North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Wolfpack Looks Ahead to First Road Trip
11/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- It didn't take long for NC State coach Herb Sendek to want to forget about Wednesday night's 75-55 victory over Virginia Military Institute.
It's not so much that his team played sluggish at the beginning of the game - it was, after all, the Wolfpack's fourth game in seven days. Mostly, Sendek was ready to start preparing for his team's next two contests, road games against Notre Dame on Saturday in Indianapolis and at No. 18 Iowa next Wednesday.
"We continue to be a great work in progress," Sendek said. "But I like our team, and we are going to get better. I think the best thing we can do is put tonight behind us and put all of our faculties on Notre Dame at this point."
Sendek didn't like how his team played impatiently in the first 10 minutes of the game, falling behind by as many as 11 points to the Keydets. But there was some fatigue involved, and the Wolfpack played without senior point guard Tony Bethel, who was bothered by the groin injury that sidelined him most of the preseason.
Playing against a packed-in VMI defense, the Wolfpack made only 37 percent of its field goal attempts, including an 8-for-35 performance from 3-point range.
"We never really were in sync," Sendek said. "It wasn't just shooting. A lot of times a shot is made because of the quality of the pass you make. I thought our passes didn't help our shooting tonight.
"I don't think we played patient tonight and even though it is difficult tonight, you need more patience, not less, to establish a little rhythm."
The Wolfpack pulled away midway through the first half, doubling its nine-point halftime lead in the second half. Senior Ilian Evtimov had a team-high 18 points with six rebounds. Sophomore Andrew Brackman had 15 points and four rebounds and sophomore Cedric Simmons had 14 points and six rebounds.
The Wolfpack players came out of the game knowing that they needed to play better from opening tap to final buzzer in these next two games if they expect to keep their perfect record (4-0) intact.
"We came out sluggish, we weren't ready to play," said sophomore Gavin Grant, who had eight points, eight rebounds and six assists. "There is no way we can come out sluggish Saturday. The game is on national television. We are playing one of the better teams in college basketball.
"If you can't get pumped up for that, then you don't need to go on the trip."
Evtimov believes that this team will be able to rely on its various component parts to throw a variety of attacks at the Fighting Irish in the Wooden Classic in Indianapolis.
"I think we are improving a lot and finding out about each other," he said. "We have guys that can play a variety of positions. But the most important thing is that we have weapons to attack any kind of defense.
"We have good enough players and good enough weapons and the style of each individual player is different enough that we complement each other very well. We can attack a defense that is denying us. We can attack a defense that is playing soft. We have good ball handlers, good shooters, good inside players and we understand the concept of going inside and out."
"It's going to be a good test for us," Evtimov said. "But our guys have been on the road. They have been in big gyms. They have played in front of big crowds. For the veterans, it shouldn't be anything but another big game. Once you get in between the lines, it is just basketball.
"For the younger guys, it will be a good experience. Notre Dame is a very good team. Our total focus is on them and we are going to go there expecting to win."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
