ACC’s best big in Louisville’s Harrell and now they come out and make life miserable for Rakeem Christmas. The star forward did have 15 points and 12 boards, but his 5-16 shooting dug the Orange into a hole. Credit Beejay Anya, Lennard Freeman, Malik Abu and Kyle Washington. All of State’s bigs played active, strong defense in the paint and made scoring in the post a real nightmare. Anya finished with 3 block (2 of which were massive) and Washington added 3 of his own. NC State won the battle of the boards by a narrow margin 43-42.

Up Next….The ACC Tournament
State has a few days of downtime before heading to Greensboro as the #7 seed. They will play Wednesday night against Pitt at 7pm. The Pack smashed the Panthers by 18 at the PNC arena earlier this season. Pitt has looked miserable as of late, dropping their last 3 games to Wake, Miami and FSU.

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GeoffTann
GeoffTann
8 years ago

One more note, I think this is another example of cat CONTROLLING the game. This is a part of his game that doesn’t show up in the stat line but 2 HOF coaches (boheim would probably agree and be the third of it wasn’t for sanctions) have already acknowledged his ability to control the game. This is the most important element of our offense that will result in wins if he can replicate these performances going forward.

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Wolfer96
Wolfer96
8 years ago

wolfpack74 Wolfer96 They’ve played like that all season so you just have to accept it for what it is. The only place where Gottfried’s teams have been consistent is upping their play at the end of each season to make the tourney. This will be his 4th season as coach and 4th year in the NCAAs so we have to give him credit for that.  I just hope that the refs don’t call the touch fouls during the tourney because this team has the ability to ratchet up the D when they are allowed to be physical. I feel like Kyle… Read more »

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wolfpack74
wolfpack74
8 years ago

Wolfer96 What is up with this team?  During parts of the game today, they could do no wrong.  Then all of a sudden, we are throwing the ball away and shooting quickly and the lead is cut in half.  We get in a hurry for no good reason.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved the overall result but consistency would also help me sleep better at night.  To go far in the NCAA tourney, we still need help from our bigs.  Please Gott, play Kyle more.

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GeoffTann
GeoffTann
8 years ago

Gotta love the way cat is playing right now. Don’t let Lacey and turner get going with cat playing like this, we will mess around and get to the ACC Championship game if that happens for 3 games…..which is the problem. I don’t like our chances after we get tired legs since we rely on those games to make consistent jump shots. With no interior precense, we rely heavily on our front court to create offense. But hopefully cat can continue to create, if that becomes consistent, I love our chances at running the table.

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Wolfer96
Wolfer96
8 years ago

Let’s all breathe a sigh of relief and wipe the sweat from our brows. We can finally relax come selection Sunday. That Gott never does it the easy way. Considering that this team plays up to and down to competition one has to wonder if they are going to be ejected in the 1st round (refuse to call it 2nd round) or make it to the elite 8. It certainly has the pieces and depth to make it deep. If last year’s team with TJ dominating had this year’s Anya on defense who knows what that team could have accomplished?… Read more »

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NC State Basketball

NC State’s NET Ranking After Defeating Maryland Eastern Shore

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4 hours ago

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December 7, 2023

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NC State defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 93-61 last night, improving to 6-2 on the season. Ironically, they fell one spot in the NET Rankings, from 51st to 52nd.

(NCAA)

NC State’s two losses were against #1 BYU (!) and Ole Miss (#89). BYU was a Quad 1 loss, and Ole Miss was a Quad 2 loss.

The Wolfpack currently rank 7th in the ACC.

ACC Teams in NET Rankings

17) Clemson
23) Virginia
37) UNC
38) Miami
42) Duke
46) Pittsburgh
52) NC State
71) Virginia Tech
91) Boston College
105) Wake Forest
107) Florida St.
114) Syracuse
159) Georgia Tech
212) Notre Dame
276) Louisville

For a refresher on how the NET Rankings are calculated:

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Using the quadrant system, which was in its fourth season in 2020-21, the quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent’s NET ranking.

Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
The number of Quadrant 1 wins and Quadrant 3/4 losses will be incredibly important when it comes time for NCAA tournament selection and seeding. (NCAA)

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NC State Basketball

Kansas Transfer MJ Rice Makes Quite the Impression in his NC State Debut

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15 hours ago

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December 6, 2023

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We’ve seen a lot of new faces on the NC State Men’s Basketball team this season, but one face we haven’t seen yet is Kansas Transfer Guard/Forward M.J. Rice (6’5″/215)…until tonight.

Rice stepped away from the program for personal reasons earlier this Fall, and when he returned, he had a little catching up to do. It wasn’t until today during shoot around that Rice and Keatts both knew that tonight would be his debut.

“He’d been practicing for the last couple of weeks, and you know, I was just trying to figure out when he was ready. He and I, we talked a little bit after shoot around today and I said ‘MJ you ready to go tonight?'” said Kevin Keatts. “and he had this big huge smile on his face. He’s like ‘You sure you ready?’ He’s like ‘Ask me some plays.’ So he and I sit over there on the scores table at the Dale and we went over plays and I was like ‘You know what, you are ready to play.'”

Out of all the transfers Keatts brought in this offseason, Rice might have the highest ceiling. Rice was a 5-Star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, and ON3 ranked him as the #24 overall prospect nationally. He committed to Kansas, where he played in 23 games for the Jayhawks as a Freshman in 2022, averaging 2.2 points in 7.6 minutes per game. Rice was a huge pickup in the Transfer Portal, ranked as the #2 player in the Portal, with three years of eligibility remaining.

Rice also isn’t new to the area either, playing high school ball at Durham Academy, before heading off to Oak Hill Academy and Prolific Prep.

In a short sample size, Rice gave us a glimpse of what the hype is all about tonight. He scored 11 points in 11 minutes of play, also grabbing 6 boards. Rice was 5-6 from the field, and hit the only three he took. In the most electrifying play of the night, Rice took it coast-to-coast, finishing with a soaring dunk.

“He gives us another dimension. We’ve been playing with six of our new dudes. Now we added the seventh and I’m happy for him. He’s going to help us. He’s going to be really good for us.” said Keatts. “I said this on the radio just now…we’ve got some older guys, but two really good young players in Dennis Parker Jr. and also MJ Rice. It was good for MJ to see the ball going in. I think he played 10 minutes had 11 points. He made a three. He had a big time dunk, so I was excited for him.”

“He gives us the ability to play a little bit more small ball. If we have to, we can play him and Dennis Parker both at the three and four. Really good defender at that position and can rebound the basketball,” said Keatts. “It’s going to take time. I’m trying to figure out how to kind of put him into the rotation, and now we’ve added another really good exciting piece to it, but it was good to have him back out there.”

Welcome to the Pack MJ! We’re glad you’ve arrived!

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NC State Basketball

NC State 93 UMES 61: BOX SCORE

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17 hours ago

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December 6, 2023

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NC State improved to 6-2 on the year tonight, defeating UMES 93-61 in Reynolds Coliseum. Below is the Box Score.

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NC State Basketball

Pack Insider’s Highlight Reel of NC State’s Win Over BC

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1 day ago

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December 6, 2023

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Ready to watch NC State’s Men’s Basketball team play in the ‘old barn’ tonight against Maryland Eastern-Shore? Well, until 7pm, go ahead and get yourself hype by watching Pack Insider’s Highlight Reel of the Wolfpack’s ACC opening win over BC this past Saturday. Check it out above.

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