North Carolina State University Athletics
Gary Hahn's Scouting Report: NC State at Maryland
1/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2004
NC STATE (11-5, 4-2) @ MARYLAND (11-6, 2-4)
DATE: Sunday, February 1, 2003 @ Comcast Center, College Park, MD (17,950)
TIME: Tipoff: 2:00 p.m. EST
RADIO: Wolfpack Radio Network.
AIRTIME: 1:30 p.m.
TELEVISION: Fox Sports Net
OPPONENT --Wake Forest freshman guard Chris Paul scored 25 points, including a pivotal 3-pointer with 2:23 to play, to lead the Deacons to 93-85 home victory over Maryland on Thursday night. The victory for No. 17 ranked Wake Forest snapped a four-game losing streak.
WFU (12-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) struggled offensively during its slide as Paul and fellow guard Justin Gray were out of sync, but the pair snapped out of it against Maryland and helped the Deacons overcome a 10-point halftime deficit. Gray scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half, and Paul picked up the slack in the second half. Taron Downey and freshman reserve center Kyle Visser also contributed by combining for 23 points.
Paul's clutch three-pointer gave Wake Forest an 82-75 lead, but the Terps weren't finished. A flurry of late Maryland steals followed by three-pointers -- two from sophomore guard John Gilchrist and one from freshman Mike Jones -- made it 88-85 with 46-seconds to play. However, the Deaks iced the game by forcing a late Maryland turnover and making free throws.
Maryland blew a 53-43 halftime lead behind 14 second-half turnovers. Seven of the turnovers came early in the second period when Wake Forest clawed back into the game. The Deaks rallied without their leading scorer Eric Williams (14.6) who continued his recent slide. After scoring a combined 30 points in the Deacons' first four losses, the sophomore center found himself in foul trouble for most of the game against Maryland and finished with 7 points in 13 minutes.
Foul problems also plagued the Terps. Center Jamar Smith was limited to 10 minutes in the first half, and finished with 10 points before fouling out. Gilchrist, the Terps leading scorer, also had foul problems and a horrible shooting night. He finished 3-for-11 from the field with 12 points. Nik Caner-Medley topped Maryland with 15 points. Travis Garrison added 13 points while Jones had 11.
The Terps are extremely talented but also inexperienced. There is only one senior and two juniors on the Maryland roster. They've lost a combined nine starters over the past two seasons to either graduation or pro careers.
Maryland's four most experienced players, Gilchrist, Caner-Medley, Smith and Chris McCray are all averaging at least 30 minutes a game. Gilchrist is averaging 16.5 points and 5.3 assists versus ACC teams while shooting 48% from the field. He is a key player along with Smith and Caner-Medley. Smith is the only player in the ACC averaging a double-double.
The Terps lead the league in rebounding (43.2), offensive rebounding (15.7), blocked shots (7.47) and are No. 2 in the ACC in field goal percentage defense (.374). However, they are last in the conference in three-point percentage defense (.356) and are allowing an average of 7.1 made three-point field goals a game. They are also last in the ACC in free throw shooting (.623).
Handling Maryland's pressure defense, rebounding and executing its half-court offense without turning the ball over will be important for NC State as well as keeping Gilchrist in check. The Terps are 9-1 at home this season while NC State is 1-5 on the road.
A WIN--Would be the third in the last five games for NC State and would break a 14-game losing streak versus Maryland in College Park. The Wolfpack would improve to 12-5 overall and 5-2 in the conference--its third consecutive 5-2 ACC start. State would remain in second-place in the ACC while winning its second road game of the season. The Pack would beat Maryland for first time since the 2002 ACC Tournament, snapping a 2-game losing streak to the Terps in the series.
A LOSS--Would be the second straight for the Pack and third in the last four games overall. NC State would fall to 11-6 overall and 4-3 in the ACC. Maryland would win for the 15th straight time over the Wolfpack in College Park and for the third straight time in the overall series. The Terps would improve to 12-6 overall, 3-4 in the ACC and move to 10-1 at home. State would drop to 1-6 away from home with a four-game road losing streak.
