North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Basketball to Host California All-Stars
11/10/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Time is growing short for the NC State basketball team. As hard as it is to believe, the Pack will be playing a game that counts when it entertains Penn in the Cosida Classic on November 17. Following Saturday night's (11/11) final exhibition tune up against the California All-Stars, there will be no turning back for coach Herb Sendek's squad.
"I think we'll be able to take a look at ourselves going from the first exhibition game to the second exhibition game and see how much better we've gotten," said point guard Archie Miller. "I think these exhibition games are real good for us, but we've definitely got to come out and learn from the mistakes we made in the first game."
In its first exhibition test, an 86-82 win over a very talented group called Interhoop, NC State showed off a strong inside attack featuring forward Kenny Inge and Ron Kelley. Inge made a statement by scoring 21-points and grabbing 19 rebounds in what was a dominant performance.
Still, after the game Sendek noted that his team needed to get much better on the defensive end of the floor. NC State, primarily a man-to-man defensive team in recent years, hopes to mix in a few more zone looks this season to keep teams off balance.
"I think it will help a lot," Miller said. "Going up against other teams in our league we face a lot of different defenses. It keeps you off balance. I think that's what we're going to be able to do this year. We'll always have our man-to-man, but we'll also be able to drop some zone in there and some other things that will force them to run the shot clock down a little bit."
Tip off for the NC State's exhibition battle with the California All-Stars is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.
