North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Facing Quick Turnaround
1/16/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.-Less than an hour after Thursday night's 76-57 loss to No.2 Duke in Durham, the NC State basketball team was on the bus and headed back to Raleigh. By the time the Duke campus had faded from view, the Wolfpack - and eagerly so - was already thinking about its next game, a contest with Clemson (8-6, 1-2) that was just 48 hours away. From a coach's point of view, the Thursday - Saturday turnaround that pops up on ACC schedules is anything but ideal. In this case, however, the chance to get back on the court without much time to dwell on the Duke loss may be just what the doctor ordered for NC State (9-3, 2-1).
"We're going to be able to get this bad taste out of our mouths," said Wolfpack junior Julius Hodge, who struggled with just seven points and seven turnovers before fouling out against the Blue Devils. "We'll keep our heads up, learn and be ready on Saturday."
But getting ready with such short preparation time could be the biggest challenge. Prior to Saturday night's 8 p.m. tip against the Tigers at the RBC Center, NC State was scheduled to have a relatively light practice on Friday before doing a quick review of the game plan during the regular day of game shoot around on Saturday afternoon.
"It will largely be mental preparation," Sendek responded when asked what Friday's practice would be like. "You just deal with it the best you can. Different teams have to deal with it at different points in the season. It's one of the things that makes college basketball unique. Except for an occasional Thursday night game in football, everybody has the same amount of time. In basketball, you have these scheduling peaks where you have to really find a way to have a quick turnaround. There's no easy way to do that."
If there is one silver lining for NC State, it's in how the schedule broke down in terms of travel. The fact that the Wolfpack was not asked to travel on a charter flight to a road destination for either game eliminates one of the obstacles it faced last year when it played a home game on Thursday before turning right around for a road game at Florida State on Saturday.
And although Clemson will be the road team on Saturday night, it will have one distinct advantage: its last game, a 53-48 win over Florida State, was played on Tuesday, meaning the Tigers have had plenty of time to prepare for the match-up with NC State.
"It's certainly an advantage," Sendek said. "They probably took [Wednesday] off, then they had two days to prepare for us before they come up for the game. Clearly, the window for a team that plays on Thursday - Saturday is smaller to prepare. In this case, it's stretched a little smaller because Clemson played on Tuesday."
Players, of course, look at it from a different perspective. Given the choice between practicing and actually playing games, they would choose playing in games by a landslide vote.
"It's something we have to do," said Wolfpack forward Levi Watkins. "We came here to play in the ACC. Two games close together really don't matter to us."
NC State has won the last five games in the series with Clemson, including three in a row at the RBC Center. The Wolfpack owns a 91-40 advantage in the all-time series.