FINE AT THE LINE --NC State leads the ACC in free throw shooting again this season making .782 of its foul shots (223-285).
AN "A" GRADE ON "D" --The Pack is holding opponents to a very impressive 61.9 points a game while limiting the opposition to .400 shooting from the field and .276 from the three-point arc.
MAKE 'EM COUGH IT UP --NC State is forcing 16.5 turnovers a game (264). In its last 12 games, the Pack has averaged 18.7 points a game off opponents turnovers (224).
CAN'T HANG ON --In its last five games, NC State has committed 84 turnovers, an average of nearly 17 a game. During that stretch, the Pack has lost 3 games and opponents have averaged 17.4 points off those miscues (87).
DIALING LONG DISTANCE-- NC State is averaging 7.8 made three-point field goals made a game with 43.5 percent of its total field goal attempts coming from three-point range (389-894). In its last 6 games, the Pack has shot only .313 from the arc (45-144). In its 11victories, the Pack is shooting .332 from the three-point arc (94-283) while only 29% in its 5 losses (31-106).
MR. HELPER --NC State is averaging an assist on an impressive 64% of its field goals (260-404). In its win over BYU, the Wolfpack had 26 assists on 34 field goals (76%).
WOLFPACK PLAYERS TO WATCH
Julius Hodge-- A candidate for the Wooden Award, Hodge relinquished his lead as the ACC's leading scorer after tallying 14 points in his last two games on 5-16 shooting from the field. Hodge tops the Wolfpack in scoring (17.3), assists (4.1), steals (25), field goal percentage (.500), and minutes (33.8). He is the team's No. 2 rebounder (6.4), but also leads the Pack in turnovers (50). In his last 6 games, Hodge has shot .495 from the field (54-109) while sinking 39-41 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--In his last two games, Melvin has averaged 16.5 points (33), 10.5 rebounds (21), and 3.5 assists (7) while shooting 13-22 from the field (.590) and 6-12 from the arc (.500). Recorded a double-double versus Georgia Tech on 1/24 with 18 points and 12 rebounds, including 9 on the offensive boards. Melvin is NC State's No. 2 scorer (13.3) and leads the Wolfpack in rebounding (7.7) and blocked shots (13). He notched a career-high 27 points and 13 rebounds in a win over UW-Milwaukee on 12/7/03. Melvin is the only Wolfpack player to start every game this season and leads the team with 24 three-point field goals.
Scooter Sherrill--The Pack's No. 3 scorer (10.5) and top free throw shooter (.929) recorded 18 points on 6-12 shooting from the field vs.Georgia Tech. In his last 5 games, the senior guard has averaged 10.2 points (51) while shooting .500 from the field (20-40) in bouncing back from a recent slump. Sherrill played well in the Pack's win over Virginia on 12/28 with 19 points on 8-14 shooting from the field. Last season, he was named to the second-unit of the All-ACC Tournament team after averaging 11.6 pts. and shot 50% from the arc.
Levi Watkins--Usually the Pack's sixth man, Watkins has started 2 of the last 4 games for NC State averaging 8.5 points (34) and 3.8 rebounds (15) during that stretch. Possibly the team's most improved long-range shooter, Watkins has hit a tough stretch. He's only 5-22 from the arc in his last 5 games. However, he is No. 2 on the NC State team in three-point field goals (23) and hit a critical three-pointer late in the win at FSU on 1/11/04 to put the Wolfpack ahead to stay.
Ilian Evtimov--The redshirt sophomore from Bulgaria was a rebounding machine against Georgia Tech, grabbing a career-high 14 to complement 11 points and 6 assists. No. 2 on the NC State team in assists at 3.3 (52), 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 9 games, Evtimov has averaged 8.9 points (80) and 4.9 rebounds (44). However, in his last 5 games he is only 3-16 shooting from the three-point arc.
Engin Atsur--Recorded a career-high 6 rebounds in the win over Clemson on 1/17 and a career-high 14 points in the loss at Duke on 6-7 shooting from the field. The freshman from Turkey has started the Wolfpack's last 7 games and has averaged 8.6 points (60) while shooting .500 from the field (20-40) during that stretch. He's 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.
