North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Florida State
Wolfpack Gets `Bounce Back' Win Over Seminoles
2/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb 18, 2003
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.--Twenty years ago, NC State's 1983 national championship team was called the `Cardiac Pack, a nickname earned following some rather dramatic finishes in the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack's 2003 squad may one day be remembered as the `Bounce Back Pack.' Even after some of its most baffling losses, Herb Sendek's team has managed to somehow regroup and recover to post some important ACC wins. Two of those victories have come against Florida State, including Tuesday night's 71-60 triumph over the Seminoles in front of 13, 925 fans at the RBC Center.
Recovering from four-game shooting slumps, Julius Hodge and Marcus Melvin scored 21 and 20 points, respectively, as the Wolfpack (14-8, 7-4) tied Duke for third place in the conference standings, just one-game in the loss column behind Maryland and Wake Forest.
So after looking so out of sync in an ugly loss up at Temple on Saturday, NC State came back home to deliver one of its most solid performances of the year, shooting nearly 52 percent (27-52) from the field against a Florida State team (12-11, 3-9) that was holding its opponents to just 38 percent for the season.
"I think once again our team showed great character in bouncing back," Sendek said. "We had a difficult weekend in Philadelphia and we'd been ice cold shooting the basketball. Our guys came back home, really looked themselves in the mirror and had two terrific, combative practices and came out and played good team basketball tonight."
It was very similar to one month ago. Following back-to-back defeats to Georgia Tech and Boston College, the Pack kept it together and posted a much-needed 70-63 over FSU in Tallahassee. Perhaps not coincidentally, NC State was led by Hodge and Melvin on that night as well.
After grabbing a 37-30 lead at the break thanks to a Melvin 3-pointer right before halftime, the Pack seemed to be well on its way to an easy victory when forward Levi Watkins nailed a 3-pointer in transition to cap an 11-2 run that made it 54-42 with 12:39 remaining. But following a timeout, FSU got five straight points from Tim Pickett on a layup and a long-range bomb to move the Seminoles within seven.
That's when Sendek called on his team to vacate a matchup zone in favor of a sticky halfcourt man-to-man approach. With defensive ace Cliff Crawford shadowing Pickett all over the court, NC State got some stops, forced some turnovers and put the game away with an 11-0 blitz that took the lead up to 19 points at 71-52 with less than a minute to play. Between them, Hodge and Melvin would score nine of NC State's 11 points during the decisive stretch.
"I've been working hard on my shot the last few days, coming early and leaving late," said Melvin, who knocked down 7-of-12 from the floor to go along with seven rebounds. "It really showed out there tonight."
Coming into Tuesday's contest, Melvin had missed 20 of his last 25 attempts from the arc. But in the opening seconds against the Seminoles, he got a break when Michael Joiner fouled him on a 3-point attempt. The freebies--all of which went in--got the Fayetteville junior off to a good start.
"It doesn't have to be anything big to get a guy going," Sendek said. "It could be a layup on a break. That's why just playing hard is the best thing you can advise because when you play hard you increase the likelihood of those things happening. The thought went through my mind immediately that when Marcus got fouled on that first shot and he made all three, I thought it would be a good mental boost for him."
Using his trademark slashing moves to the basket, Hodge worked his way out of a recent slide by hitting 8-of-13 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. The 6-6 sophomore also tallied six rebounds. The only other Wolfpack player in double figures was Scooter Sherrill, who had 10.
"I thought that NC State's system really created problems for our team tonight," said Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton. "They're ability to be real patient on offense and run the clock down broke our defensive principles time and time again. There have been times when we've defended people pretty well, but this is a different type of system than we're accustomed to playing against. It's a team that spreads you and they have two great finishers in Hodge and Melvin."
Pickett, who was 7-of-15, led Florida State with 20 points, while center Trevor Harvey muscled his way to 14 points and eight rebounds.
NC State was a little shorthanded when starting center Josh Powell, who scored two points in 14 minutes of action in the first half, stayed on the bench in the second half with back spasms. Sendek said afterwards that the injury should not prevent Powell from playing in Saturday's conference game at Duke.
