North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Crimson Tide Rolls into Raleigh
12/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TONY HAYNES
RALEIGH, NC - Courtney Fells is looking forward to returning home to
“I’ve been looking forward to this game all season,” said the Wolfpack’s sophomore guard. “I can’t go home with a loss to
Having grown up right in the middle of SEC country, where ‘Bama lovers and haters are quite prominent, Fells won’t need any special pep talks from coach Sidney Lowe to get ready for Wednesday’s
He can only hope the rest of his teammates are equally as motivated. If they’re not, the Pack could be in for a long night against one of college basketball’s most athletic and talented teams.
“They have strength in their size, their athleticism and their quickness,” Lowe said. “They really play above the rim. There are times when it seems like they just throw it up there to go get it again. They’re a very talented ball club and the record indicates that.”
The only blip on the Tide’s radar screen thus far is a 99-85 defeat at Notre Dame back on December 7. That was
“I think it’s going to be a great challenge for us to go on the road,” said
Five of Gottfried’s players are averaging double-figures led by sophomore forward Alonzo Gee’s 15.4 points per game. But ‘Bama is certainly not a one-man show and on any given night, a number of players are capable of going off for big numbers. A week ago, power forward Richard Hendrix exploded for 34 points in a win over
The lanky Davidson averages nearly five blocked shots per game.
“If you know he’s a shot-blocker, you’ve got to try him once and try to go right through him and see if he’s going to get it,” Lowe said. “More importantly, you’ve got to try to move those guys around. You can’t try to get into a jumping game with them. You’ve got to move them around and pull him out some on the floor. He’s very explosive, he’s strong and he’s big.”
Both teams have issues at the point guard position. Lowe said on Monday night that Engin Atsur will miss his fourth straight game because of a pulled hamstring. In Atsur’s absence, the Wolfpack has been forced to use small forward Gavin Grant at the point.
Knee and ankle problems of late have limited Bama’s Ron Steele, who was being touted as one of the nation’s top point guards in the preseason. Steele has missed three of
As of Monday, Gottfried couldn’t predict how much action the 6-3 junior would see on Wednesday.
“I’d like to know sooner than game time” Gottfried said. “We’ll see how he does [Monday] and [Tuesday] in practice. We’ll see if he’s got any bounce in his step. Obviously this is a great intersectional game with
Back-up point guard Brandon Hollinger has offered a steady hand filling in at the point, posting 30 assists compared to only 11 turnovers. Hollinger doesn’t provide as much scoring as does Steele, and at 5-11, his size could present a challenge if he’s matched up with the 6-7 Grant.
“He’s playing very well,” Gottfried said of Grant. “He poses a lot of match-up problems for teams because of his size. They’ve posted him up inside which makes him dangerous there. There’s no question they’ve taken advantage of what he can bring to the table and they’ve utilized him.”
Grant’s average of 16.6 points per game leads five double-figure scorers for NC State. Redshirt freshman Brandon Costner (15.2), sophomore center Ben McCauley (14.2) and Fells (11.7) have been putting up solid numbers while also logging a lot of minutes.
Even though Atsur will not be available on Wednesday, the Wolfpack will have the luxury of stretching its rotation to seven players since
“Obviously, he gives us another guy in the backcourt where we have Courtney and Gavin, who are playing a lot of minutes,” Lowe said. “He gives us another shooter on the floor, so if he’s coming in for Courtney, he’s a guy who can knock down some shots for us. He hasn’t played in a long time and what we’ve really talked about is being patient and allowing the game to come to him. When you haven’t played for a long time and you get that opportunity, you’re going to be anxious and eager to go out and get it done right away. We just tell him not to force shots and get his shots from the offense.”
“As I told our players, we did so many things well in that game, but what was a little disappointing was the fact that we had just worked on boxing out for three straight days,” Lowe said. “We did more drills on boxing out than we had all year and we came out and really didn’t put our bodies on guys. I like for us to do everything well.”
On Wednesday, the Wolfpack will try to please its coach, while also making sure Courtney Fells doesn’t have to face the music when he returns home to
Big Ben Dishing It Out: The Wolfpack’s Ben McCauley is a big man who continues to put up some numbers that are normally associated with perimeter players. With 29 assists and only 13 turnovers this season, the 6-9 sophomore is ranked third in the ACC in assist to turnover ratio.
Toeing The Line: NC State edged
