North Carolina State University Athletics
Haynes: Big ACC Home Games Await Pack
1/12/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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After dropping back-to-back road games against quality competition, the NC State men’s basketball team will have an opportunity to return home for two ACC games this week.
Both teams are big and quick, and feature the type of athletic personnel that could pose some problems for the Pack. In Saturday’s 63-51 loss at
Most notably, Clemson’s shot-blockers made life miserable for NC State’s post players. Ben McCauley, Brandon Costner and Tracy Smith were a combined 5-of-19 from the field, with most of their misses coming in close. McCauley (four points) and Costner (nine), the Pack’s top two scorers, were held under double-figures as a tandem for the first time all season.
Clemson swatted away a total of eight shots, with Trevor Booker’s six blocks leading the way. Some shots were also altered, while others were missed simply because NC State’s players made an extra move or two inside in an attempt to avoid getting their shots blocked.
In other words, the shots in front of the rim that seemed so routine against inferior post players in November and December weren’t so automatic on Saturday.
“We told them that if you’re that close to the basket you’ve got to make your move and go,” NC State head coach Sidney Lowe said. “We were ball faking and pump faking when there was no one around, and then the shot-blockers came. That really hurt us early in the ballgame when we couldn’t score.”
Getting off to a dreadful start on the offensive end of the court, the Wolfpack missed 14 of its first 15 shots in
After averaging better than 50 percent shooting in its six previous games, the Pack hit only 31.5 percent from the field at Clemson, including 20.7 percent (6-of-29) in the first half.
Low shooting percentages aside, NC State biggest priority this week will be to take care of the basketball better. In those consecutive losses to
And if Lowe is looking for a singular culprit, he won’t find one. In both games, the turnovers came from a variety of positions, not just point guard.
But against
A 6-2 senior from
“He’s very quick, strong and smart,” Lowe said. “He knows how to prevent point guards from going where they want to go. If you have a guy who can control your front line of defense, that makes it a little easier for the guys behind him.”
Douglas has led
Douglas is the only
The game against the Seminoles kicks off a crucial week for an NC State team that hasn’t enjoyed that winning feeling since it knocked off
“It’s very important, especially with us now in conference play,” Lowe said. “You’ve got to get a win and get that feeling again and understand what it’s all about. You have to take care of home court. We’ve got to come out and play hard, which we’ve been doing, and play smart. Right now the only thing that’s hurting us is turnovers. If we take care of the basketball, we’d have a few more W’s in the win column. If we do that, we’ll be ok.”
Last year,
