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NC State looked pretty darn bad in their loss to Illinois on Tuesday in their ACC/Big Ten matchup. When the dust settled, the Pack had lost 88-74.

So what went wrong?

— Defensively, this team needs an identity

Wow. NC State’s defense is very, very concerning. I think, defensively, most of the guys are showing good effort, however, fundamentals, communication, and anticipation on that end of the floor is non-existent.

After the game, both Torin Dorn and Ted Kapita sounded off about the team’s effort on defense. Both made it clear that this team needs to work harder and get smarter on the defensive end. This is true, but how do they do it?

They need to figure out who they are defensively. What is thier identity? Are they a team that sits back and plays position defense? Never reaching, never infiltrating the passing lanes on the perimeter? This style of defense doesn’t get many turnovers, but it does force tougher shots. It’s of the thinking that if they are going to get beat they are going to get beat by teams that shoot it well over top of them. This defense is usually more for teams that like a slower pace and can execute well in the 1/2 court on offense. If you ask me, this does not suit this NC State team.

This team is one that is going to gamble. They are going to jump passes and look to get out and run. That is fine, but that comes with a few caveats.

1) You need strong, solid interior defense. You can’t have a bunch of gambling guards and bunch of block hungry bigs. You need your bigs to be space eaters, who make it tough to get easy buckets in the lane (without fouling). This type of defense puts pressure on the bigs, and requires them to be quick to the spot, anticipate faster, and be more about altering shots than blocking them.

2) You need to pick your spots. If a guard gambles, they have to weigh the situation. Every gamble, every little reach, or pass jumped needs to be thought about situationally. Is it a good time to take a gamble? How badly to we need a stop? Do we drastically need a momentum change? This is where your guards have to be smart in understanding the risk vs the rewards on defense. Every time you get out of position by reaching, breaking on a pass or leaving your feet on a pump fake/shot, you are putting your teammates in a vulnerable position. They are forced to play 4 on 5 until you can recover.

3) You need good communication for fast rotation and recovery. As laid out in the last section, every time you gamble to you  create a situation of help and recover. As a guard, when you reach and get out of position you are now demanding help, usually it’s from a big stepping up to stop the drive. When he steps up, his man is going to dive to the hoop. You need your wings to see this, anticipate this and be able to drop down and fill that space before the ball handler can drop it off to the ‘help man’s’ guy. But then you have an open wing guy. So you need either the next in rotation to take that guy, or you need the guy who gambled to recover. Team defense is complicated, it takes 5 men working together, with constant communication and a lot of talking. It takes knowing your teammates and knowing your rotations. All of this because you wanted to reach for a steal. So was it worth it? Was all of that confusing worth the gamble? That is what the NC State guards need to get better at deciphering.


So what went right?

So there actually was some good news on the night. Let’s run down that list.

– Torin Dorn scored 17 points, was 7-11 from the floor and 3-4 from 3pt range. He was the star of this game and continues to be State’s most consistent scorer.

– Abu shot the ball well. You want Abu showing teams that he can knock down the 15-20 footer, but really you only want this so they press up on him, which would allow him to beat his man off the dribble. Hopefully. tonight is the beginning of Malik finding his stroke, but let’s hope it also doesn’t end up with him falling in love with jumpers. Then again, if he’s making them I guess we’ll take it. Abu finished with 16 points and 5 boards (6-9 shooting).

– Ted Kapita put in 28 solid minutes. 13 points and 5 boards. He and Abu are a nice combo for this squad, but fouls keep them from being on the floor much at the same time. Kapita is showing nice touch around the rim, good effort and tons of intensity. The only knock on him right now is his passing. He’s seeing the open man, but he’s having trouble with the delivery. With only a few games under his belt, we believe he’ll continue to improve here.

– 12-13 from the free throw line. There is no way around it, being great from the line is going to be huge when ACC play comes around.

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wolfpack74
wolfpack74
7 years ago

The picture says it all. He has no concept of what’s going on defense. His defense is the guy that’s taking the ball out of the basket and throwing it in. Hire a defensive minded assistant and then stay away from them. Go recruiting, that’s all you can do.

WolfPack
WolfPack
7 years ago

Gott, You are awesome recruiter. Keep recruiting, but we need to hire someone who can actually coach defense to team. We need system. We need discipline. We need Communication. We need defensive scheme.

Stop with this non sense of free style defense. There are no such thing as free style defense. Defense is fruit of disciplined team effort.

RIZ DOLLA
RIZ DOLLA
7 years ago

Coach Gott,

Everyone knows you can produce great guards. Work on getting our big me above average.

#GETEMRIGHTCOACH!

