North Carolina State University Athletics
HAYNES: Pack Hopes Wood Stays Hot Vs. Clemson
1/15/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State men's basketball coach Sidney Lowe claims a little divine intervention may have been involved in the Wolfpack's recruitment of Scott Wood. A few years ago, Lowe and assistant coach Monte Towe were on a flight back to Raleigh from a summer recruiting trip to Las Vegas.
That's when fate stepped in.
"It just so happens that there was this gentleman who was sitting next to coach Towe and recognized Monte because he's from Indiana," Lowe recalled. "He said, 'you need to see my nephew; he's won all kinds of 3-point shooting contests.' The guy said the name and Monte knew the name. We started talking, went and saw him and that was it. That's how it started."
And the rest they say is history.
As it turns out, Towe and the Pack had just begun to show an interest in Wood's high school teammate at Merion High in Indiana, point guard Julius Mays. And because Wood wasn't involved in the AAU circuit, he was, at that point, flying under the recruiting radar.
It took very little time for Wood, a 6-7 freshman forward, to put his name in the NC State record books. His 31 points in Tuesday night's 88-81 victory at Florida State were the third most points ever scored in a game by a Wolfpack freshman.
Ironically, Lowe has witnessed all of the freshman records. He was the starting point guard in 1983 when Ernie Myers erupted for 35 points against Duke. Lowe was on the sidelines when J.J. Hickson tallied 33 against Western Carolina in 2007, and put up 31 against William & Mary that same year.
Wood's outburst included 7-of-11 shooting from 3-point range against the defensive-minded Seminoles, who lead the ACC in field goal percentage defense.
Wood was so hot on Tuesday that Lowe was drawing up new plays during timeouts in an effort to get the freshman even more open shots.
"In my years here, we've not had anyone [hot] like that," Lowe said. "I'd have to go back to the NBA for a game like that. Chauncey Billups got on a roll one time and Mike Bibby got on a roll. We haven't had that here since I've been here."
Perhaps Wood was adjusting to the college game when he went through a shooting slump earlier in the season. During one five-game stretch, he missed 16-of-18 shots from the arc. But over his last eight games, Wood has settled down, averaging 12.8 points on 26-of-54 (48.1%) from the 3-point line. Along with drilling those seven 3s against FSU, Wood also hit five shots from long-range at UNC Greensboro on New Year's Eve and added four against Florida three days later.
Shooters tend to be stereotyped as one-dimensional players, but Wood is proving he just may be an exception to the rule. His defense and overall basketball IQ have been such an asset that he currently has played more total minutes (501) than any other Wolfpack player.
"He's one of our best defenders on the perimeter when it comes to knowing what the opponent wants to do," Lowe said. "We've put Scott on the best perimeter players all year, whether they were a two or a three."
Chasing Deividas Dulkys off of screens on Tuesday night, Wood was mostly responsible for holding the Florida State sharpshooter to just one field goal on only three shots in Tallahassee. Dulkys' only 3-pointer in the game came in transition midway through the second half. Otherwise, he got nothing out of Florida State's halfcourt sets.
"He's as poised and as calm as any freshman I've seen," Lowe said of Wood. "He's just calm and doesn't panic. Not that he won't make a mistake or a turnover or something, but he's always reading. His decisions are always calculated; he's always thinking. That's different."
Wood and his teammates will need all the calmness and poise they can muster when the fullcourt pressing Clemson Tigers (14-3, 2-1) come to town for a noon tip at the RBC Center on Saturday. In an 83-64 romp over North Carolina on Wednesday, the 19th ranked Tigers forced 26 turnovers. Employing a few different zone presses to go along with a man-to-man press, Clemson is forcing better than 19 turnovers and averages 11 steals per game.
In an effort to simulate the relentless Clemson pressure, Lowe had six defenders on the floor during practices on Thursday and Friday.
"They apply great pressure," Lowe said. "They do a great job of speeding up the game and they force their opponents to speed up. Some teams can't play that way. I told our guys that when the game speeds up, it's really your mind that's speeding up. They get you going at a certain pace, so your mind speeds up and you do everything fast. While they're going at one pace, we need to be going at a different pace, a slower pace. While they're speeding up our minds, we have to slow our minds down."
The Tigers are led by senior big man Trevor Booker, who averages 15.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Vastly improved over last year, guard Demontes Stitt is averaging 11.4 points per contest.
