North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Looks to End Clemson Jinx
2/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By Tony Haynes
RALEIGH, N.C. -- After suffering a 72-69 defeat at Clemson back on January 13, NC State's players must have felt like they had lost a game of H-O-R-S-E instead of losing a basketball game. After all, the Pack got as many open shots that day as they might get in a routine game of H-O-R-S-E.
With Wolfpack sharpshooter Archie Miller sidelined by an injury, Clemson coach Larry Shyatt picked a defensive strategy that virtually dared NC State's perimeter shooters to knock down three-point shots. Perhaps Shyatt had a strong premonition because his gamble paid off handsomely.
For much of the afternoon, NC State missed long, short, and wide. When the dust had cleared, the rims at Littlejohn had somehow withstood the pounding they took. And the rims weren't the only things that took a pounding; the Pack's season shooting stats plunged following an eight of 32 shooting performance from the arc. For the game, State hit just 29 percent of its field goal attempts.
"We really were ice cold from the field," said NC State coach Herb Sendek. "It's kind of been that way the last three times we've played them. We have to do a better job of making shots."
Said Shyatt: "I don't think we have a defensive secret when we're giving up 90 points per game to most teams. I think we've been fortunate."
Call it fortune or call what you wish, but Clemson (10-13, 1-9) has certainly had NC State's number of late. The Tigers have won three straight in the series against the Wolfpack and five of the last six.
"Clemson has certainly done a good job of defending us and we would be the first to give them credit," Sendek said. "There's a certain part of that when we look in the mirror, we can say to ourselves we have to make this kind of shot or that kind of shot. In retrospect, there are some shots that we probably shouldn't have taken. So it's probably all three of those kinds of things."
The good news for NC State (11-11, 3-7) is that freshman Trey Guidry has emerged as outside threat since the last time these two teams met. Guidry played only three minutes against the Tigers a month ago.
The Pack may also be able to call on the services of Miller, who has been out of action for more than four weeks with a stress fracture in his left leg. The 5-10 redshirt junior, who practiced for the first time on Monday, was leading the entire nation in three-point field goal percentage (62%) before being sidelined.
"I don't know yet," Sendek responded when asked if Miller could play on Wednesday. "He went just 15 or 20 minutes on Monday. That's the first time he's done anything since we played Duke on January 10."
But even having Miller on the floor with just one healthy leg would probably force Clemson to come out on defense more than it did in the first game.
The Tigers may also welcome back the services of one of their key players this week. Adam Allanspach, a 7-1 center who has missed seven of Clemson's last eight games with a back injury, could be available for limited duty on Wednesday. Allanspach did not play against NC State last month.
Tigers guard Will Solomon did play, and played very well. After getting off to a slow start, Solomon scored 25 of his game-high 29 points in the second half to lead the Tigers. Of course, the explosive 6-1 guard has torched just about everybody he's gone up against. Averaging 21.9 points per game, Solomon leads the ACC in scoring.
The Wolfpack holds an 86-40 advantage in the all-time series against Clemson. Seven of the last 11 games have been decided by five point or less.
