NC State vs App State: Keys to the Game

NC State and Appalachian State will meet this Thursday night at 7 o’clock in the PNC Arena. If you cannot make it to the game, you can check it out on ESPNU.

What must NC State do to gain another notch in the wins column? Here are our keys to the game…

1. NC State must take away Shabazz…

Shabazz is their go-to player, he leads them in scoring at 15.5 points per game, and is quite crafty as he is left-handed. Coach Gottfried will have a couple of options available to neutralize him. In my opinion, Terry Henderson gives State the best chance at slowing him down; however, he needs help. Henderson must sit on Shabazz’s left hand and force him to go right if he is allowed to get to his left the Pack could be in for a rough night. Another area that NC State must guard against is allowing Shabazz to get into the paint. This means they must sell hard on ball screen hedges and even trap off the screen to slow him down if needed.

2. Look to run early and often…

The Pack has all the athletes a team could want, I think that they have not done a good enough job at capitalizing on the break. Too often they have not looked to push the ball, and this has resulted in running too many half-court sets. Coach Gottfried wants his guys to get out on the break; however, they have not trusted the fast break offense. Adding Omer to the front-court should help NC State in transition, pairing him and Abu will give Smith and company two agile quick-footed big men. After a tough game of scoring the basketball, some easy looks in the open court would be a welcome sight for the Pack.

3. Turnovers…

Taking care of the ball will be of the utmost importance, especially when facing a team that is capable of turning live ball turnovers into easy points on the other end. Not only are turnovers important for State on offense, but they should be forcing more than 12.2 per game from their opponents. With their depth and athletes NC State has, I would like to see them picking up their man up sooner and overplaying passing lanes. An easy basket would be conceded on occasion, but they would force more turnovers and create more easy baskets in transition. If State can force the Mountaineers to cough up the ball, they should be able to secure the win.

4. Keep it simple for Omer…

Omer Yurtseven will make his regular season debut for the Wolfpack, it will be critical that things are kept simple for him so he can get his conditioning and confidence. If State can put him in some comfortable areas early, then he should thrive. Early touches on the block, and some 15 footers off of pick and pops should help him get his feet wet. It will take trial and error to figure out how to best incorporate his unique size and skill set to the rotation. The process will begin this Thursday night.

Heading into the matchup this Thursday, the Pack finds themselves at 7-2. The first 9 games have been a mixed bag, to say the least, but they are now at full strength and have four non-conference games remaining to gain some momentum before ACC play. Can State find a way to get things trending in the right direction?