North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Meets Familiar Foe
1/30/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
RALEIGH, N.C. -- No. 16 Wake Forest and NC State can't seem to get away from each other. Over the last two years, the Deacons and Wolfpack have met on the basketball court a total of six times. The clubs couldn't even avoid crossing paths last March when they faced off in the semifinals of the NIT at Madison Square Garden in New York.Needless to say, NC State (10-8, 2-5) and Wake Forest (14-5, 3-4) won't treat their next gathering like a family reunion when they square off Wednesday night at the Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem. Interestingly though, the two teams have an awful lot in common. Like the Wolfpack, Wake Forest has not been shooting the ball particularly well of late, especially from the perimeter.
Against conference foes, NC State is shooting just 29.7 percent from three-point range, a figure that ranks dead last in the ACC. At 30.7 percent, Wake Forest hasn't been much better.
"Sometimes when you're not shooting the ball well on the perimeter, maybe you're not scoring tough baskets inside enough to make defenses respect what's being done inside," said Deacons coach Dave Odom. "I don't think our post players have played all that well either. Hopefully, if our inside game will pick up, teams will play us more honestly and give us more of an opportunity to score on the perimeter."
Senior guard Robert O'Kelley, who was expected to provide most of the punch from the outside, has made only 34.7 percent of his shots against ACC competition.
Most of NC State's problems can also be traced to inconsistent shooting. The Pack has managed to knock down only 40 percent of its field goal attempts since conference play began in early January.
"Our team is like any one person," said Wolfpack forward Damien Wilkins. "When things aren't going down and you're not making shots, you tend to lose confidence in yourself. I think that's the only thing that's going on. The coaches are telling us to shoot the ball. We've got to start making them."
But good looks at the basket could be tough to come by for both Wake Forest and NC State on Wednesday night. The Deacons are third in the nation in field goal percentage defense (38.1 percent).
"Wake Forest is a great defensive team and they have been for years," said Pack coach Herb Sendek. "Our ability to put the ball in the basket and score will be a big part of the game."
Wake's leading scorer is sophomore wing forward Josh Howard who is averaging 13.9 points per game. Rugged 6-9 forward Darius Songaila puts up 13.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per contest.
The Deacons took two of three from the Wolfpack last season, including a 62-59 win in the NIT Semifinals. And just how close were the teams last year? Totaling up the combined points in the three games, Wake outscored NC State 189-188.
"Most of the games have been very tight," Odom said. "I would expect the game to be a very hard-fought game and very closely played."
Wake Forest and NC State have been playing basketball against each other since 1911. The Pack holds a 122-86 advantage in the overall series although the Deacons have prevailed in six of the last 10 meetings. Wednesday's contest begins at 7 p.m. Airtime on the Wolfpack Capitol Sports Network is 6:30. The game will also be televised by ESPN.
