North Carolina State University Athletics
Haynes: Pack Hopes Trend Continues Against Hokies
2/6/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BY TONY HAYNES
Raleigh, N.C. Given the fact that it’s quite rare for most ACC teams to run off lengthy winning streaks against other teams in the league, NC State coach Sidney Lowe is at a loss to explain why the Wolfpack (12-8, 2-5) has defeated Virginia Tech (14-7, 4-3) six straight times.
He just hopes the trend continues when the two clubs meet Sunday afternoon in
“I hope it’s one of those things where certain teams just match-up well with other teams,” Lowe said on Friday. “In the past, I think we’ve just matched up well with them. They’re a little different this year and they’ve got a big three who can really score some points. We’re just going to come out and play as hard as we can. Hopefully, we can get a win.”
Virginia Tech’s Big three’ Lowe alluded two are point guard Malcolm Delaney, shooting guard A.D. Vassallo and forward Jeff Allen, a trio that has combined to score better than 71 percent of Tech’s points through 21 games. In a recent loss to
Vassalo, a 6-6 senior, is the only Hokie starter who has been around long enough to feel the pain caused by repeated losses to the Wolfpack. Delaney and Allen were freshmen last season when NC State downed Tech in
The Pack’s winning streak against the Hokies actually started during Herb Sendek’s coaching tenure in
NC State’s own Big Three’ Courtney Fells (11 ppg.), Brandon Costner (10.7) and Ben McCauley (10.8) -- are all averaging double-figure points in their careers against the Hokies. In five career games, Fells has hit 60.6 percent of his shots (20-of-33), including 7-of-15 from 3-point range. McCauley is a 63 percent shooter (22-of-35) in games against Virginia Tech.
“They’ve played well against them,” Lowe said. “But this is this year and I’m sure they’ve watched film and will probably do some different things against us.”
Although sophomore forward/center Tracy Smith missed Thursday’s practice because of a sore right knee, Lowe hinted on Friday that he’d likely go back to his big line-up with Smith joining McCauley and Costner on the frontline for Sunday’s game. In the 87-59 victory over North Carolina Central on Tuesday, guard Trevor Ferguson started instead of Smith to give the Pack more defensive flexibility against the smaller Eagles.
Under normal circumstances, a lopsided victory over an outmanned non-conference opponent in early February doesn’t produce a lot of question marks, but following the North Carolina Central game, it appears that NC State may be back to square one at the point guard position.
After putting together fairly solid games against
Meanwhile, after not seeing any action in the Pack’s three previous games, sophomore Javier Gonzalez re-emerged on Tuesday, scoring five points and dishing out five assists in 15 minutes.
That performance combined with his standout play in practice in recent weeks could put Gonzalez back in the point guard mix along with Degand and freshman Julius Mays.
“As someone put it the other day, it’s a three-headed monster,’” Lowe said with a noticeable chuckle. “We just haven’t had one guy step forward and dominate the position. They’re all three capable of stepping up and bringing something to the table every given night, but we haven’t had that one to be consistent throughout and dominate to where he’s the starter. It’s a tough thing to do, but just game to game you’re trying to see who’s playing well. We talked about how well Javier has been playing in practice and it translated into the ballgame. The same things he had been doing in practice he did in that Central game.”
All of NC State’s point guards will have their hands full trying to deal with the fast-improving Delaney on Sunday. A 6-3 sophomore from
“He’s a very good basketball player,” Lowe said. “He’s a difference maker in terms of applying pressure on you as he’s pushing it and he can pull up and shoot the three or go to the basket. We have to be solid on him and hopefully not allow him to both shoot over us and get to the basket at the same time.”
Both Tech and NC State will be reaching the halfway point of their respective ACC schedules on Sunday. For the Wolfpack, the contest will also begin a tough stretch of four road trips in six games.
“Just one at a time,” Lowe said. “There are certain things we’ll need to do well. We’re really going to need our three key guys (Fells, Costner and McCauley) to play well for us. Our defense is also going to be key for us because we’re going to be playing teams that can really score.”
Fells has been on quite a roll of late, hitting 13-of-22 shot from 3-point range and averaging 20 points over the Wolfpack’s last three games.
