North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Simmons Makes His Presence Known
1/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2006
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- Middle of last week, Duke's Shelden Williams wasn't exactly sure he knew anything about NC State sophomore Cedric Simmons.
In fact, when he was asked the day before Duke played Maryland last week about the Wolfpack sophomore center's development this season, Williams answered "Who's that?"
Williams and everyone else learned about Simmons Wednesday night when the No. 14 Wolfpack played at top-ranked Duke. Maybe the Wolfpack was on the wrong end of the 81-68 decision, but Herb Sendek and his team gave the Blue Devils a scare on their home court.
"That's the best team we've played," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "They know what they are doing and they do it well."
And Simmons, the still-developing big man with the long arms, earned some respect and gained some confidence after posting a career-high 28 points, with nine rebounds and seven blocked shots.
"I got some confidence that I can play with the best," Simmons said after the game. "Shelden Williams is probably the No. 1 center in the country and I played him pretty tough.
"I can hang with the best in the country, but I still have some things to learn. I still have to get stronger. But I can go into practice with something to work on."
Part of Duke's strategy was to give up the double-team on Simmons in order to overplay the Wolfpack's 3-point shooters. That worked quite well, as State hit only two of its 11 long-range shots, both by senior Cameron Bennerman.
Simmons kept his team in the game with his aggressive play against Williams, who became Duke's career shot-blocker in the game. So, with 5:14 remaining, the score was tied at 65.
"That is why we were in the game," Bennerman said. "He did it the whole game. They denied the 3s and we had to go inside. Ced really took advantage of that."
Sendek added: "Cedric just continues to get better every night out. Duke's game-plan defensively made it very important for us to go in to him. Our guys did a good job of doing that and he responded with another really good game for us."
However, the game turned on a nine-second sequence when Duke's Sean Dockery was fouled on a 3-point shot in the corner. Dockery missed the free-throw on the four-point play opportunity, but got his own rebound, kicked the ball to senior Lee Melchionni, who hit another long-range shot to give the Blue Devils a six-point possession.
The Wolfpack's chances at the end of the game slipped away, particularly after Simmons had an inside jumper blocked by Williams with just less than two minutes to play.
"My legs were cramping up and I really couldn't elevate the way I usually do on that shot," Simmons said. "I tried to seal him with my body and get the shot off. It was a big play in the game. It kind of changed the whole momentum."
The 13-point margin will look much worse than it was in the final boxscore, just as the 13-point loss at North Carolina looked bad at the time. But what is likely to define this year's Wolfpack is the way it rebounds from such losses.
After losing to the Tar Heels, Sendek and his team had an impressive road win at Boston College. Saturday, the Wolfpack get a chance to bounce back against Wake Forest at the RBC Center, the team that won on a last-second shot in Raleigh last year.
"This is going to sit on our stomach," said senior guard Tony Bethel. "We have to look to go forward. That game Saturday is against a very good team. We have to look forward to doing what we need to do to beat them."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
