North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Home Sweet Home For Pack
12/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TONY HAYNES
It only seems that way.
By the time the ball goes up on Saturday afternoon, 26 days will have passed since the Wolfpack last appeared in its home arena.
Since that November 18th contest against
After capturing the Old Spice Classic title in
“It’s difficult when you have that much time off in between games,” said second-year Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe, who inherited some of the non-conference games that were scheduled prior to his arrival. “Guys get tired of playing against each other and at times you can wear yourself out. You’d rather be in competition. The schedule is what it is and we just have to move forward with it. I don’t want to make excuses or complain, but in the future we’ll have more control over that. Having said that, we still need to play the games. Now we’re home, in front of our fans and hopefully we can come out now and get us a nice roll going.”
Practices during exam week have been short, but intense.
Quoting assistant coach Pete Strickland, Lowe said “I told the guys that we’re not going to go long, but we’re going strong. The guys have done that. Our last two practices were pretty good and pretty aggressive. We should be ready to play based on the way we’ve been practicing.”
Throughout the early stages of the season, perimeter shooting and defensive rebounding have been the two areas that have concerned Lowe the most. Practices the last two weeks have been dominated by rebounding drills designed to get players in the habit of boxing out first before pursuing the ball off the rim.
For the first 30 minutes last weekend at
“We were turning to go get the ball as opposed to finding a body first,” Lowe said. “We work on those things. It’s that mindset that it’s late in the ballgame, you’re a little fatigued, the shot goes up and you’ve got to stay focused on the principles of find that guy and then go get the ball. Occasionally when you’re put in a pressure situation, everyone, not just athletes, reverts back to their comfort zone. For some guys their comfort zone is to just go get it instead of staying out there and boxing out. I think we’re doing a better job of it. Effort hasn’t been a concern; it’s been technique for me.”
As J.J. Hickson has continued to put up big numbers in the post, opposing defenses have started to make the powerful 6-9 freshman a target for double and triple teams. Even when he doesn’t have the ball in the low block, Hickson usually has an extra defender shading towards him to make the entry pass a little tougher. In his 15-point, eight rebound effort at ECU, Hickson had only six shot attempts from the floor.
Such a defensive strategy would normally be an outside shooters dream, but thus far, the guys NC State relies upon to knock down shots from the outside have been off the mark. As a team the Wolfpack is shooting just 31 percent from the 3-point arc, a figure that ranks 11th in the 12 team ACC.
In the losses to Michigan State and East Carolina, forward Brandon Costner and guard Courtney Fells were a combined 2-of-16 from 3-point range and just 7-of-35 overall.
Last season, Costner emerged as one of the ACC’s most feared and versatile frontline scorers, shooting an impressive 38 percent from long range. Lowe figures it’s just a matter of time before Costner and Fells get it going again.
“I’ve told [Costner] to just take good shots,” Lowe said. “Try to get some easy baskets first to get you going again. Don’t compound the mistake by taking 3-point shots four feet behind the line. Get you some easy ones and work your way back into it. He’s got to look at the rim and can’t be afraid to shoot it. He’s got to step up there and be ready to knock it down. I think he’ll come out of it and it’s just a matter of time.”
Seven games into the season a year ago, the Wolfpack played five of its first seven games at home and went 5-2. Through seven games this year, NC State is 4-3 with only two homes games to this point. Obviously, the slow start has been greeted with more disappointment and frustration primarily because this Wolfpack team was showered with higher preseason expectations than last year’s edition.
The Pack has six games and about three weeks to get its act together before the ACC opener at
“The expectations were put on us by other people,” said Lowe. “Our expectations are to go out and play as hard as we can. Having said that, you like for other people to put you up there. We’ve only lost one more game than we did at this time last year, so it’s interesting that there’s a panic button being pushed by people this early in the season. We certainly can’t push the panic button. We don’t play 82 games like the NBA, but where we are right now in our season there’s still a lot of time left for us to do something good and I think we’ll get there.”
Hickson is averaging 18 points and 8.2 rebounds per game to lead NC State in both categories. Senior Gavin Grant tallies 12.3 points per contest and Costner 10.0.
