North Carolina State University Athletics
Hobbled Wolfpack falls to unbeaten West Virginia
1/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 2, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- Herb Sendek and his team came back from New York with three things that they really wanted no part of: a disappointing loss against St. John's in the ECAC Holiday Festival title game, an injured star and a team-wide case of the flu.
So it was not too surprising that things disintegrated pretty quickly midway through the first half of Sunday afternoon's 82-69 loss to unbeaten West Virginia. After building as much as a nine-point lead in the early going, the Wolfpack allowed the Mountaineers to go on a 24-3 run, thanks to some deft shooting and a difficult-to-combat 1-3-1 zone defense.
The Wolfpack players went on the floor still a little shocked that senior All-America Julius Hodge was on the sidelines in street clothes, hobbled by a sore right ankle he suffered late in the second half of Thursday's game at Madison Square Garden.
The players found it hard to believe that Hodge, who had never missed a game because of an injury in his career, would not be available to play, and were more than a little surprised when he didn't participate in pre-game warm-ups.
"I thought he was joking around,'' said junior Cameron Bennerman on hearing the news that Hodge wouldn't play.
Junior Ilian Evtimov was also taken aback.
"Julius had never missed a came because he was hurt before,'' Evtimov said. "He's just never gotten hurt. He's always been here, because he is a tough guy."
Of course, it's hard to dissect bad news when you are feeling poorly, as most of the Wolfpack team has been for the last week or so, thanks to a flu bug that has bounced from player-to-player. Like virtually everyone not defined as at-risk, none of the Wolfpack players were able to get a flu shot this fall, unlike previous years when those are usually the first shots taken in the preseason.
And the bug has lingered longer than usual. Junior guard Tony Bethel has been hampered by it for the last two weeks. Junior Cameron Bennerman had a 103-degree temperature on Saturday. Evtimov was also ill.
"That's no excuse, when you step on that court, it is 40 minutes, and tonight we didn't produce on the defensive end," Evtimov said. "Obviously, we are facing adversity. We have guys that are sick, we have guys that are hurt and we have our best player not playing. But that is what is going to make us a very good team down the stretch."
So, if there is anything positive to say for a team that has lost three of its last five games, it's that it has a full week before its next Sunday's game at Miami to get everyone healthy. However, every game from here on out is an ACC contest, which means Sendek and his team will need this coming week to get better, in both health and performance.
"In one sense we are very humbled, we understand that the last two games have been a big reality check for us," Sendek said. "But - and we are not trying to make an excuse - we have all had the flu, and you know what that feels like. So I respect the effort that the guys gave today, but I want them to get healthy so we will be able to get back to work."
Sendek said he would evaluate his team's health over the next day or two and decide whether to give his players some time off to get better. He said he was unsure of what Hodge's availability would be for next week's ACC opener.
"We have a week off and it definitely comes at a good time because I can't even imagine what we'd look like if we had to suit up any sooner," Sendek said. "The last two days of practice have pretty much just been walk-throughs. We have to get healthy and then get better. Our guys are fully aware that they have to rise to the challenge."
Evtimov promised that things would be better next week when the Wolfpack travels to Miami for its first ACC game.
"Guys are going to take their treatment, guys are going to take their medicine and get better," he said. "We are going to go down there with the mentality that we are not going to lose."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
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