North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Pack Basketball Ready to Resume
11/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. The leftovers are gone, and the Thanksgiving naps are over.
Now, Sidney Lowe and his NC State men’s basketball team can get back to work on the 2008-09 season. After three pre-holiday games, the Wolfpack (3-0 overall) took two days off following Tuesday night’s 74-48 thumping of Winthrop at the RBC Center, to allow players, coaches and staff to spend Thanksgiving Day with their families.
The team returned to practice Friday afternoon, to begin preparations for Sunday’s 2 p.m. contest against UNC Greensboro at the RBC Center. The game is not televised, but will be available on ACC Select. Tickets to the game are $15 and available from the GoPack.com Ticket Center.
The players relished the opportunity to have a few days to spend with family and still have two days of intense practice prior to Sunday’s game.
“We can begin refocusing on Friday, after a couple days off,” said senior center Ben McCauley, who now leads the Wolfpack at 14.7 points per game and is second at 7.3 rebounds per game. “You can’t take steps back, because as soon as you do, you will have a team sneak up and take a win from you.
“We will be set to go on Sunday.”
That’s was the idea, Lowe said, when the schedule was set back in August, for having a Sunday afternoon contest on this weekend.
“It’s good for everyone, especially for the players, to get away from it all and get with family, have dinner,” Lowe said. “It still leaves us time to prepare for that ball game. We tried to work it out as best we could to give the guys a couple of days off.”
Lowe has been pleased with his team’s play so far this season, especially in the post. Not only is McCauley leading the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game, he is also second in rebounding at 7.3 per game.
“The only thing I really expect from our players is to play hard and play smart,” Lowe said of McCauley. “Ben has been doing that. His mind has been focused on playing the right way and playing hard. As a result, he has been playing well. He’s very focused on what he is doing.
“His mind is on nothing else other than helping his team win.”
Sophomore Tracy Smith is also performing well, coming off the bench to average 7.7 points and 3.3 boards a game.
That’s a total of 22.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game from the post position, to go along with scoring from upperclassmen Courtney Fells (14.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and Brandon Costner (13.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg).
But defense has been the key, with the Wolfpack allowing an ACC-low 53.3 points per game. No team has scored more than 60 points against NC State this season, improving Lowes record in his three years as head coach to 14-0 when holding an opponent to less than 60 points.
The Pack has gotten steady play from sophomore point guard Javi Gonzalez, who has averaged 3.0 points, rebounds and assists in his team’s first three games. Gonzalez stepped in to replace starting junior Farnold Degand in the season’s second game after Degand began suffering from tendinitis in his knee.
Degand has returned to practice, but likely won’t return to the lineup before next Saturday’s game against Davidson in Charlotte.
But the Pack, under Gonzalez’s guidance, had just six turnovers against Winthrop, the lowest total in 91 games.
Defense also played a big role in that game, with the Pack jumping out to a big lead and holding the Eagles to just 28.6 percent from the field.
The key now is to keep up the intensity, even after
“We have to stay with it,” Fells said. “We know what we want to do. We want to be 4-0 after Sunday.”
Sunday’s game will be the sixth meeting with UNC Greensboro. The Wolfpack has won all five previous contests in the series.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
RALEIGH, N.C. The leftovers are gone, and the Thanksgiving naps are over.
Now, Sidney Lowe and his NC State men’s basketball team can get back to work on the 2008-09 season. After three pre-holiday games, the Wolfpack (3-0 overall) took two days off following Tuesday night’s 74-48 thumping of Winthrop at the RBC Center, to allow players, coaches and staff to spend Thanksgiving Day with their families.
The team returned to practice Friday afternoon, to begin preparations for Sunday’s 2 p.m. contest against UNC Greensboro at the RBC Center. The game is not televised, but will be available on ACC Select. Tickets to the game are $15 and available from the GoPack.com Ticket Center.
The players relished the opportunity to have a few days to spend with family and still have two days of intense practice prior to Sunday’s game.
“We can begin refocusing on Friday, after a couple days off,” said senior center Ben McCauley, who now leads the Wolfpack at 14.7 points per game and is second at 7.3 rebounds per game. “You can’t take steps back, because as soon as you do, you will have a team sneak up and take a win from you.
“We will be set to go on Sunday.”
That’s was the idea, Lowe said, when the schedule was set back in August, for having a Sunday afternoon contest on this weekend.
“It’s good for everyone, especially for the players, to get away from it all and get with family, have dinner,” Lowe said. “It still leaves us time to prepare for that ball game. We tried to work it out as best we could to give the guys a couple of days off.”
Lowe has been pleased with his team’s play so far this season, especially in the post. Not only is McCauley leading the team in scoring at 14.7 points per game, he is also second in rebounding at 7.3 per game.
“The only thing I really expect from our players is to play hard and play smart,” Lowe said of McCauley. “Ben has been doing that. His mind has been focused on playing the right way and playing hard. As a result, he has been playing well. He’s very focused on what he is doing.
“His mind is on nothing else other than helping his team win.”
Sophomore Tracy Smith is also performing well, coming off the bench to average 7.7 points and 3.3 boards a game.
That’s a total of 22.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game from the post position, to go along with scoring from upperclassmen Courtney Fells (14.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and Brandon Costner (13.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg).
But defense has been the key, with the Wolfpack allowing an ACC-low 53.3 points per game. No team has scored more than 60 points against NC State this season, improving Lowes record in his three years as head coach to 14-0 when holding an opponent to less than 60 points.
The Pack has gotten steady play from sophomore point guard Javi Gonzalez, who has averaged 3.0 points, rebounds and assists in his team’s first three games. Gonzalez stepped in to replace starting junior Farnold Degand in the season’s second game after Degand began suffering from tendinitis in his knee.
Degand has returned to practice, but likely won’t return to the lineup before next Saturday’s game against Davidson in Charlotte.
But the Pack, under Gonzalez’s guidance, had just six turnovers against Winthrop, the lowest total in 91 games.
Defense also played a big role in that game, with the Pack jumping out to a big lead and holding the Eagles to just 28.6 percent from the field.
The key now is to keep up the intensity, even after
“We have to stay with it,” Fells said. “We know what we want to do. We want to be 4-0 after Sunday.”
Sunday’s game will be the sixth meeting with UNC Greensboro. The Wolfpack has won all five previous contests in the series.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
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