North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Silver Linings
3/7/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TONY HAYNES
Yes, the team that was picked to finish third in the ACC needs a win on the road just to have a chance of avoiding the league basement and the No. 12 seeding in next week’s ACC Tournament in
Under those circumstances, only the most optimistic Pack followers amongst us could pluck any silver linings from a season that, in retrospect, started showing signs of going south on the night NC State lost a home game to New Orleans way back on November 18.
Yet, even in the midst of a second half nosedive that has sent the Wolfpack crashing towards the bottom of the ACC standings, there have indeed been signs of hope for the future. Earlier in the season, who really thought it possible that freshmen Javier Gonzalez and Tracy Smith would have been good enough to not only crack the starting line-up against Duke, but also be a thorn in the side of the nationally ranked Blue Devils?
But there they were last weekend, a pair of rookies combining for 32 points and deadly 10-of-12 field goal shooting against Duke’s vaunted man-to-man pressure. And Trevor Ferguson, at times nothing more than an afterthought during long stretches of the season, has sent a message that he may indeed be a big factor in the Wolfpack backcourt in 2008-09.
A redshirt sophomore,
“He’s been huge for us,” Lowe said on Friday. “When I talk about Trevor, I talk about his knowledge of the game. He understands the small things like how to get open and understands his position in terms of where to get his shots. To his credit, he’s been in the gym. He’s in there before practice shooting. He’s in there after practice shooting. I’m happy for him that the extra work he’s been putting in has been paying off.”
Observers of NC State’s practices have seen
“Transitioning from practice into the game is definitely about getting a comfort level,”
Gonzales certainly didn’t look very comfortable back in early January when he was asked to come off the bench and play point guard in NC State’s first two ACC games. Both were on the road and both were against nationally ranked opponents. To make matters worse,
Duke found out last Saturday when the 6-0 native of
“For Javier to play as well as he did against a team like that and the pressure was remarkable,” Lowe said. “I think he grew a great deal. Is he where he’s going to be? Probably not. We still might see a slip here and there. But I think he now knows that he’s capable of playing against teams like that and playing in this conference and doing well.”
Gonzalez was forced into carrying more of a load than expected when starting point guard Farnold Degand went down with a season-ending knee injury back in December. The path for Smith has been less pressurized. Smith, a 6-7 forward, figured to have very little impact this season primarily because of the players in front of him. Returning were established ACC veterans Ben McCauley and Brandon Costner. And center J.J. Hickson made it very clear early on that he would also be occupying a lot of minutes in the frontcourt.
Back in October, Smith was a raw, undersized post player without a jump shot who had much to learn about playing college basketball, especially on the defensive end of the floor. He has learned and done so very well. Smith is a much better basketball player now than he was when he first joined the program six months ago. That improvement earned him his first career start against Duke last weekend.
“He’s come a long way,” said Lowe. “Earlier, he was learning rotations, concepts, strategies and things like that. It was a little different than what he was used to. It was an adjustment period for him. I never concerned myself with his offense because he can certainly score. I was more concerned about the defensive end. We could see each week that he was getting better in practice. Then we decided to give him an opportunity because we thought he was ready to go. He’s now at the point where he can start for us.”
Coaches see the subtle improvements Smith has made in reading defensive rotations from the post or helping on ball screens on the perimeter. Then there are the more obvious strides he has made. For instance, at one point this season he was just 6-of-18 from the free throw line. But after making all six of his charity tosses against Duke, Smith has knocked down 15 of his last 16 free throws, including 11 in a row.
Speaking of 11 in a row, NC State and
“They’re going to be jacked up and we have to be ready to play in that environment,” Lowe said. “We have to be smart in controlling the tempo of the game, but we also have to play with that aggressiveness that we’re capable of playing with.”
Both teams were aggressive back in the first meeting on February 3, a game that ended with Ben McCauley’s dramatic tip-dunk just before the horn that have NC State a 67-65 victory over the Deacons.
Since then, there have been few silver linings for the Pack. But those few are worth recognizing.