John
John
7 years ago

Great analysis

Ian
Ian
7 years ago

wolfpack74, consider how young this team is and how sometimes, there are five players on the floor who are playing together in their first season together. It’s a whole nother level they need to adjust to. No one’s arguing with you that the team needs to play better defense but it’s early still. A new coach? Please!

wolfpack74
wolfpack74
7 years ago

You start by getting another coach. Or getting an assistant that can coach defense.

FireDebbie
FireDebbie
7 years ago
Reply to  wolfpack74

If I was AD I would be having a little chat with Coach after that loss. Team is so undisciplined ridicules!! Just like the football team.

bornwolfpacker
bornwolfpacker
7 years ago
Reply to  wolfpack74

Agreed. If the head coach isn’t strong in an area of the court (Gott doesn’t seem to be strong anywhere but recruiting) then you get assistant coaches who are better. This of course doesn’t look good for the head coach who’s getting paid a ton of money but why not even out the pay a little to have a better assistant coach.

yakima2k
yakima2k
7 years ago

Losing on the road with basically a 6 man rotation is forgivable. And a lot of the turnovers in the first half seemed related to nervous energy – I suspect that problem will fix itself. I’m sad about Anya; what a disappointment he is for the program and his teammates. For someone of his size and potential, as a senior, to not be able to rebound or defend his position is depressing.

NC State Basketball

An NC State Win Over Marquette in the Sweet 16 Would Be…

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Awesome. Obviously.

#11 seed NC State will play #2 seed Marquette tomorrow night in the Sweet 16. What would a win mean for the Wolfpack? Many things, but here’s just a few:

It would give NC State 25 wins on the year (25-14), which would be the most wins since 1982-83, when the Wolfpack went 26-10, winning the National Championship.

It would mark the 12th time in school history that NC State has won 25+ games in a single season.

1982-83 – 26-10 

1973-74 – 30-1 

1972-73 – 27-0 

1954-55 – 28-4 

1953-54 – 26-7

1952-53 – 26-6 

1950-51 – 30-7 

1949-50 – 27-6 

1948-49 – 25-8 

1947-48 – 29-3

1946-47- 26-5

It would be the 7th time NC State has advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament.

1950

1951

1974

1983

1985

1986

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NC State Basketball

NC State has Won 5 ACC Championships this Year

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NC State has won 5 ACC Championships this year, which is the most of any athletic program in the conference this year.

The Wolfpack has won ACC Titles in Women’s Cross Country, Men’s Swimming & Diving, Wrestling, Men’s Basketball and Gymnastics.

The last time NC State won 5 ACC Championships in one year was 1979-80.

As far as I can tell, here’s a look at the Wolfpack Conference Titles from 1979-80:

Football
Women’s Basketball
Women’s Cross Country
Men’s Swimming & Diving
Men’s Tennis

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NC State Basketball

NC State is 1 of 4 Schools to Have Both Men & Women’s Basketball Teams in Sweet 16

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NC State is 1 of 4 schools to have their Men and Women’s Basketball teams BOTH advance to the Sweet 16, along with Duke, Gonzaga and UCONN.

NC State and Duke are the only two schools in the country to send both Basketball teams to the Sweet 16, and also send the Football team to a bowl game.

This marks only the third time in school history that BOTH teams made the Sweet 16.

Years NC State’s Men & Women’s Teams Made the Sweet 16

1985
1989
2024

Despite the fact that the Men’s team has made the Elite 8 six times (1950, 1951, 1974, 1983, 1985, 1986), and the Women have made it 2 times (1998 & 2022), in the three occasions they both went to the Sweet 16 in the same year, neither team advanced to the Elite 8.

In 2024, Why Not Us?

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NC State Basketball

#3 seed NC State Holds on Against #6 Seed Tennessee, Defeating the Vols 79-72 to Advance to the Sweet 16

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#3 seed NC State held on last night, defeating #6 seed Tennessee 79-72 in Reynolds Coliseum to advance to the Sweet 16 for the 5th time in the last 6 tournaments.

The Wolfpack led by only 1 after the 1st Quarter, but they looked like they had things under control at halftime, leading by 18 points.

At one point, NC State led by as much as 20 points in the 3rd Quarter, but the Lady Volunteers weren’t about to give up.

With 4:19 left in the 4th, Tennessee cut the lead to 2 points, but NC State might have bent, but they wouldn’t break.

Junior Guard Aziaha James led the way with 22 points and 7 assists, which were both team highs. She scored 7 points in the final 3.5 minutes, helping to squash tue Last Vols’ comeback attempt.

Junior Guard Saniya Rivers had 20 points (6-14 FG) and 6 boards.

Freshman Zoe Brooks was clutch off the bench, chipping in 16 points and 6 boards.

This marks the 16th time the NC State Women’s Basketball team has advanced to the Sweet 16.

The Wolfpack will play #2 seed Stanford on Friday night at 7:30pm on ESPN in Portland.

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