North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Versus Vanderbilt AP Preview
3/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 21, 2004
GAME: No. 6 Vanderbilt (22-9) vs. No. 3 N.C. State (21-9).
REGIONAL: Phoenix, Second round.
TIME: Sunday, 2:40 p.m. EST.
SITE: TD Waterhouse Centre; Orlando.
Two teams with similar plans of attack will battle for a berth in the regional semifinals when North Carolina State meets Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Both the Wolfpack and Commodores have relied on the athleticism and versatility of their frontcourt stars this season, running much of the offense through the high post.
For North Carolina State, 6-foot-8, 230-pound senior forward Marcus Melvin fills that role, and did so in impressive fashion with 20 points and nine rebounds in the Wolfpack's 61-52 first-round win over Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday.
Melvin's counterpart for Vanderbilt is senior Matt Freije, a highly skilled 6-10 forward who led the SEC in scoring. Freije can score both inside and out. Like Melvin, he's effective in creating matchup problems for Vandy's opponents with his ability to step out and hit the 3-point shot.
"I think they're similar in their skills," Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. "Marcus is blessed with a better body. They both have excellent shooting range; both can put the ball on the floor a little bit and get to a shot; both are probably pretty underrated.
"I would say that they're very similar, as a matter of fact. We just depend on Matt a little bit more than they depend on Marcus, I think."
Freije scored 13 points Friday, but point guard Mario Moore had a career-high 28 - including six 3-pointers - in a 71-58 first-round win over Western Michigan.
According to Stallings, Moore's emergence has come at an opportune time.
"Matt's been sick," Stallings said. "He's lost a little bit of weight and I know that's affecting him. Typically, players will respond however they have to. If Matt is not going to score with the way we're accustomed to him scoring, then I think other guys are going to start scoring more. You saw that with Mario on Friday."
North Carolina State coach Herb Sendeck also sees the similarities between the offensive gameplans.
"It's the same basic framework. We are the same, but not identical," he said.
A win over NC State would give Vanderbilt its third appearance in the regional semifinals since 1993.
The Wolfpack haven't been to the round of 16 since 1989.
The winner will meet Connecticut in Phoenix next weekend.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Vanderbilt - F Freije (18.5 ppg, 5.4 rpg), G-F Corey
Smith (6.6 ppg, 3.5 rpg), C Dawid Przybyszewski (8.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg), G Moore
(10.6, 3 apg), G Russell Lskey (4.7 ppg, 3.9 apg).
NC State - F Ilian Evtimov
(9.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg), F Melvin (14.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg), F Julius Hodge (18.6 ppg, 6.3
rpg, 3.8 apg), G Cameron Bennerman (3.3 ppg, 2.0 rpg), G Engin Atsur (8.2 ppg,
2.4 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Vanderbilt - At-large berth, beat Western Michigan, 71-58,
first round.
NC State - At-large berth, beat Louisiana-Lafayette, 61-52,
first round.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT:
Vanderbilt - 6-8, 7 years.
NC State - 29-18, 19 years.
