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.
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.
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 »
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.
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.
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 »