North Carolina State University Athletics
MBB Hosts Winthrop Tuesday Night
12/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NC State Hosts Winthrop: NC State returns from its holiday break, when the Pack plays host to Winthrop Tuesday night at the RBC Center. The Pack begins a stretch of three games in six days this week, as NC State will travel to UNC Greensboro on Thursday and host Florida on Sunday. NC State has dropped its last two games, including a last second loss at Arizona on December 23, 76-74.
The game will be available on GoPack.com's Pack Pass.
The Series Versus Winthrop: Tuesday's game between the Wolfpack and the Eagles will be only the eighth meeting between the two schools. The Wolfpack leads the overall series 7-0, with all the wins coming on the Wolfpack's home court. Last season, the Pack and Winthrop met for the first time since the 1998-99 season, and NC State won 74-48.
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 82-10 (.891) record in such games. Under Coach Lowe, the Pack has posted a 26-4 (.867) 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 22 games against in-state non-conference foes at the RBC Center, and 24 of 25 overall at the RBC Center, only losing in the 2000-01 season to Charlotte.
Last Season Versus Winthrop: NC State built as much as a 21-point lead in first half and cruised to a 74-48 victory over Winthrop in its first appearance of the season at the RBC Center on November 25. Ben McCauley recorded his first double-double since the 2007 NIT, as he had team-highs of 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Pack committed just six turnovers, its lowest total in 91 games, and the defense held Winthrop to just 48 points and 28.6 percent (18-63) from the field.
Last Time Out for NC State: Arizona's Nic Wise drove the length of the court and hit a layup with under one second remaining, as Arizona held off a late NC State rally, 76-74, December 23 in Arizona. NC State was down eight points (69-61) with 53 seconds left, but eventually tied the score at 74-74 with six seconds left before Wise hit the gamewinner. The Pack played without leading scorer and rebounder Tracy Smith. Javier Gonzalez scored a team-high 18 points, with 16 coming in the second half and 10 points coming in the final 30.4 of the game. Jordan Vandenberg got the start for Smith, and pulled down a career-best 11 rebounds in 25 minutes.
Second Half Pack: Two times this year the Pack has comeback from double-digit deficits it has faced in the first half. On the season, NC State has outscored its opponents 413-366 in teh seconds half of play (37.5-33.3).
At Marquette on December 5, NC State overcame an 11-point halftime deficit as the Pack pulled out a 77-73 win. Down 35-25 at the break, NC State opened the second half on an 11-2 run, and used another 17-2 run midway through the half to take control. The Pack shot 71.4 percent (20-28) in that second half, and scored 52 points.
The Pack then avoided a home upset against Elon, pulling out a 79-76 win on December 17. Elon started the game on a 15-7 run, and was up by as many as 11 points at the 2:19 mark in the first half. Down 39-33 at the break, NC State opened the second half on a 7-0 run and captured its first lead since scoring the game's first basket 15 seconds in. The game would stay within five points in the second half, with 11 lead changes, until the Pack finally went up for good with 5:24 left.
NC State almost made it a third game at Arizona. NC State trailed 31-23 at the half back on December 23, and was down 69-61 with 53 seconds left. The Pack battled back to tie the score at 74-74 with six seconds left, but Arizona hit the gamewinning shot with less than a second to go. Javier Gonzalez led the charge with 16 second-half points, including the Pack's last 10 points in the final 30.4 seconds.
Gonzalez on Fire: Over the last two games, point guard Javier Gonzalez has been a scoring machine. Gonzalez has averaged 18.0 points at Wake Forest and at Arizona, shooting 54.2 percent (13-24) from the field, and 50.0 percent (5-10) from three-point range.
Even more impressive has been his play late in each contest, keeping the Pack within striking distance at Wake Forest and leading a second-half comeback at Arizona.
At Wake Forest, Gonzalez scored 11 straight points for the Pack in the second half, and 13 of the Pack's final 15 points in the game. At Arizona, Gonzalez had 16 second-half points, including the Pack's final 10 points all in the final 30.4 seconds of the game.
Over his last seven games played, Gonzalez has reached double figures in scoring six times and is averaging 13.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.9 assists.
