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Virginia Tech
NC State Blows Away Virginia Tech, 74-54
2/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2005
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - It took awhile, but NC State is now playing the type of defense that coach Herb Sendek has always come to expect from his teams. Shutting down just about everything Virginia Tech tried to do and generating some key transition points from its smothering, helping man-to-man, the Wolfpack drilled the Hokies (14-11, 7-7) on Saturday afternoon, 74-54. Nobody for the Pack (16-11, 6-8) was better on both ends of the court than sophomore guard Engin Atsur, who held Tech's Zabian Dowdell in check on one end, while nailing all four of his 3-point attempts in an 18-point performance on the other.
Coming into the game, the explosive Dowdell was averaging 17 points in conference games. But with Atsur chasing him off screens and getting assistance from his teammates, the 6-2 sophomore could do no better than 12 points on just seven shot attempts from the floor.
It was that type of day for the Pack, which stymied Virginia Tech almost from the opening tip.
"Their team defense was outstanding tonight," said Hokies head coach Seth Greenberg. "We just couldn't get in any kind of rhythm."
The win, NC State's third in its last four games, kept the Pack's flickering NCAA Tournament hopes alive. And perhaps it's no coincidence that NC State has played its best defense over those four games, a stretch during which it has held its opponents to an average of just 64 points per contest.
"I don't think it's a coincidence at all," Sendek said. "It starts with what happens in practice. We've had our best health of the year, we've had more continuity in practice and our guys, understanding what's at stake, have continued to bring a terrific effort to the floor, day in, day out. We played very well today on defense. Engin did a terrific job on Dowdell. It was a good team effort on offense as well."
After Virginia Tech scored the first four points, the Wolfpack clamped down and took control early. Scoring 12 rapid-fire points off of six turnovers, NC State ripped off 17 straight points to go up 17-4 six and a half minutes into the game. The early blitz included two 3s by guard Tony Bethel and another by Evtimov.
And perhaps just as importantly, the Pack was able to push the ball up the court and get many of the points in transition before the Hokies could setup their effective halfcourt defense.
"That's something we talked about before the game," said Sendek. "If we were going to pride ourselves on playing good defense, we hoped that would lead to some transition opportunities. At the half, 13 of our points came in transition."
The last three of those points came on a 3-pointer by Jordan Collins just before the horn to push the Pack's advantage out to 33-20. Following Sendek's timeout to set up a play, Julius Hodge drew two defenders off of Collins' high ball screen, and threw back to the senior center for a momentum-generating shot.
It was a big turnabout from earlier in the season, when the Wolfpack had allowed four ACC opponents to hit 3s right before halftime.
"That was a big shot that gave us the momentum," Atsur said. "That was a great call by coach and it really helped us take the lead into the second half. I really believe that shot gave us the momentum."
Apparently so. To start the second half, the Wolfpack continued to pour it on, getting two more Collins 3s that fueled a 13-4 run over the first five minutes to make it 46-26. From there, it was highlight time for the Pack, which continued to play well on both ends of the court.
At about the 12 minute mark, NC State brought the RBC Center crowd to its feet with the play of the game. Grabbing a long rebound in the backcourt, Evtimov flipped a behind the back pass to Cameron Bennerman, who then made a perfect lob to Bethel for a fast break layup.
"It was a great play," Sendek said. "It kind of showed a lot of what we were about today. Good hustle and unselfishness."
With 3:25 left in the game, NC State built its lead all the way up to 27 on Atsur's backdoor layup, setup by Evtimov's perfect feed.
With just over a minute to play, Sendek was able to empty his bench, sending Will Roach and walkon Braxton Albritton into the game, much to the delight of the crowd. Senior forward Levi Watkins, who had not played since tearing the MCL in his right knee on February 2nd, also got into the game. Seconds after entering the line-up, Watkins took a perfect backdoor bounce pass from Roach for a feel good layup that had everyone on the bench smiling.
Sure, there's still plenty of heat on the Wolfpack to win its last two regular season games against Virginia and Wake Forest to keep its NCAA Tourney hopes alive, but at the end of the day on Saturday, a little of the pressure was off for a few hours.
"The team is really confident right now," said Atsur, who was 5-of-6 from the floor. "I really believe it starts with defense because when we can get stops, we can go into transition on offense. It gives you confidence and it makes the other team frustrated. We played good defense and it helped our offense."
The Pack's offensive numbers were plenty impressive. Shooting 60 percent in the second half, NC State was 24-of-49 (49 percent) for the game. Punishing Virginia Tech's sagging man-to-man defense, the Wolfpack also drilled 11 of its 22 attempts from beyond the arc.
Evtimov and Collins had 14 points apiece, while Bethel chipped in with 10 points, six assists and just one turnover. Held below double figures for only the second time this year, Hodge finished with just eight points, but did have five assists and eight rebounds.
"I thought NC State played really, really well," Greenberg said. "In watching two or three game tapes, they're playing at a very high level right now. They're healthy, they're playing with a sense of urgency and they're running their offense at a faster pace."
Dowdell was the only player in double figures for the Hokies, who shot just 37.8 percent (17-of-45) and turned the ball over 18 times. Center Coleman Collins, who torched the Pack with 20 points and nine rebounds in Virginia Tech's one-point win in Blacksburg last month, was held to just four points on Saturday.
