North Carolina State University Athletics
1981-82 Wolfpack Notched 22 Wins, Gained NCAA Berth
10/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
In coach Jim Valvano’s second season as head coach, the Wolfpack rolled up 22 wins and made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament while displaying one of the nation’s top defensive clubs.
While the trip to the prestigious post-season tournament was short-lived via a 59-51 loss to Tennessee-Chattanooga, the Wolfpack’s season was a success, due primarily to the defense.
A member of the tough Atlantic Coast Conference, the Wolfpack held teams to an average of 49.1 points a game but, more importantly, the opposition was limited to only 41.9 percent of its shots from the floor.
The key reason for the Wolfpack’s fine protective curtain lies in an active zone defensive scheme slanted mostly to a 2-3 alignment. But coach Jim Valvano also employed various other zones as well as man-to-man defense to utilize his team’s quickness.
NC State rolled off nine straight wins to start the season before meeting defeat. The opening stretch included a 21-point win over
In the finals of that tourney, the Wolfpack ran up against the great shooting touch of All-America Ricky Pierce of Rice in a 51-47 loss to the Owls. However, State moved ahead with three more wins and, after a full week of play in January, the Pack stood 12-1.
During the remainder of the season, the Wolfpack could manage no better than a two-game winning streak and had to play the nation’s No. 1 team five times along the way. Each time State fell, but twice the game against No. 1 Virginia hung in the balance until the final minute of play with the Wolfpack falling short by margins of three (39-36) and five points (45-40).
Before the first
However, NC State regrouped and played with strong confidence the remainder of the regular season, wining seven down the stretch including a 62-42 win over Notre Dame in
Five of the Wolfpack’s 10 losses were by margins of less than five points each as NC State showed tremendous improvement of a year ago. In Coach Valvano’s first season in
Leading the Wolfpack attack were a couple of players who made second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference: junior forward Thurl Bailey, the team’s leading scorer with a 13.7 average and leading rebounder with 6.8 caroms a game, and junior guard Dereck Whittenburg, who averaged 13.4 points a game.
Point guard Sidney Lowe, one of the most adept ball-handlers in the nation, dished out 182 assists for a career total of 491, a new school record. Lowe, a junior, set the regular-season record of 184 his sophomore year.
