North Carolina State University Athletics
Strong Finish Reflected in Pack Stats
3/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 30, 2005
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - Sometimes, things just seem to balance out in the end. That's exactly what happened with the NC State basketball team this season. Once 3-7 in the ACC, the Wolfpack won eight of its last 11 games to land a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Pack (21-14) then added to its win total by snatching tourney victories over Charlotte and Connecticut before being eliminated by Wisconsin in the `Sweet 16.' Statistically speaking, NC State's improved play down the stretch also bolstered some key numbers.
In the end, the final stats posted by this year's squad were very similar to those put up by the team that finished second in the ACC last season.
The biggest difference between the two clubs, obviously, was free throw shooting. Whereas the 2003-04 Wolfpack (in 31 games played) set a new ACC record by hitting 79.9 percent (481-602)of its free throws, this year's team (in 35 games) managed to knock down a more meager 70.5 percent (523-742) from the stripe. It should be noted that the Pack did average nearly two more attempts from the line this season.
Over the course of the season, last year's team, which won 11 games in conference play, was better defensively, yielding just 42.2 percent shooting to its opponents (compared to 43.2 percent this year) and 31.3 percent (compared to this season's 34.7 percent) from the 3-point arc.
On the flip side, this year's squad put up slightly better numbers on the offensive end of the court, averaging 73.1 points per game (72.9 last year), 45.5 percent shooting from the field (45.0 percent last season) and a fairly torrid 37 percent (34.5 percent last year) from 3-point range.
Both teams did an excellent job of taking care of the ball. This season, NC State had the fewest turnovers in the ACC, averaging just 12.4 per game. Last year's team, which was also No. 1 in the league, averaged 13.5 points per contest.
Individually, Julius Hodge won ACC Player of the Year honors as a junior after averaging 18.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. In his just completed senior campaign, Hodge averaged 17 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists. The difference in his scoring output can certainly be traced, in part, to his accuracy at the free throw line. After shooting 82.8 percent (159-192) a year ago, Hodge dropped off to 66.8 percent (169-253) this season.
The addition of freshmen Cedric Simmons and Andrew Brackman certainly enhanced NC State's ability to block shots. Overall, the Wolfpack rejected 156 shots (a 4.5 average) compared to last year's rather paltry total of 69 blocks (2.2 average).
The always active Engin Atsur led NC State in deflections this season with 287. Ilian Evtimov (221) and Hodge (204) also tallied better than 200. Evtimov posted 213 deflections to lead last year's club.
Atsur was also No. 1 in steals (57), followed by Hodge (48), Evtimov (41) and Tony Bethel (41). Bethel, who missed six games and was under the weather for several others in which he tried to play, actually had the best average with 1.9 steals per contest.
In a few other miscellaneous statistics, Evtimov drew the most charges (14) and Hodge threw down the most dunks (24). Simmons and Cammeron Bennerman were next closest, with 10 slams apiece.
