North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Rolls 94-57 Over Barton in Exhibition
11/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Updated: 10:43 p.m., 11/1/07, to add quotes, post-game interviews, game video.
BY TIM PEELER
So Thursday night, when second-year head coach Sidney Lowe sent his team out to play defending NCAA Division II national champion
He wanted to see how sophomore point guard Farnold Degand would control the offense against a team that was possibly out-manned, but definitely not intimidated.
And he wanted to see how his most experienced players, who were used to being on the court for almost every tick of the clock last season, would handle having to come off the bench on occasion.
The score, a 94-57 victory at the
“It was good to see someone else and give our guys the opportunity to play against another team in different sets and different types of defenses that they ran at us, just to kind of see where we are,” Lowe said afterwards. “It’s different playing against a team like that, smaller, quicker, with a lot of movement. It was a good test for us.”
Five Wolfpack players hit double figures on the night, led by sophomore forward Brandon Costner, who scored 17 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. Junior Courtney Fells followed with 16 points, while senior Gavin Grant had 14 and freshmen J.J. Hickson and Tracy Smith had 11 each.
Fells led the team with seven rebounds, and Costner added six.
Barton was led by Brian Leggett’s 17 points and Eddie Kershaw’s 14.
Lowe was particularly impressed with the way Degand, a sophomore transfer from
Degand is quick, and was happy to push the ball up the court. The Wolfpack scored 22 of its 94 points on fast breaks.
“Farnold is comfortable at pushing the ball,” Lowe said. “We got some fast-break baskets, especially early in the first half. Now we just have to get our wings to run with us. He pushed it up the court one time and ran past all our guys, so instead of it being a 4-on-1, it became a 1-on-1.
“If he sees that he is out there by himself he has to slow down and look for his trail people. I thought he played a very good ball game. He ran the offense well for us, he pushed it at times and he played real solid on the defensive end as well.”
One thing the Wolfpack will have to get used to in a hurry is all of a sudden having a deep bench to rely on. Last year, Costner, Grant and Ben McCauley were among the top seven players in the ACC in minutes play, all averaging more than 34 minutes a contest.
Now with heralded freshmen Hickson and Smith, along with sophomore Dennis Horner, fighting for minutes, Lowe is curious to see if his veterans will step up their games more rest or if the diminished playing time will affect their rhythm.
“We feel we do have guys who come off the bench and play well, with J.J.,
“We feel we can go to our bench now. The adjustment is for those players who played so much last year is to understand they may not play 38 minutes a game. They have to be ready to come back into the game after sitting for a few minutes.”
That was an issue for Costner, who scored the bulk of his points immediately after the opening tap. He scored only five points in the second half.
“I found myself sitting on the bench, getting cold and wondering if I should go get on [a stationary] bike before I came back in just so I could get loose,” Costner said. “It’s nice though come in and play as hard as you need to while you are out there and they will send in a sub when needed.”
The Wolfpack will play its second exhibition game on Tuesday at 7 p.m. against UNC-Pembroke. The game will be broadcast on the Wolfpack Radio Network and will be available to
The Wolfpack begins its regular season on Nov. 15 against William & Mary at 7 p.m. at the RBC Center.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
