North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Hoping to Continue Success Against Jackets
1/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2006
Coach Sendek talks about Georgia Tech
Simmons talks about Georgia Tech
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - Call it favorable match-ups, call it karma or just a plain old fluke, but for whatever reason, NC State has had Georgia Tech's number in recent years. Dating back to the 2002-03 season, the Wolfpack has won the last six games in the series. And when the Yellow Jackets (9-4, 2-0) come to Raleigh for a 12-noon meeting on Saturday, they will be looking to break another hex: Six times Tech has played in the RBC Center and all six times it has lost. All streaks, of course, are meant to be broken, which is exactly why the Pack will be making a big mistake if it thinks its recent dominance over the Jackets will somehow provide an advantage on Saturday.
In fact, while State has owned the upper hand in the series of late, all of the games have been relatively close. During its six-game winning streak over Georgia Tech, NC State's average margin of victory has been six points and none of the games has been decided by more than 10.
"All of the games are hard-fought defensively," said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, whose record is 3-8 against the Wolfpack. "Herb Sendek always does a great job of preparing his team, and they're always ready defensively. We've had success guarding the Princeton-style offense, but we haven't come up with enough points."
Earlier in the season, Tech lost at Air Force, a team that runs a system that's similar to what NC State employs. But according to Hewitt, the two clubs play at very different tempos.
"North Carolina State is more like Vanderbilt in that they are aggressive and looking for shots a lot quicker. They're going to more quick-hitters than they did before."
Winners of four straight and six of their last seven, the Yellow Jackets have been playing their best basketball over the last few weeks. Always good defensively under Hewitt, Georgia Tech has yielded just 60.2 points over its last six games, and on the boards, the Jackets have been outrebounding opponents by 7.8 per game. Tech is also getting a lot of second shots by grabbing an average of 14 offensive rebounds per contest.
`I think they're playing very hard," Sendek said. "They're really getting after it both defensively and on offense. Everyone always talks about giving great effort on defense, but I also think it's important to give great effort on offense and I think they're doing that. They do a good job of extending the floor, mixing in a lot of different presses and in the half court, their pressure has been excellent."
Tech's leading scorer is a North Carolina native. Charlotte's Anthony Morrow, a 6-5 sophomore guard, averages 16.9 points per game and shoots nearly 43 percent from 3-point range. After watching Morrow during the recruiting process, Sendek isn't surprised by those numbers.
"I've loved Anthony Morrow ever since I had a chance to meet him and watch him play," Sendek said. "He's a terrific young man and obviously has developed into one of our league's premier players."
When it's creating offense with its pressure defenses, Tech can be especially dangerous. The Yellow Jackets are averaging over nine steals per game.
NC State continues to be one of the most balanced teams in college basketball with four players scoring in double figures, led by center Cedric Simmons' averages of 12.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per contest. In Tuesday's impressive 78-60 victory at Boston College, the 6-9 Simmons scored a team high 17 points, hitting all six of his field goal attempts in the second half.
"I think I'm still under the radar a little bit," Simmons responded when asked if opponents were taking him seriously. "I don't think they take much time to talk about me as much as they do our team as a 3-point shooting team."
And with good reason perhaps. The Wolfpack leads the ACC in 3-point shots made (138) and is hitting a robust 39 percent from the arc. At B.C. on Tuesday, the Pack went 10-of-17 from the arc after knocking down 4-of-5 in the second half.
The hottest marksman in recent games has been senior guard Tony Bethel, who has converted on 10 of his last 15 3-point attempts over the last three games.
