North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Shorthanded Pack Opens ACC Play
12/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
A four-year starter and the Wolfpack’s best option at the point guard position, Atsur will likely miss the first game of his career due to an injury this Sunday when the Pack (5-0) opens ACC play on the road at Virginia (4-1). Tip off from the new John Paul Jones Arena is set for
Since being forced to sit out the first four games of his college career back in 2003, Atsur has played in 100 consecutive games. It’s a streak that will come to an end this weekend because of a hamstring pull suffered six minutes into NC State’s 74-67 victory over
“The main thing right now is that we want to make sure he’s healthy,” Lowe said on Friday. “I want him at 100 percent. Engin will probably try to come back sooner and if he wants to, I’ll obviously let him. But we’re not going to try to rush him back. The main thing for him is to be healthy and that he can go full tilt. It could be a week, it could be two weeks, and it could be three weeks. The problem is that if you come back too soon, you might feel good, but you could re-injure it and that could put you out even longer than normal. That’s the thing that the doctor, Engin and I have to talk about.”
Before Atsur’s injury, Lowe was relying on seven scholarship players to carry the workload. Now for the short term, the iron seven’ has shrunk to the iron six,’ a group that includes former walk-on Bryan Nieman.
In Monday’s scrappy win over the Wolverines, four players were forced to log more than 37 minutes.
The pinch of Atsur’s absence will likely be exacerbated this Sunday since
A cagey defender, Atsur likely would have drawn the defensive assignment on the lightning-quick Singletary.
“We’d like to see that match-up and have Engin in there putting pressure on him,” Lowe said. “But we have guys that have played hard and they’ll compete. Whether it’s Gavin [Grant] or Courtney [Fells] or Bryan [Nieman] or Braxton [Albritton] that’s got to guard him, they’re going to work hard at it. We’re going to have to make sure that we’re ready as a team and play good team defense because a player like that with that kind of speed and quickness is hard to stop individually, so you have to count on a little team defense.”
A first-team All-ACC selection last season, Singletary is up to his old tricks in this his junior year, leading the Cavaliers in scoring (17.8 ppg.) and assists (33). With only 13 turnovers, the
In their second-year under coach Dave Leitao, the Cavaliers opened with four impressive wins before falling at Purdue on Wednesday, 61-59.
With Atsur ailing, most of the pressure to run the team will fall on the shoulders of versatile 6-8 junior Gavin Grant, who has responded fairly well when asked to play the point early in this season.
“Gavin has done a great job,” Lowe said. “One of the most difficult positions to move into is the point guard position. If you haven’t played that position, you really have no idea how tough it is to play and play at this level. He’s got to bring the ball up against quickness and against guys who have been playing that position for a long time. Is he going to make some mistakes? Absolutely. But I still feel comfortable with the ball in his hands and more importantly, he feels comfortable with it. The only thing we have to do is shrink our play list a little to make sure we get into something that he knows and he’s familiar with.”
Grant has been a Jack of all trades’ already this season, averaging a team-leading 18 points per game, to go along with five rebounds per contest. NC State’s top rebounder is also its second leading scorer. Redshirt freshman Brandon Costner is averaging 15.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per contest. Against
Sunday’s meeting with
“It’s a little early compared to what I was used to as a player, but obviously with the expansion, you get the chance to do that,” said Lowe. “We’re looking forward to it. It’s another challenge for us, and we’ll see how we handle going on the road.”
After playing its first five games at home, the Wolfpack will be on the road for its next two. Next Wednesday, NC State will travel to
