North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Looks Ahead to Second Half of ACC Season
2/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
Now that NC State's ACC season is halfway over, what will it take for the Wolfpack to be what it expected to be early in the year?
Perhaps it was hard to tell in Thursday night's 95-71 loss to No. 2 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, but there were some tangible signs of hope coming from the Wolfpack lockerroom after the game.
For one, junior guard Tony Bethel played his most complete game since first contracting the flu back in December. Bethel, who missed a total of four games because of a bizarre string of illnesses, played 35 minutes against the Tar Heels and showed little sign of fatigue in scoring 16 points and dishing out four assists. That coming off his shooting performance at Clemson, where he hit he four of his five 3-point attempts and scored 14 points.
And sophomore Engin Atsur played 19 minutes, despite missing the last three days of practice with a flu-like bug. Clearly, it wasn't his most productive game of the season, but the fact that Atsur was even on the floor was a good sign in the eyes of Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek.
"Most of us in this room would be in bed," Sendek said. "We would have been in bed, not even thinking about playing in this game. But Engin is out there playing.Tony Bethel was the same way. That young man has been through so much this season, and he is getting back to his old form."
In fact, Bethel said he is back to his pre-illness condition and now just needs a little bit of time to shake of the rust that was evident in his five-for-14 shooting.
"But we are going to continue to work hard," Bethel said. "We will look to the next game. Nobody is down. Of course we are upset that we lost this game, but we are going to keep fighting to win."
With Cameron Bennerman still out nursing an injured elbow and Levi Watkins could miss four-to-six weeks with a knee injury, the Wolfpack is looking for some good news on the injury front. So Thursday night's performance by Bethel might be a start, even though Sendek said "I don't know how much healthier we are going to get."
"Obviously, other teams have had to overcome similar problems in the ACC," said Julius Hodge. "No one is feeling sorry for us, and we are not feeling sorry for ourselves. We are going to continue to be positive. We are going to work hard. We are going to win.
"I still feel like this team is special. It may be hard to believe now, but when we are playing at our best, we are one of the best teams in the country. Tonight wasn't our best, but at times in the second half, we were. There were definite positives."
Is a similar turnaround possible? In the second half of the season, the Wolfpack would need to go 5-3 to finish with a .500 mark in the league. But last year, the Wolfpack ended January with a two-point loss to North Carolina, then won seven of its next eight games to finish second in the ACC standings. Saturday's game against Virginia is a rare home appearance over the last six weeks, but the Wolfpack does finish the regular season by playing four of its last five games at home.
"We have to play great basketball, we really do," Sendek said. "There is no easy game on the schedule. We are going to have to play at a very high level.
"We have weathered and taken some hits, but the togetherness, effort and preparation; all those things you can control, have been there for us. So to be 5-3 on the backside (of the ACC schedule), we have to play great basketball."
You may reach Tim Peeler at mailto:tim_peeler@ncsu.edu tim_peeler@ncsu.edu .
