NC State Basketball
Game Preview: NC State vs. William & Mary
NC State Wolfpack vs. Williams & Mary Tribe
8pm | Raleigh, NC | ESPN3
Notes:
This is NC State’s season opener. William & Mary actually has beaten NC State before. That was in 1952. The Tribe graduated their all-time leading scorer, Marcus Thornton, last season. However, they do return 4 starters.
Scouting report:
As we stated, W&M has 4 starters coming back this season and 7 of their top 10 scorers. Omar Prewitt, Terry Tarpey, Daniel Dixon and Sean Sheldon combined for 43 points and 20 rebounds per game last year. Together, they’ve played 283 games, with 157 starts. The TLDR here is that they are experienced and they can score (via the 3 ball.)
Their weakness:
W&M is not going to out-rebound anyone and their defense leaves much to be desired (allowed almost 80ppg last season). They are going to struggle to keep Cat Barber out of the lane and they are simply just not big enough to match up with the Pack. If they aren’t hitting from the outside, this could be a long night.
Keys for NC State:
State needs to control the tempo on offense and get good shots. A lot of that is going to fall on the shoulders of Cat Barber. The bigs should really have a big night offensively, with a lot of stat padding going on with rebound and put backs. On defense, the Pack really needs to make sure to keep close on the shooters. With their length you’d think this wouldn’t be a real issues, but last season they were not very good at closing out and contesting 3s. If they can funnel the Tribe’s guards into the lane, then Beejay and company can take it from there. This should be a good tune-up for Gottfried’s group.
wormncsu Yeah but Henderson looked like crap out there before he got hurt. Looked like someone who has never been in a college game. I know it’s just one game but they looked so horrible in all facets of the game it’s hard to have much enthusiasm for this team. They got out-hustled for much of the game, out rebounded, didn’t know how to cover a switch, shots were mostly forced and not setup, turned the ball over. I could go on and on. There were very few bright spots. I thought coach gave the green light to Rowan and… Read more »
wolfpack74 You have to give credit to Caleb as well. He seemed to be the only one that came to play much of the game. Abu was okay but settled for too many long jumpers.
Wolfer96 If he doesn’t bring BAM BAM and Alkins, it won’t matter.
I told you guys how bad this team was going to be. Only Wolfer96 has a open mind. Barber sucks, big men can’t score (except Abu), everyone else playing roles that they are not accustom to playing. I never thought that I would say this this early. Bring on baseball.
It is discouraging but let’s not throw gott under the bus. Taking us to NCAA four straight years and two sweet 16. This team will have to find an identity and find it quickly. The team we played tonight was no push over the guys did not show up. Losing Henderson hurt as well.
This is the crap that Gott puts together year 5? I have now lost all faith. Guess I’ll have to wait another season for Dennis to come show us what a real PG can do.
How can 2 twins be so different? Caleb is doing it all out there and Cody is missing layups right under the basket.
If only Caleb can get the others to play like they care. He’s single handedly keeping this team in the game.
I hope someone took money to throw this game because it’s inexcusable otherwise. Cat Barber is the worst PG in the ACC at this moment.
What is Cat even doing out there? He’s getting beat by his man, not driving to the hoop, not hitting 3’s.
Caleb has the ugliest shot ever. Slowest release I’ve ever seen. He’s like the anti-StephCurry.
Cat looks worse than the 1st half of last season. Anya made no progress. Team still can’t play defense at all.
So far not so good. This is just embarrassing. These guys look like they never played together before.