Abdul-Malik Abu finally had his breakout game, but it wasn’t enough as the Pack fell to 0-4 in the ACC with their 85-78 loss to the Seminoles.

Where is the defense?
“78 points should have been enough to win this game.” said Gottfried after the game. He’s right. As we stated earlier this season, this Wolfpack team will need to become a lock down defensive team if they want to compete in this league. Right now they are anything but. FSU shot 50% from the field and the Wolfpack defense looked out of sync and undisciplined. Too often they jumped at pump fakes, were late to rotate on help side and simply failed to box out. These are the little things that are losing this team basketball games and things that quickly need to be fixed going into a game against #5 UNC.

Abu breaks out
There he is!! This is the Abu this team has desperately needed. He came out against a much taller front court and put up a monster of a game. He beasted his way to 21 points, 13 boards and 6 assists. With the offensive struggles this team goes through in stretches, Abu needs to become a major focal point of this offense. If he plays with this type of aggression and physicality, NC State might have found the balance from the front court that they’ve been missing. If you remember late last season, NC State’s surge was in direct correlation to Abu’s breakout. Maybe this performance will be the springboard for a monster 2nd half of the season.

Caleb Martin struggling
NC State needs to make adjustments. Caleb Martin is a talented player, there is no doubt about it. He is going to be a big part of this basketball team’s future, but at 0-4 in the ACC you’d have to think that there is going to be some sort of reevaluation.

The quagmire here is that Gottfried knows his team needs scoring. Early in the season it was Caleb who backed up Cat in that category. Right now, however, State is giving away too many possessions by settling for 3s from guys who simply aren’t really shooting it that well right now. Instead of attacking the rim, getting to the line or dumping it down to the post and making the defense adjust, they are simply settling for 3’s that they just aren’t hitting.

Over the last 9 games Caleb Martin is shooting 22-80 from the field. That is 27.5%. He’s hit 13-60 from beyond the arc, for 22%. He’s grabbed 45 rebounds in that span and has 12 assists in 292 minutes of play.

State needs to maximize their possessions and really work on their offensive efficiency. You know Caleb wants to get his shot going, but volume shooting and hitting under 30% of your shots isn’t going to turn this season around.

Where to turn? 
There are a lot of options here. You can keep playing how you are playing and hope things simply shake out (however, you are starting to run out of time), or you can make a few minor adjustments. Going forward, you’ll likely see Abu playing a bigger role. After Barber, no one should touch the ball more than Abu. He’s going to need to be a major force if State is going to make any sort of run.

Rewarding the fundamentals is hopefully what you see next. Putting up big points is sexy, but boxing out, getting in the passing lanes on defense, taking smart shots and being patient on offense are what is going to make this team a contender. Those who can do this should see an uptick in minutes, while those who don’t should find extra bench time. This means Freeman and Cody Martin should and could find themselves in starting roles and seeing increased minutes. They aren’t going to put up points, but they are the two that are up for taking care of the dirty work that others fail to do. With the emergence of Abu over the past weeks and his huge game last night, you have to believe you’ll see him and Cat be the focal points with State looking for ways to rotate Mav and Caleb together in and out at the 2 until they can start knocking down shots more consistently.

Hopefully they find something that helps them turn the corner, because #5 UNC is up next on Saturday.