Haynes: Pack Back on the Road in ACC

BY TONY HAYNES

Raleigh, N.C. In the end, NC State will be just like the other 11 men’s basketball teams in the ACC. The Wolfpack will play eight league games at home and eight on the road.

But as fate would have it, however, when the Pack (9-3) opens its 2009 ACC campaign with a testy match-up at No.12/11 Clemson on Saturday at noon, coach Sidney Lowe’s team will, for the third straight year, tip-off its conference slate on the road.

“We’re going to have to talk to someone about that,” Lowe joked earlier this week. “They say it’s done in a computer.”

And the last time that happened you asked? Well, let’s put it this way: Dwight Eisenhower was passing the presidency over to John F. Kennedy the last time NC State started league play on the road three straight years.

More precisely, between 1960 and 1962.

In Lowe’s first season on the job in December of 2006, the Wolfpack played its first ACC game at Virginia. Twelve months ago, the Pack traveled to North Carolina and then Clemson to start things.

When the computer’ spit out this year’s ACC schedule, it had NC State raising the curtain in hostile territory once again.

And in this case, hostile’ may be putting it mildly.

A trip to Death Valley’ has never been a walk in the park, and this year, the assignment looks doubly difficult because of the team that calls Littlejohn Coliseum home.

Sure, the Tigers have gotten off to great starts before, but this season’s 15-0 mark looks more impressive. Already, coach Oliver Purnell’s sixth Clemson team has racked up respectable road wins at Charlotte, Illinois, Miami and South Carolina. And earlier this week, the Tigers stayed in control most of the way in a 66-59 triumph over a solid Alabama team.

In other words, this quick Clemson start hasn’t been built on an early feeding frenzy against college cupcakes.

On Saturday, NC State can expect 40 minutes of trapping fullcourt pressure from a team that forces an average of 18 turnovers per game.

“That pressing and running generates energy for them,” Lowe said. “Coach Purnell recruits athletic, long players to play that style. They get those steals, run down and finish on the other end. Also, they press you because they lead the league in blocked shots. If you get by their press, you still have to contend with those bigs back there protecting the basket.”

Based on last week’s second half performance at Florida, NC State will be in for a long day at Clemson if it doesn’t improve its ability to protect the basketball against fullcourt pressure. Despite leading by 10 at the break and shooting 66 percent in the second half, the Wolfpack fell to the Gators by two after giving up 16 points on 12 second half turnovers. Florida was a good pressing team, but Clemson is much better, more athletic and certainly deeper.

“I think having back-to-back games against pressing teams like that should help us,” said Lowe. “I think after watching the [Florida] film, the guys know they just have to keep it simple and do the little things. Watching the film helped us. Although it’s a different kind of trap [with Clemson], the concept of how to play the game is the same.”

Clemson is led by versatile swingman K.C. Rivers, a veteran who has gotten better and better every year of his career. The 6-5 senior from Charlotte averages 15 points and six rebounds per game. Averaging nearly 15 points and 10 rebounds per contest, burly center Trevor Booker has become more of an offensive threat in the paint, while deadly guard Terrence Oglesby is burying 42 percent of his 3-point shots.

On the defensive end of the court, the Tigers will have their eye on Brandon Costner. NC State’s 6-9 redshirt junior has been on a tremendous roll, averaging 18 points and 60 percent shooting over his last six games.

After being sidelined for three games because of a broken bone in his non-shooting hand, two guard Trevor Ferguson is expected to be available on Saturday. If Ferguson can return, Courtney Fells can return to small forward, the position at which he started the season.

“It’s important to get Courtney back at the three,’” Lowe said. “It puts him back in that position where he’s more comfortable with the guys that are guarding him. He’s got a quickness advantage and they have to guard him coming off of screens. It also gives us the opportunity to have those shooters in there with Courtney and Trevor.”

The Tigers have won the last three games in the series, including a season sweep last year.

North Carolina State University Athletics

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