North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Looks to Get Refocused
3/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 7, 2005
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - Forget about the often talked about RPI, otherwise known as the Ratings Percentage Index. Around the NC State basketball offices on Monday, the misery index was off the charts. And how could it not be? Less than 24 hours earlier, the Wolfpack was in a great position to finish off an upset victory over Wake Forest and perhaps land an NCAA Tournament bid before a three-point lead with less than 20 seconds remaining disappeared in the blink of an eye. And while the stunning 55-53 setback to the Deacons will be hard to forget, the Pack has no other choice than to get refocused for this week's ACC Tournament.
When the MCI Center in Washington D.C. opens its doors to the best and most historic conference basketball tournament in the United States on Thursday, NC State, a seventh seed, will go up against No. 10 Florida State at approximately 2:30 p.m.
To come up short after investing so much emotion and energy in Sunday's titanic struggle with Wake Forest was indeed a bitter pill to swallow for the Pack. But as far as coach Herb Sendek is concerned, pity parties will not be a part of the practice plan over the next few days.
"We have a difficult challenge to get ourselves up and dusted off from a difficult loss," Sendek said. "We're going to talk and refocus ourselves and understand that it's the only productive choice we can make. We're just going to continue to battle like we always do here."
NC State certainly won't be able to play much harder than it did against Wake Forest, especially on the defensive end of the floor. Putting together one of the most impressive defensive efforts of the ACC season, the Wolfpack held the high-scoring Deacons to just 28 percent shooting in the second half. During one stretch, Wake went 10 minutes without a field goal.
"To tell you quite frankly, I wasn't sure if we would be able to do this," said Ilian Evtimov when asked about the Pack's improved defensive play. "We had been able to play tremendous defense from the very start of the ACC season since I've been here. For whatever reason, we struggled with that this year. We pulled it together and I think the driving force for us tonight was not to let them score."
It took two very difficult shots to break down the NC State defense and put Wake over the top. Justin Gray's contested 23-foot 3-pointer from the right sideline tied the score with 14 seconds left and set up Chris Paul's improbable off-balance runner from about 10-feet away to win it at the buzzer.
Ironically, Paul won't be around if the Wolfpack gets a rematch with the Deacons in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday. The sophomore guard has drawn a one-game suspension from the school for punching NC State's Julius Hodge in the groin during the first half of Sunday night's regular season finale.
"I would like to apologize to Julius Hodge, the NC State team, Wake Forest fans and my teammates for an incident that I truly regret," Paul said in a written statement issued by Wake Forest on Monday. "Sunday night was emotional for me for many reasons and I let my emotions get the best of me. However, that is no excuse for my actions and I fully accept and agree with my suspension."
Said Wake coach Skip Prosser: "I have said for two years that I would not trade Chris Paul for any point guard in the country. This remains the case. The game of basketball is best played in a certain manner. Chris committed a grave error in judgment Sunday evening. He is contrite and aware that his actions did not reflect the best of Wake Forest and our basketball team. This disciplinary action speaks on our intention to hold our players to the highest standards of sportsmanship and proper conduct."
But before it can get another shot at Wake Forest, NC State will have to deal with a Florida State team that came to Raleigh in late January and posted a 70-64 victory over the Wolfpack at the RBC Center.
The Pack will go into ACC Tourney play minus the services of starting center Jordan Collins, who sustained a separated shoulder while going for an offensive rebound late in the second half of Sunday's game against the Deacs.
"Other guys are just going to have to pick up the slack," said Sendek. "Cedric [Simmons], Andrew [Brackman], Levi [Watkins] and some of our other frontcourt players have to be ready to step-up."
The Wolfpack Radio Network will broadcast every single game of the ACC Tournament, starting with Thursday's 12 noon meeting between Maryland and Clemson. Airtime is 11:30 a.m.
