North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Shooting For Magic Numbers Against Florida State
2/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 8, 2002
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-When they travel to Tallahassee to meet Florida State on Sunday at 1 p.m., NC State's basketball players will have the numbers '18' and '7' on their minds. A win over the Seminoles would give the Pack 18 regular season victories and seven conference wins for the first time in Herb Sendek's six-year reign as head coach. Perhaps more importantly, however, a win would move NC State one step closer to its ultimate goal, a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
But like everything else this year, the Pack will have to work hard to earn victory number 18. Although they have often been more up and down than the stock market this season, the Seminoles have proven to be quite feisty on their home court at the Leon County Civic Center. If FSU's 10-11 record doesn't inspire NC State fans, perhaps this will: 77-76. That was the score when Florida State handed top ranked Duke its first and only loss back on January 6.
"Watching them on film, it's obvious that they're capable of beating anyone in the country," said Sendek. "What they did against Duke is something that hasn't been done again this year. They have great experience, especially at the guard positions with [Delvon] Arrington and Monte Cummings. They also have a real toughness to them. You know going down there to play, your team is going to have to be ready and at the top of its game."
One month ago in Raleigh, NC State scored 26 points off of 21 turnovers to beat Florida State, 77-62. But....the Seminoles have been a much better team at home than on the road. Of course, playing in hostile territory hasn't necessarily been a big problem for the Wolfpack, which owns a 5-2 mark in games played away from home.
Thursday night's rematch game with Duke was not pretty for FSU, which limped out of Cameron Indoor Stadium with an 80-49 loss. Not only have the Seminoles lost four straight games, they're only 2-6 since beating the Blue Devils the first time around.
NC State freshman forward Julius Hodge, who served a conference-mandated one-game suspension during Wednesday's win over Virginia, will be back for Sunday's contest in Tallahassee. As of Friday, however, Sendek had not decided whether Hodge would be in the starting line-up against FSU.
"We're going to base that on practice the next couple of days," Sendek said.
One player that could potentially get another start on Sunday is Marcus Melvin. Starting in place of Hodge on Wednesday, the 6-8 sophomore from Fayetteville came out of a month-long slump against the Cavaliers, hitting all four of his three-point attempts in a 16-point outburst.
"He just wasn't playing as well as some of the other guys on a day-to-day basis," Sendek responded when asked why Melvin was removed from the starting line-up nearly a month ago. "He wasn't playing his best and I think he'd be the first person to tell you that he had a stretch there where he was struggling. But he really got it going the other night, it was great for our team. I talked to him right before tip-off as the starting line-ups were being introduced. I got into his ear and said, 'tonight Marcus, let's really get off to a good start by making hustle plays. Be really active and lets let that kind of be the launching pad into other good things to happen tonight.' What really happened is that he hit his first three and I think that was the medicine that he needed."
Melvin knocked down two three-point bombs in the first three minutes and never looked back. The hottest Wolfpack player continues to be senior guard Anthony Grundy, who has averaged 22 points and six rebounds over his last six games. Against ACC competition, the 6-3 Louisville, Kentucky native is averaging 19.6 points per contest, while converting on better than 45 percent of his field goal attempts.
The Wolfpack has now won six in a row over Florida State, its longest current winning streak over an ACC rival. The Pack has also won two straight in Tallahassee, including last year's 84-81 overtime triumph.
