NC State
Clemson
Pack Bounces Back, Whips Clemson 86-69
1/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 17, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C.--If there were any doubts about how NC State would respond to the quick turnaround following its lopsided loss at Duke on Thursday night, those questions were put to rest in rather emphatic fashion very quickly in Saturday's match-up with Clemson. After a Sharrod Ford basket gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead, the Wolfpack would never look back after scoring 14 straight points in route to an 86-69 ACC victory. In taking over sole possession of second place in the league standings, NC State (10-3, 3-1) got 23 points from junior Julius Hodge and 15 from Marcus Melvin.
"We really got off to a great start and that was very, very important for us to do tonight," said Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek, who picked up his 200th career coaching victory. "It was wonderful to see such a tremendous crowd. I think that helped to reinvigorate our guys on a night when we needed it. That Thursday-Saturday turnaround is very grueling, so you have to depend on your home crowd as much as you can to get you going. Our guys really came out with tremendous focus."
The pro-NC State crowd at the RBC Center, announced at 15,789, had to enjoy what it saw, especially in the first half when the Wolfpack went on that early 14-0 run to set the tone. And even after the early spurt, the Pack wouldn't let up until its first half advantage reached 32-14 on a pair of free throws by freshman Engin Atsur with 5:08 left.
Coming off one of the worst performances of his career on Thursday, Hodge was particularly effective throughout the game, hitting 8-of-15 from the floor and all seven of his free throws. Scoring seven points to go along with seven turnovers before fouling out at Duke, Hodge looked like a man who was ready to atone right away when he took a pass from Atsur in transition and threw down a one-hand jam over Clemson's Chey Christie during the Pack's early crowd-pleasing explosion.
"I thought he was really focused tonight," Sendek said of Hodge. "He wanted to do well very badly. I liked his disposition all night long and I thought he was very intent on having a good game and he certainly did."
Defensively, Hodge teamed with Scooter Sherrill and Cameron Bennerman to shutout Christie, who was Clemson's leading scorer coming in. Christie, an 11.9 points per game scorer, missed all three of his shot attempts.
The Wolfpack also benefited from the scrappy perimeter defense of Atsur, who harassed Clemson point guard and fellow freshman Vernon Hamilton throughout most of the game. With Atsur getting 10 deflections in the opening half, NC State was able to score 11 points off of 11 Tiger turnovers.
Up 39-22 at intermission, the Pack finished Clemson off with a 12-4 run early in the second half, a burst that was fueled by Sherrill (11 points). The sense of relief in the building was certainly palpable when Sherrill, who was held out of the starting line-up for the second straight game, made his first 3-pointer in five games on an underneath out-of-bounds play to put NC State ahead 60-37 with 12:49 left. A pair of layups by the senior guard on the next two possessions then helped the Wolfpack build its lead to 25 at 64-39. Coming into the game, Sherrill had made just one of his last 26 3-point attempts.
"To see him make that 3-point shot was a lot of relief for him," Melvin said about his fellow senior co-captain. "I think he's found his touch now. I'm proud of him for staying with it. He kept grinding it out and it worked out for him."
By the time it was over, Sherrill was relieved to get his stroke back and his teammates were happy to be back in the winner's circle in the aftermath of Thursday's 40-minutes of misery in Durham. For the most part, the Pack got back to being the team that had played fairly well in the four-game winning streak that had preceded its 19-point loss in Durham. NC State was credited with 10 assists on its 15 baskets in the first half and finished with 18 assists compared to just 13 turnovers for the game.
"Offensively, we were just focused on making each other better," Sendek said. "We wanted to have good ball-movement; we wanted to get a lot of touches for guys; we wanted to make sure we made the extra pass, all the things that really equate with good basketball. I thought our guys did that tonight. We scored 86 points and it was good to put those numbers up on the board."
For the game, NC State shot 46.6 percent (27-of-58) from the floor and was a tidy 7-of-15 from 3-point range. The Wolfpack, which leads the ACC in free throw percentage, also continued its excellence from the line by knocking down 25-of-28.
The Tigers finished 23-of-51 from the field (45 percent) and made just two of their nine 3-point attempts. But other than a season-high 20-point performance by center Sharrod Ford, Clemson (8-7, 1-3) had very little to feel good about in its sixth consecutive loss to NC State.
"I give NC State a lot of credit for coming back on a short turnaround and playing pretty well," said Tigers' coach Oliver Purnell. "I thought we were a little flat. I was disappointed in our energy level early. It's tough to win a ballgame when you don't really have one single individual on your team that plays well. We didn't play well as a team and we didn't play well as individuals."
For Clemson, Hamilton and Olu Babalola also reached double figures with 10 points apiece.
