North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Seniors Bow Out with Big Game
3/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 4, 2005
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - For NC State fans, it seemed like purgatory. Prior to the 2001-02 basketball season, it had been 11 long years since the Wolfpack had appeared in the NCAA Tournament. Then along came a recruiting class that would change the program's fortunes. Not long after Julius Hodge, Jordan Collins, Levi Watkins, Ilian Evtimov and Josh Powell arrived on campus, it became rather apparent that NC State basketball would be moving in a different, more positive direction. So how ironic it is that three of those players - Hodge, Collins and Watkins - will once again have a chance to be a part of something special when they play their final regular season home game against 4th ranked Wake Forest on Sunday night at 8:00 p.m.
A senior group that has led NC State to three consecutive NCAA Tourney appearances could quite possibly add a fourth bid to its legacy if the Wolfpack can somehow find a way to knock off the powerful Deacons. Once 3-7 in league play, the Pack has battled its way back, winning four of five games to improve its record to 7-8 in the ACC and 17-11 overall.
The late season run has now set up Sunday's senior night matchup, which could very well be the most important game NC State has played in the six year old RBC Center.
"I think it will be a great college game," Collins said. "They're playing for first place in the regular season and we're playing for fourth place. I think it's going to be a great game."
A fourth place finish for the Pack could mean another trip to the NCAA's, among other things. It would also mark a fourth straight top four finish for this senior class and more importantly, give NC State a bye on the first day of the newly realigned ACC Tournament.
By the time tip off roles around, the Deacons (25-4, 12-3) will already know if they'll have a chance to tie for the league's regular season crown since North Carolina's home game against Duke, which begins at 4:00, should already be over. Heading into the final weekend of the regular season, Wake trails UNC by one game in the standings.
"It is an important game," said NC State head coach Herb Sendek. "We've been playing our best basketball of late and we'll certainly have to be at our best on Sunday night. Wake Forest is a great team. They have all the parts, they've had a terrific season and we're going to have to be really good on Sunday night."
The first time these two clubs met back on February 10th, NC State was really good for one half. After falling behind by 16 at intermission, the Wolfpack roared back to within five points late in the game before falling 86-75. But one half of excellent basketball wasn't good enough to trip up a Wake Forest team that's certainly among the favorites to qualify for the Final Four.
Just one half probably won't cut it on Sunday night either.
"We just have to make some better plays than we did [in the first game]," Sendek said. "Watching that tape the first time, we just weren't at our best, especially in the first half. It led to some pretty easy baskets for Wake Forest at the other end."
NC State, which has the fewest turnovers of any team in the ACC this season, was uncharacteristically loose with the ball in the first game with 20 turnovers. Most of those mistakes occurred in the opening half when the Deacons jetted out to a big early lead.
Ironically, however, Sendek and the rest of the team say their late season turnaround started with the second half of that game when they forced Deacs coach Skip Prosser to take a couple of timeouts during their second half run.
After being held out of the starting lineup for what Sendek called "a team matter," Hodge responded with one of his most dominating performances of the year. The senior hit his first 10 shots after coming off the bench at the 10-minute mark of the first half and went on to score a season-high 27 points.
Hodge, of course, will be in the starting line-up in his senior game on Sunday, a contest that he calls the biggest home game of his brilliant career.
"By far, this is the biggest game I've played here," Hodge said. "This game will get us into the tournament and that's where we want to be. It's against a top five team in the country. The lights will be on, the stage will be set and we're ready to go."
To best illustrate the type of player Hodge has been in his career, one need to look no further than NC State's victory at Virginia on Wednesday night. Although he made only three field goals in five attempts from the floor, he was still the dominant player on the court, dishing out eight assists, grabbing five rebounds and hitting 11 free throws.
Hodge's versatility alone makes him not only one of the best players ever at NC State, but one of the most unique as well.
"It's not a theme that's entirely foreign when we talk about Julius," Sendek said. "His impact on the game isn't merely a function of how many shots he takes. To paint it that narrowly is to do a disservice to his brilliance, versatility and the different things he can do. Sometimes we've been tempted to try to define his performance based on the number of field goal attempts he gets. Maybe that's more relevant to other kinds of players, but Julius is somebody who can do so many other things to impact a basketball game, some of which can't be measured on a stat sheet."
Obviously, Hodge and his fellow seniors would dearly love to go out with a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, something that may have seemed completely out of reach when they took part in their very first practice sessions that first year.
"I'm definitely proud of what we've accomplished here in our four years at NC State," said Hodge. "From where the team was before we arrived here in Raleigh to where we are now, the improvement has really been tremendous. We just want to keep it going."
They might just have good chance to do that with a win on Sunday night.
Bennerman Back: It was called a "coach's decision," when Sendek chose to hold junior guard Cameron Bennerman out of Wednesday's game at Virginia. On Friday, Sendek said Bennerman will play against Wake....A victory on Sunday night would give NC State five wins in its last six games, the Pack's best end of season streak since 1987-88...Hodge has had more success against Wake Forest than any other team in the league during his career, averaging 20.1 points per game on 56 percent shooting from the floor...Collins has averaged 14.3 points, while knocking down 52 percent from the field over his last three games. He also leads the Pack in 3-point accuracy at 45.7 percent.
