North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Game Two Is First For Lowe
2/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. – It’s a good thing NC State coach Sidney Lowe will be riding the team bus to Chapel Hill for Wednesday night’s ACC clash with North Carolina, otherwise he’d probably need to log on to Mapquest to get directions to the Smith Center. And even when he gets there on Wednesday, he’ll need someone to point him towards the locker room.
You see, Lowe has never set foot inside the Smith Center.
When Lowe was a point guard at NC State from 1979-83, UNC played its home games at steamy, cramped Carmichael Auditorium. It wasn’t until 1986 that the Tar Heels moved in the 21,000 seat facility that was named after former coach Dean Smith.
Either way, however, Lowe knows what type of atmosphere to expect for the 210th meeting between the Wolfpack (14-11, 4-8) and Tar Heels (23-4, 9-3).
“Carmichael was loud,” Lowe said. “I’m sure it’s going to be loud over there. Some of our guys know and some of the young guys don’t. I told them to just be prepared, block it out and try to concentrate on what we’re trying to do.”
No doubt the Heels and their fans have been gearing up for this NC State visit since suffering an 83-79 loss to the Pack in Raleigh less than three weeks ago.
The situation this time around is like déjà vu.
Back on February 3, NC State was coming off its best performance of the year that had produced a 70-59 victory on the road at Virginia Tech. The Wolfpack then kept it up, shooting 76 percent (13-of-17) in the second half to stun the Heels.
Now State gets Carolina again, immediately after finishing off an impressive sweep over the same Hokies who have knocked off UNC twice this season. Tar Heels’ coach Roy Williams was among the television viewers who watched the Pack shoot 66.7 percent in Sunday’s 81-56 thrashing of Virginia Tech.
“I thought they were fantastic in kicking us pretty good and then turnaround [on Sunday] they were really something,” said Williams, who had posted six straight wins over NC State before his team’s setback earlier this month. “They were scary, there’s no question about that.”
For a team that has been hovering near the bottom of the ACC standings most of the year, NC State has had more than its share of “scary” performances this season. The two wins over Virginia Tech and the triumph over UNC certainly top the list.
At its best, the Wolfpack executes on offense, gets good shots and makes a high percentage of those shots from the floor. And it’s no accident why Carolina and State have ranked 1-2 in the ACC in field goal percentage most of the season. Both teams prefer to pound the ball inside first before working it back out for 3-point shots.
The Tar Heels are the only team in the league hitting better than 50 percent of their shots for the season (50.4 percent), while the Wolfpack is right behind at 49.5 percent. Brandan Wright, a freshman forward for the Tar Heels, is shooting 65.3 percent to lead the ACC. Next in line is NC State’s Ben McCauley at 60.1 percent.
Also on Carolina’s frontline is preseason ACC Player of the Year candidate Tyler Hansbrough, the league’s third leading scorer (18.5 ppg.). Redshirt Brandon Costner, who leads all ACC freshmen in scoring (16.1) and rebounding (7.9), also gives the Pack some punch inside.
Still, NC State needed some unusually accurate 3-point shooting in the first meeting with the Tar Heels to win by four. The Wolfpack was 8-of-15 from the arc, and got four 3s from guard Courtney Fells, who finished with a team-high 21 points.
“I don’t like a guy to take a three if he can step inside and take a two,” Lowe said. “Closer is better to me. Shooters aren’t guys that take shots; shooters are guys that make shots. That’s my philosophy. If you can take the two, take the two instead of the three.”
North Carolina, which ranks second only to Maryland in field goal percentage defense, had a tough time stopping State both inside and outside on February 3. In the second half, the Wolfpack made 13 of 17 shots and converted on 60.5 percent for the game. It was those numbers, including the Pack’s 31-25 advantage on the boards, that helped NC State overcome 22 turnovers. Additionally, UNC’s vaunted bench only mustered six points in game one.
“We’ve got to try to do what we do and try to do that better than we did at their place,” Williams said. “If they come out and shoot 80 percent, they’re going to be tough for anybody to handle. We’ve got to hope they miss some of those shots and we’ve got to hope that we make some of those shots. Hopefully, we can do a better job defensively because at their place, we gave them so many open shots. We’ve got to get all five of our guys moving defensively and being aware of the big picture of what they’re trying to do.”
When the Wolfpack shot 76 percent in the second half of game one, it marked the first time in Williams’ four years at UNC that an opponent has made better than 70 percent of its shots in a half.
Wednesday’s game is critical for both teams, but for far different reasons. With one more win, the Pack can clinch no worse than a .500 record, meaning that –at worst – it would be eligible for the NIT after the ACC Tournament. North Carolina, meanwhile, is currently tied for first place with Virginia in the ACC standings. The Tar Heels are also very much in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
A win on Wednesday would give the Wolfpack its first regular season sweep over the Tar Heels since 2002-03.
“Obviously, that would be great,” said Lowe, who never achieved a regular season sweep over North Carolina in his four years as a player. “Anytime these two teams get together it’s a good game. It’s a good game that both teams want to win. If we’re fortunate to come out and play well enough to win, that would be huge to beat them twice in one year. It would be a great accomplishment.”
A far greater accomplishment than actually finding the Smith Center.
More Pack Points: Not only does Costner lead all ACC rookies in scoring and rebounding, his seven double-doubles this season rank second only to the nine that have been posted by Boston College’s Jared Dudley. …By hitting 66.7 percent of its shots against Virginia Tech, NC State posted its highest shooting percentage in an ACC game since knocking down 76 percent against Maryland in 1982. Lowe was the Pack’s point guard in that game….This will mark the second meeting between North Carolina and NC State in 18 days. And while that’s indeed a quick turnaround, it can’t match what happened when the two rivals played on back-to-back days in 1991. With their January game that year postponed because it was scheduled on the same day that the gulf war broke out, the two clubs agreed to go back-to-back on February 6 and 7. State won at home before Carolina bounced back with a victory the very next night at the Smith Center.
