Wolfpack Fall to ASU 79-76, Back in action tonight

Cat Barber had 22 points and 8 assists and Maverick Rowan added 14, but it wasn’t enough. NC State fell to Arizona State 79-76.

The Pack played hard, but again they settled for bad shots and allowed their defense to fail them as ASU’s Savon Goodman dumped 21 points and grabbed 16 boards in the victory.

To be fair, Goodman is a beast and was a severe matchup problem for the Pack. He was all over the court, scoring off the bounce and around the hoop. But, it wasn’t as if State didn’t have their chances. They tied the game up late in the second half using a full court press and some transition buckets, but overall they looked confused again on offense. Too much standing around, too many ill-advised jumpers and not enough trust in their bigs led to their demise.

The Wolfpack out-shot ASU (45-43%) and won the turnover battle (8-12), but they were killed on the glass. The Sun Devils hauled in 47 boards to the Pack’s 35. They also ruled the offensive glass 18-10, giving them easy buckets and fending off any momentum State built up.

For Gottfried’s group it was a massive let down. After surging late in the second half, they let a flurry by the Sun Devils recapture the lead and Cat Barber missed on a 3 that would have tied it. However, it’s not like all is lost for NC State. They did some good things, but they also reverted back to problems that have haunted them through the first few weeks of the season.

While this team has shooters (Caleb Martin and Rowan), they too often settle for quick 3s instead of being patient and giving touches to their bigs. Abu shot 50% from the floor and finished with 10 points, neither which is enough for him. Abu needs to be the be more of a focus for this group. His presence alone causes defenses to collapse on the entry pass. From there he is able to either score 1 on 1, or kick out for a better look at 3.

Barber played a decent game on paper, and really was one of the main reason State was in this game, but his 5-13 from the field brings back memories of Barber from early last season. Barber is a key piece to this team and he definitely needs to score, but picking and choosing his spots is the key. When he’s on, he should fire away, but when he can’t find his shot they can’t afford his quick shots from the free throw line. Offensive rhythm is an area that this team really needs to improve on, and that’s going to start with Cat.

Another area where they were worse than expected was their interior defense. As big as Anya and Abut are, State should be able to make it hard to finish at the rim. ASU had no trouble at all and was able to get the Pack bigs into foul trouble, while still finishing around the hoop.

State is back in action tonight at 5:30PM when they take on #22 LSU and NBA prospect Ben Simmons. The 6’10 freshman is a bigger, better version of Savon Goodman. He’s averaging 20 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists per game. State has a few hours to figure out how they’ll deal with this matchup problem.