North Carolina State University Athletics
MBB Hosts Florida Sunday Afternoon
1/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
NC State Hosts Florida: NC State will be playing its third game in six days, when the Wolfpack plays host to Florida Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at the RBC Center. After taking a couple of days off for the holidays, the Pack came back this week and defeated Winthrop on Tuesday, 68-52, and won at UNC Greensboro on Thursday, 89-67.
This will be the second straight year the two teams have played, as last season Florida made a second half comeback and won 68-66, also on January 3.
The game will be televised nationally on Fox Sports Net with Bob Rathbun, Mike Conley and Debbie Antonelli.
The Series Versus Florida: NC State and Florida will meet for the 10th time in the history of the two programs, but only the third time since the 1939 season. NC State currently holds a 6-3 advantage in the series, including a slight 2-1 edge in games in Raleigh.
The series started in 1920-21 with Florida coming out on top 39-19 in Raleigh, then the Pack won the next six game in the series, the first two in Raleigh then four straight at Florida. The Gators have won the last two times the two teams met, in the first round of the 1987 NCAA Tournament in Syracuse, N.Y., 82-70, and last season in Gainesville, 68-66.
The Pack Versus the SEC: NC State holds a record of 82-57 against teams that are currently in the SEC. The Pack has already played an SEC foe this season, defeating Auburn in the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, 60-58. The last time the Pack hosted an SEC opponent was No. 10 Alabama in Coach Lowe's first season in 2006-07, with Alabama claiming a 82-75 victory at the RBC Center.
NC State-Florida Connections: The are a few differnet connections between the Wolfpack and the Gators, involving both a pair of coaches and pair of current players.
Current NC State associate head coach Monte Towe was once an assistant coach with the Florida Gators. Towe's first stint as an assistant coach at NC State ended when Towe took the same position at Florida for the 1980-81 season. Towe would stay at Florida through the 1988-89 season.
Towe left the Pack when NC State head coach Norm Sloan returned to Gainesville for his second stint as head coach of the Gators. Sloan coached a total of 15 seasons at Florida, from 1960-61 to 1965-66, and returned for 1980-81 to 1988-89. Sloan was the Pack's head coach from 1966-67 to 1979-80, and won the 1974 National Championship.
Current Wolfpack freshman DeShawn Painter signed LOI with Florida in November of 2008, but was released and signed with NC State this past spring.
Florida junior forward Dan Werner was once a signee of the Wolfpack in the fall of 2005, but after Herb Sendek left for Arizona State, Werner was released from his letter of intent and signed with Florida.
Last Season Versus Florida: Florida's Nick Calathes scored 24 of his game-high 32 points in the second half, as Florida came back from 10 down at the half and defeated NC State, 68-66, in Gainesville on January 3. The Pack was up one after a goaltending call with 28 seconds left, but Calathes got the go-ahead basket with 11.3 seconds left. The Pack called a timeout, but were forced into a turnover with 3.1 seconds left, and Calathes would add a final free throw for the decisive margin. NC State held a 33-23 lead at the half, closing the first half with an 18-8 run over the final eight minutes. Brandon Costner led the Pack offense with 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting.
Last Time Out for NC State: NC State scored the first seven points of the game, and opened the game with a 23-8 run, as the Pack downed UNC Greensboro at the Greensboro Coliseum, 89-67, Thursday night. The Pack did not turn the ball over during the first 15 minutes of the second half, and put the game away with a 20-4 run with the score 45-39 at the 13:31 mark. In the second half, the Pack scored 57 points and shot 67.9 percent (19-28) from the floor and 75.0 (6-8) from three-point range. Tracy Smith led four Wolfpack players in double figures with his game high 21 points, while Dennis Horner scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half..
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 83-10 (.892) record in such games. Under Coach Lowe, the Pack has posted a 27-4 (.871) 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.
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 497-428 in the seconds half of play (38.2-32.9). NC State has outscored the opponent in 10 of the 13 games this season, including each of the last seven outings.
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 on December 23. NC State trailed 31-23 at the half back, 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.
Three-Point Range Found: NC State has taken advantage of opponents double-teaming Tracy Smith in the post, as the Pack's perimeter game has been red hot.
NC State has averaged 9.3 three-pointers a game the last three games, connecting on 10 apiece against both Winthrop and UNCG. In those games, the Pack has hit 28-of-58 (.483) percent from long range.
Gonzalez the Offensive Threat: Javier Gonzalez took control of the Pack's point guard position late last season, and has been one of the Pack's top offensive players this season. He currently ranked third on the team in scoring, averaging 11.6 points, and his 69 assists rank him fourth in the ACC and are more than double the next highest Wolfpack player.
Over the last three games, he has averaged 14.8 points, shooting 54.1 percent (20-37) from the field. Gonzalez has also averaged 5.8 rebounds in that span, including a career-best 10 against Winthrop.
Even more impressive was his play late in recent road games, at Wake Forest and 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.
Wood Breaks Out of Slump: Freshman forward Scott Wood was thrust into the Pack's starting lineup in the preseason, and started off strong averaging 9.0 points in the first four games of the season. He then went into a bit of a slump, scoring just 2.8 points over the next five outings, including struggling from three-point range hitting just 2-of-18 attempts.
But Wood has returned to his early season form, averaging 10.8 points over the last four games shooting 15-of-29 from the field and 11-of-27 from three-point range. Last time out, Wood hit a career-high five three-pointers at UNC Greensboro, and has made eight three-pointers over the last two games.
Rebounding is Team Effort: Even though Tracy Smith ranks fourth in the ACC in rebounding at 9.1 a game, including five double figure efforts, much of the Pack's rebounding could be called a team effort. In the season stats, six different players are averaging between 2.9 and 4.8 rebounds.
Over the last four games, three different Wolfpack players have reached double figures in rebounds. Smith had 10 at Wake Forest, freshman Jordan Vandenberg (filling in for the suspended Smith) had 11 at Arizona, and Javier Gonzalez pulled down a career-best 10 boards against Winthrop.
