North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Northwestern
NC State Slams Northwestern, 74-49
12/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 4, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.--Outside the RBC Arena on Wednesday night, an early December winter storm dumped ice on roads and power lines. Inside the arena, NC State turned up the heat on defense, forcing a Northwestern meltdown in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Marcus Melvin scored a career-high 23 points and Julius Hodge added 17 as the Wolfpack (3-0) drilled the Wildcats 74-49 in front of a sparse crowd of 3,833. For the fourth straight year, the ACC prevailed in the challenge by a narrow margin of 5-4.
And while the offensive numbers looked nice--the Pack shot 51 percent from the floor--it was a vicious fullcourt press that set the tone for most of the 40 minutes. NC State scored 28 points off of 21 Northwestern turnovers, while also preventing the deliberate tempo that the Wildcats prefer.
"I was very pleased with our effort tonight," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "I thought it was evident in both our press and our halfcourt defense. I thought guys came out with a terrific tenacity. The other thing I was really pleased about is the way they really played together. I think the first possession of the game was a good foreshadowing."
On the opening possession, Hodge drove the baseline, drew help and passed into the opposite corner to Scooter Sherrill, who then made the extra pass that led to a Melvin three-pointer from the right wing. Melvin, in fact, knocked down three long-range bombs within the first five minutes, helping the Wolfpack build a 16-5 lead.
After Northwestern (3-2) closed to within three at 24-21, NC State scored the last 11 points of the half to go into the locker room with a commanding 35-21 lead. Relentless and feisty in its fullcourt presses, the Pack refused to allow the Wildcats to simply walk the ball down the floor and run the shot clock. Quite often, just getting the ball across the timeline became a task for the Cats.
"They're tall and long," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said of the athletes NC State puts on the court. "We practice for the press, but how do you replicate some of those guys in practice with your second team? You can't."
And Carmody and his team won't encounter many 6-8 players like Melvin, who made shots, brought the ball up the court and was often the point man on the Pack's suffocating press. Hitting 7-of-9 shots from the floor, including 4-of-6 from the arc, Melvin also added three assists and four steals in one of his best performances at NC State.
"I just wanted to come in and be assertive and let them know that we were here to play," Melvin said. "I think our first possession showed that were here to play as a team and to win the basketball game."
NC State continued to breathe fire over the first 15 minutes of the second half, at one point going on a 20-4 run to build its lead to 31 points with 7:54 remaining.
Wolfpack center Josh Powell chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds, while senior guard Cliff Crawford had four steals to go along with a game-high eight rebounds. Crawford and Hodge locked up Northwestern's leading scorer Jitim Young, a 16 points per game scorer who was shutout on a 0-for-3 shooting night. The Wildcats did get 17 points from Aaron Jennings.
Unlike last Saturday's game against Coppin State, NC State was able to knock down shots for the entire game, which also allowed it to set up its press and push the pace. The speed of the game was too much for Northwestern, which had scored less than 60 points in three of its first four games.
"In order to be a pressing team you have to get into the press, and if you're not scoring yourself, you have to hope for a lot of dead balls," said Sendek. "It always helps when the ball is going in the basket; it helps every aspect of your game."
