North Carolina State University Athletics
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report: Clemson at NC State
1/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2004
NC STATE (9-3, 2-1) vs. CLEMSON (8-6, 1-2)
DATE: Saturday, January 17, 2004 @ RBC Center, Raleigh, NC (19,722)
TIME: Tip-off: 8:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: Wolfpack Radio Network.
AIRTIME: 7:30 p.m. EST
TELEVISION: Raycom/Jefferson Pilot (Regional)
OPPONENT-- After losses to Duke and Wake Forest, first-year coach Oliver Purnell recorded his first ACC victory Tuesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum as Clemson downed Florida State 53-48. Tigers point guard Vernon Hamilton keyed a suffocating Clemson defense with five steals, and reserve guard Shawan Robinson led all scorers with 10 points.
Purnell's team played its top defensive game of the season in gaining the victory. Clemson limited the Seminoles to 37 percent field goal shooting, including 30 percent on three-point attempts (6-20). FSU entered the game shooting 47.2 percent overall and an ACC best 41 percent on three-point shots, but Tim Pickett, a preseason All-ACC selection, scored only eight points on 3-14 shooting, including 2-11 on three-point attempts. Michael Joiner and Alexander Johnson led Florida State with nine points apiece.
The 48 points scored by Florida State were the fewest by a Clemson opponent this year and the fewest by an ACC team against the Tigers since NC State scored 42 in a 59-42 Clemson victory over the Wolfpack on January 27, 2000
Clemson shot only 35 percent from the field and turned the ball over 18 times, but held a 38-31 margin on the glass and made some big defensive plays down the stretch. The Tigers went on a 15-3 second-half run over to take a 44-33 lead. Meanwhile, Florida State went cold. The Seminoles did not score a field goal during a 9-minute stretch than ended at the 3:47 mark, but kept fighting back.
FSU cut the margin to 51-48 with 14 seconds left when Todd Galloway made a pair of free throws. But, Chey Christie answered with a pair of free throws with 13.3 seconds left. On the next possession, Nate Johnson, missed a chance to tie from beyond the arc and Clemson ran out the clock.
The Tigers have split their last four games and are shooting a respectable 46 percent from the field this season. However, in two of their last three ACC games they've shot below 40 percent. Clemson is balanced offensively with six players averaging at least 8 points a game. There is no clear "go-to" player, but Christie, has tallied double figures in four of his last five games while shooting 47 percent from the field and 54 percent from the 3-point line during that stretch.
Not taking care of the ball has been a problem. The Tigers have averaged 20 turnovers a game this season and 19 in the last three games. Defense has also been a concern for Oliver Purnell's team. The Tigers rank in the bottom third of the ACC in scoring defense, allowing 70.3 points a game and have allowed league opponents 45 percent shooting from the field.
Rebounding is a different story. The Tigers have outrebounded 8 of their 14 opponents and have an impressive +6 rebounding margin for the season. Chris Hobbs is the Tigers top offensive rebounder averaging 3.1 per game.
Clemson can also block shots. Sharrod Ford's 35 blocks leads the way and represents more than half of the team's total (65) for the season. Hamilton has been a bright spot. The rookie leads the Tigers in assists and steals and is also the team's top rebounding guard.
A WIN--Would be the Wolfpack fifth in its last six games, sixth straight over Clemson in the series and fourth in-a-row over the Tigers at the RBC Center. The Wolfpack would stay unbeaten at home at 9-0 and improve to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the ACC. Herb Sendek would record his 200th career victory as a college head coach.
A LOSS--Would be the second straight for NC State and first a home this season, breaking an 8-game home court winning streak. The Wolfpack would drop to 9-4 overall and 2-2 in the ACC. Clemson would break a 5-game losing streak to NC State and a three-game losing streak to the Pack at the RBC Center. The Tigers would improve to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in the ACC and earn no worse than a split in the regular season series with NC State for the first time since 2001.
DIALING LONG DISTANCE-- In its 9 victories, the Pack is shooting 33% from the three-point arc (75-227) while only 27% in its 2 losses (17-64). NC State is averaging nearly 8 made three-point field goals made a game with 44 percent of its total field goal attempts coming from three-point range.
