North Carolina State University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hosts Elon Thursday Night
12/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NC State Hosts Elon: NC State begins a stretch of three games in seven days, when the Pack plays host to Elon Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at the RBC Center. NC State has jumped out to a 7-1 start on the season, and the Elon game is the Pack's final tuneup before ACC play begins this weekend at Wake Forest.
The Elon game will be available on GoPack.com's Pack Pass.
The Series Versus Elon: NC State will be facing Elon for only the second time since the 1926-27 season. The Pack hosted Elon in the second game of the 2004-05 season, as NC State came away with a 71-45 win in the BCA Invitational.
In the overall series, NC State leads 19-8. Prior to that 2004-05 meeting, NC State and Elon faced off 26 times from the 1913-14 season to the 1926-27 season.
Former Pack Point Guard on Opposite Sideline: NC State will be facing a familiar face on the Elon bench Thursday night, as Justin Gainey is in his first season as an assistant coach with Elon.
Gainey was a four-year starter at point guard for the Pack from 1997-2000. After playing professionally, Gainey served three years on the Wolfpack coaching staff under Coach Lowe, including last season as the Director of Operations.
Last Time Out for NC State: NC State returned to Reynolds Coliseum, and easily defeated Georgia Southern, 75-57, Saturday afternoon. The Pack was red-hot from the field all game, as the Pack shot 64.7 percent (33-51), including 73.1 percent (19-26) in the second half. NC State also dished out a season-best 23 assists on its 33 made field goals. Dennis Horner set or tied new career-highs in three categories, as he finished with 16 points, on 7-of-8 shooting, and had nine rebounds and six assists. Tracy Smith was 10-of-12 from the field for a game-high 21 points, while Julius Mays got the start at point guard and had 11 points.
RBC Center Dominance Against Non-Conference Foes: NC State's home court has not been welcoming to non-conference opponents since the RBC Center opened for the 1999-2000 season, as the Pack has posted an 81-10 (.890) record in such games. Under Coach Lowe, the Pack has posted a 25-4 (.862) mark against non-conference opponents at home, losing only to No. 10 Alabama in 2007, New Orleans in 2008, a last second defeat to Marquette last season, and Northwestern this year.
NC State has been even more impressive at home against against non-conference opponents from the state of North Carolina. The Wolfpack has won the last 21 games against in-state non-conference foes at the RBC Center, and 23 of 24 overall at the RBC Center, only losing in the 2000-01 season to Charlotte.
Change to the Starters: NC State started only its second different starting lineup of the season in the last game against Georgia Southern. In the first seven games of the season NC State had the same starting five, but was forced to change it up when sophomore Julius Mays started at point guard for the injured Javier Gonzalez.
The other four positions have had the same starters in the first eight games of the season. Sophomore C.J. Williams has been the starter at shooting guard, freshman Scott Wood at small forward, senior Dennis Horner at power forward, and junior Tracy Smith at center.
Gonzalez Misses Time: Junior point guard Javier Gonzalez had started the first seven games of the season at point guard, and 17 straight going back to last season, but missed his first game of the season against Georgia Southern last weekend. Gonzalez suffered a hamstring injury in the first half at Marquette, but returned to score 12 second half points in the Pack's comeback win.
Gonzalez has not returned to practice, and is questionable against Elon.
Smith Leads Charge: It is no secret that a large protion of the NC State offense revolves around forward Tracy Smith. On most offensive possessions, the junior will get his hands on the ball in the low post. With the added attention this year, Smith worked on passing out of the double team for most of the offseason.
At the end of last season, Smith was perhaps the Pack's top offensive weapon. He started 12 of the final 13 games, and averaged 12.2 points in those starts. On the season overall, he increased his scoring average 6.7 points from his freshman season, the third highest increase in the ACC during last season.
Eight games into the 2009-10 season, Smith is leading the offensive charge once again. Smith has recorded four double-doubles in the Pack's first eight games, and was named MVP of the Glenn Wilkes Classic leading NC State to a perfect 4-0 record in the event. He averaged 15.3 points and 11.0 rebounds in the four games.
Smith's biggest impact this year so far was against Auburn in the final game of the Glenn Wilkes Classic. It was Smith's put-back with just 1.3 seconds left that gave the Pack the 60-58 win. Also in that game, Smith pulled down a career-best 15 boards, seven offensive, and also scored 11 points.
Smith also helped the Pack come back from an 11-point halftime deficit at Marquette to gain the road win. Held to just two points in the first half, Smith went 8-of-10 from the field in the second half and scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half.
Smith been the Pack's high scorer and rebounder in seven of the eight games. For the season, Smith leads the Pack in both scoring (18.0) and rebounding (9.6). In the ACC rankings, he is second in scoring, third in reboudning, and ninth in field goal percentage (.553)
Over the last four games, Smith has averaged 20.8 points while shooting 69.2 percent (36-52) from the floor.
Smith Sees Double: Tracy Smith has recorded a double-double in four of the first eight games of the year. That mark is currently tied for first in the ACC.
Smith now has six double-doubles during his career, and the Pack is a perfect 6-0 in those contests.
Defense Doing the Job: NC State's defense had been leading the charge to the Pack's 7-1 start to the season. NC State currently ranks third the ACC in scoring defense, giving up 57.8 points a game. Only two oppenents have scored over 60 points (Northwestern 65, Marquette 73), and the Pack held Akron to just 45 points at the Glenn Wilkes Classic.
On the other side of things, the Pack's offense has scored over 70 points just twice in the first eight games. NC State currently ranks last in the ACC in scoring offense at 66.9 points a game.
Horner the Leader: Senior Dennis Horner is the most experienced Pack player, as he is the only member of the 2009-10 squad to be in his fourth season at NC State. Horner, who signed with Herb Sendek but kept to his committment after the coaching change, came into his final season having seen action in 92 career games.
Eight games into his senior season, Horner is proving to be one of the Pack's leaders. He is second on the team averaging 14.0 points a contest, connecting on 58.8 percent (40-68) of his shots and 56.3 percent (9-16) from three-point range.
Racking Up the Assists: Junior Javier Gonzalez is the Pack's top playmaker when he is on the court. Gonzalez is currently second in the ACC in assists, dishing out 6.6 per game. His season total of 46 thus far is nearly triple any other Pack player (Julius Mays - 16).
Already this season, Gonzalez has dished out eight assists in three different games.
Gonzalez also currently ranks third on the Pack with his 10.4 points per game, and has pulled down 4.6 rebounds an outing as well.
Over his last four games played, Gonzalez has reached double figures in scoring each time and is averaging 12.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 6.8 assists.
Davis Making an Impact: Freshman forward Josh Davis might not have been known to many Wolfpack fans when he was a late signee this past spring, but his impact on the court is making him a well known factor for NC State.
The local prduct from Athens Drive High School has come off the bench in each of the first eight games, seeing action at small forward.
Davis has averaged 10.8 minutes a game, and has been productive especially grabbing offensive rebounds. In fact, 12 of his 20 rebounds this season have come on the offensive end, and he is second on the Pack in offensive boards.
Davis' best game to date came at Marquette, as he posted career-bests of nine points and six boards in 16 minutes of action. He also held Marquette's star forward Lazar Hayward to 2-of-6 shooting and forced him into five turnovers in the second half of the Pack's win.
He followed the Marquette game with a season-best 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting against Georgia Southern. Over the last two games, Davis has averaged 9.5 points and 5.0 rebounds while going 8-of-11 from the field.
