North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
St. John's
St. John's Dumps Ice Cold Wolfpack, 63-45
12/30/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 30, 2004
By Tony Haynes
New York - In the famed arena that has produced so many memorable basketball moments, NC State came up with a performance that can only be described as forgettable on Thursday night. Natalie Wood starred in the holiday classic "Miracle on 34th street." Playing at Madison Square Garden in the championship game of the Holiday Festival, the Wolfpack suffered through what could only be labeled the disaster on 33rd street. In the end, it all added up to a 63-45 loss to St John's (6-4).
Getting 19 points from speedy guard Daryll Hill and 10 from Eugene Lawrence, the Red Storm took full advantage of the Pack's worst and most baffling outing of the year. The NC State team that had looked so poised and unselfish in winning 10 of its first 11 games never showed up on Thursday.
And it didn't take long to turn ugly.
Four minutes into the game, it was 8-0 St. John's. From that point on, the Wolfpack (10-2) looked like a team that was in a hurry; often taking quick 3s without even making the Red Storm play a lot of defense on many possessions. The result was an indescribable first half that produced just 10 points and 13 percent shooting (3-23) from the field. In the opening 20 minutes, NC State's offensive production consisted of two Cameron Bennerman 3-pointers, one Engin Atsur layup and two Julius Hodge free throws.
The Pack went into the lockerroom trailing 27-10.
"We were horrible," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "I don't know what we could point to as having done well. We were absolutely horrendous."
And no one player better symbolized the Wolfpack's frustration any more than Julius Hodge, whose celebrated return to his hometown of New York turned into a nightmare. Although he finished with 19 points, the 6-7 senior didn't tally his first field goal until the 11:08 mark of the second half. By then, St. Johns was comfortably in front 42-18. During NC State's first half funk, Hodge was 0-for-6 with three turnovers.
The reigning ACC Player of the Year, however, was hardly alone in his misery.
Three Wolfpack starters - Levi Watkins, Jordan Collins and guard Tony Bethel didn't even score. Hampered by illness all week, Bethel attempted three 3-point shots in the opening half, all coming up short.
Freshman forward Andrew Brackman, who played so well in last week's road games at Washington and Brigham Young, was held without a field goal for the second straight game. All four of Brackman's points came on free throws.
Like Brackman, junior forward Ilian Evtimov was held scoreless as well, missing all five of his attempts from the floor.
"I think we played very selfishly," Evtimov said. "We didn't share the ball, we didn't run our offense and we had too many turnovers."
Any hopes NC State had of making a game of it after halftime died over the first four minutes of the second half when the Red Storm quickly scored the first six points to go up by 23. In fact, it took the Wolfpack nearly seven minutes to record its first field goal of the second period, a hook shot by freshman center Cedric Simmons with 13:05 remaining. Before Simmons shot, the Pack was just 3-of-31 from the floor.
By the time it was over, NC State had shot an abysmal 20.0 percent from the field (13-of-65), and 2-of-24 from 3-point range. Add on a season-high 19 turnovers, and you have the recipe for one of the Wolfpack's more unsightly defeats of the last three or four seasons. And this came without warning, especially since this particular NC State team had avoided long offensive dry spells through its first 11 games.
"I was surprised all the way around with the way our team played," Sendek said. "Going into the game I thought the guys were really focused. We just didn't have it in any way, shape or form tonight. At one point we were 3-for-31 from the field. I've never seen anything like that."
St. John's ended the night hitting 25-of-57 from the floor for 43.9 percent. The Red Storm also won the battle of the boards 48-40.
Although NC State will return home on Sunday, it won't get any easier, not with unbeaten West Virginia (9-0) coming in fresh off a big win over nationally ranked George Washington.
"We've got to answer the bell," Sendek said. "We were mentally ready to go tonight in terms of our preparation. The guys have to get ready and put themselves in the right frame of mind to go out and make plays."
