North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Georgia Tech
Red Hot Tech Shoots Down Wolfpack, 85-61
1/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
Atlanta, Ga.--For there to be a meltdown, there must first be a conductor of heat. Georgia Tech was plenty hot on Saturday, shooting 64.5 percent in the second half on the way to an 85-61 blitzing of NC State. Then there was the meltdown. Trailing by just one-point at the half (32-31), the Wolfpack had no answers for a Tech team that was scoring at will for most of the second half.
Making 8-of-11 shots from the floor, including 3-of-4 from the three-point arc, sophomore B.J. Elder led the Jackets (7-5, 1-1) onslaught with 24 points. But Elder was hardly a one man show in the second half. Marvin Lewis (15), Chris Bosh (11), Jarrett Jack (11) and Ed Nelson (11) also contributed to the second period scoring barrage.
But the Georgia Tech charge didn't really start until Wolfpack center Josh Powell was whistled for his third and fourth fouls within a 14-second period of the second half. The Pack was down only 37-34 when Powell was called for an offensive foul in the post with 16:21 remaining. He then picked up No. 4 on Tech's next possession, slapping Bosh on the arm on a shot that banked off the glass and in the hoop. The ensuing free throw gave the Jackets 40-34 advantage.
Powell's foul problems spelled trouble for two reasons. First, back up center Jordan Collins was unavailable because of a groin injury. Secondly, Powell was in the midst of one of his best games after having powered his way to 10 first half points. His departure set the stage for an offensive eruption that would see Georgia Tech knock down 6-of-7 shots during a 14-3 run over the next four minutes. It was a decisive stretch from which the Wolfpack would never recover.
"It was very frustrating," said Powell, who finished with 12 points and six rebounds. "I knew I could have a made a great impact on the inside for us and could have made things happen on the both ends of the court."
Said NC State head coach Herb Sendek: "We just don't have a lot of depth in our frontcourt right now. "We're basically trying to rotate Josh, Marcus [Melvin] and Levi [Watkins]. Anytime we lose any one of those three guys, it really puts us up against the wall."
Georgia Tech certainly took full advantage of the Wolfpack's shortages up front by attacking the basket with a vengeance after intermission. Averaging only seven points per game this season, Nelson started knocking down tough fade-away jumpers during the Tech outburst. Freshman point guard Jarrett Jack--a 29 percent three-point shooter coming in--suddenly started looking like the second coming of Mark Price when he nailed a pair of long-range bombs. Everything seemed to be going in for the Jackets, who outscored the Wolfpack 27-10 during one seven-minute stretch to move ahead by as many as 22 points.
"The games we've won have been primarily because of our defense," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. "If we can now add some offensive efficiency to our solid defense, we think we can have a solid season."
And while Tech dazzled, the Pack became frazzled, especially when the Jackets opened up a double-digit lead. Julius Hodge removed himself from the NC State's press offense and promptly turned the ball over on back-to-back possessions after trying to dribble through a zone press. He was then exiled to the bench for the last several minutes of the game when he forced up an off-balance three-point attempt.
"We need to a better job of keeping our poise and composure when things are going our way," Sendek said. "It was a very frustrating day for Julius and he just didn't respond the way we would like him to. I thought we would be energized by going in another direction."
Hodge certainly went in another direction on Saturday. A 19 points per game scorer coming in, he scored just nine points, hitting 1-of-6 shots from the field. The Pack's other big gun, forward Marcus Melvin, was 3-of-11 for just nine points.
Other than Powell, the only other bright spot for NC State was the play of forward Levi Watkins, who drained 4-of-5 three-point attempts to score 15 points.
Shooting just 35.7 percent in the second half, the Wolfpack knocked down 40 percent of its field goal attempts for the game. Thanks to that blazing second half, the Yellow Jackets shot 57.7 percent overall and converted on 8-of-14 three-pointers.