ITS BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE --NC State is averaging an assist on 65% of its field goals, the best mark in the ACC (198-305). In its win over BYU, the Wolfpack had 26 assists on 34 field goals (76%).
IT'S FINE AT THE LINE --NC State has been solid from the free throw line again this season making 77% of its foul shots (161-210).
AN "A" GRADE ON "D" --The Pack is holding opponents to a very impressive 59.6 points a game while limiting the opposition to 39% shooting from the field (261-669)) and 27% from the three-point arc (58-213). NC State is forcing 17 turnovers a game (203). In its last 8 games, the Pack has averaged 20.3 points a game off opponents turnovers (163).
WOLFPACK PLAYERS TO WATCH
Julius Hodge-- The junior was held to a season-low 7 points on 3 of 9 shooting from the field before fouling out in the loss at Duke. Hodge leads the ACC in scoring (17.9) while topping the Wolfpack team in assists (4.3), field goal percentage (.532), steals (19), offensive rebounds (22) and minutes (34.0). He is the team's No. 2 rebounder (6.8). In his last 5 games, Hodge has shot 57% from the field (32-56) while sinking 22-23 free throws. A first-team All-ACC selection last season, Hodge was voted first-team All ACC Tournamnent after averaging 19.3 points (58) and 9 rebounds (27) --including a career high 31 points against Wake Forest in the semifinals.
Marcus Melvin--Tied his season-low point total with 7 in the loss at Duke and took only three shots from the field. In his last 2 games has tallied only 14 points on 4-13 shooting (.307). Melvin is NC State's No. 2 scorer (13.1) and leads the Wolfpack in rebounding (7.1) and blocked shots (13). He notched a career high 27 points and 13 rebounds in a win over UW-Milwaukee on 12/7/03. He is the only Wolfpack player to start every game this season. Last season, Melvin was named first-team All-ACC Tournament after averaging 17.3 points (52), 6 rebounds (18) and shooting .515 from the field (17-33) and .473 from the arc (9-19).
Scooter Sherrill--The Pack's No. 3 scorer (10.4) may have showed signs of coming out of an offensive slump in the loss at Duke by scoring 8 points on 4-7 shooting from the field. The senior guard has been one of the Pack's top three-point shooters throughout his career, but in his last 9 games has made just 3-33 shots from bsyond the arc (9%). Sherrill played well in the Pack's win over Virginia on 12/28 with 19 points on 8-14 shooting, but has scored only 22 points in 4 games since then while shooting 7-21 from the field (.333). Last season, he was named to the second-unit of the All-ACC Tournament team after averaging 11.6 points (35) and shooting .500 from the three-point line.
Levi Watkins--The Wolfpack's sixth man is also the team's most improved player. He's shooting 44% from the field (36-82) and .383 from three point-range this season (18-47) which represent the best marks of his career. The junior leads the Wolfpack in three-point field goals made (18) and hit a critical three-pointer late in the win at FSU on 1/11/04 to put the Wolfpack ahead to stay. Watkins was a spark vs. BYU with 7 points, 4 rebounds and career-high 5 assists in only 17 minutes.
Ilian Evtimov--The redshirt sophomore from Bulgaria enjoyed his best overall performance of the season against BYU on 1/7 with 13 points and 5 assists while holding his own defensively against the Cougars 6-11 center Rafael Araujo. No. 2 on the NC State team in assists (3.1), Evtimov has been averaging about 26 minutes a game as he continues to work his way back from a season-ending knee injury suffered early last season. In his last 5 games, Evtimov has averaged 9.0 points (45) and 3.4 rebounds (17) while shooting .472 from the field (17-36).
Engin Atsur--Recorded a career-high 14 points in the loss at Duke on 6-7 shooting from the field. In His last 3 games, the freshman from Turkey has averaged 11.6 points (35) while shooting .737 from the field (14-19) and has also made some exciting defensive plays. His late second-half strip of the ball from Alexander Johnson helped seal the Pack's win over FSU on 1/11. Atsur has started the Pack's last 4 games.
