North Carolina State University Athletics
BY TIM PEELER: Sendek's Outburst Jolts Wolfpack
12/10/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 10, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH - When NC State coach Herb Sendek called timeout with 17:21 remaining in Saturday afternoon's Heritage game against Appalachian State, his eyes were ablaze with a fire set by his team's sloppy play.
As his No. 25 ranked Wolfpack huddled around, Sendek stormed onto the court. He kicked the ball back to the sidelines. He thought about taking his jacket off and throwing it to the ground, but he stopped himself.
Then, he lit into his team.
"He basically just gave it to us," said senior guard Tony Bethel. "On a scale from 1-to-10, I rate that one a 10. There have been a couple of other 10s since I have been there, but I will remember this one for a long time."
So will senior Ilian Evtimov, whose leg was on the receiving end of Sendek's ire, after the Wolfpack opened the second half with a pair of missed free throws, a missed jumper and a couple of turnovers. The Mountaineers pulled within eight points on a layup by Tyler Webb, and the coach decided to send a very vocal message.
"He was pretty hot," Evtimov admitted. "I think I still have a little mark on my leg from him slapping me a little bit with five fingers.
"I am sure we will get a good kick out of it when we watch it on film."
No one dared laugh during that particular timeout of the Wolfpack's annual return to Reynolds Coliseum, and the message was clearly received in the 92-68 victory. Sendek's team outscored ASU 33-14, forced five turnovers and tightened up its defense, as the Mountaineers made only five of their next 16 field goals.
"I think we came out after that and responded well and broke away and got the lead," Bethel said. "It shouldn't have come to that, but that is what he had to do."
Maybe it shouldn't have been surprising that the Wolfpack (6-1) were a little rusty and sloppy, after a 10-day layoff from its loss at Iowa. The players have been in final exams all week, with two more days of finals next week.
But practices had been good during the break, Sendek said, and he didn't expect to see his team let the Mountaineers hang around early in the second half.
"I just didn't think we came out and started the way we were supposed to," Sendek said. "I didn't want to let that slip by.
"I would hope it doesn't take that, but I suppose sometimes you have to do what you have to do. And after that, we did pick it up a little bit."
There were certainly things to appreciate in the performance. Bethel and fellow senior Cameron Bennerman both returned to the starting lineup for the first time this season, taking the place of sophomores Andrew Brackman and Gavin Grant.
Bennerman scored 13 points, while Bethel had nine points and three assists. Brackman played perhaps his best game of the season, with 16 points and six rebounds. And freshmen Courtney Fells and Ben McCauley came off the bench to contribute a combined 18 points after neither played in the Notre Dame or Iowa games.
Sendek hopes his team takes some lessons from his outburst and from the way it played most of the second half when it returns to the RBC Center Wednesday night against UNC-Asheville and next Sunday in its ACC-opener against Miami.
And the team hopes Sendek can maybe relax during time outs, instead of scream.
"He should be able to sit down and enjoy the game, instead of yelling at us," Evtimov said. "We should be the ones picking each other up.
"I think that's what we did after we came back from that timeout."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
