North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
Wake Forest
Pack Dominates in 90-69 Win Over WF
1/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State coach Sidney Lowe wouldn't go so far as to say Saturday's 90-69 victory over Wake Forest at the RBC Center was easy. But it sure was fun.
The Wolfpack scored its biggest win in ACC play in more than two seasons, opening its conference slate with a win for the first time in Lowe's five-year tenure at his alma mater. It was a dominating, confidence-building victory that the Wolfpack needs as it hits the road for its next two games, at Boston College Tuesday night and at Florida State next Saturday.
"It was a very important game for us," said senior forward Tracy Smith, who had a game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds. "It means a lot for our confidence and the confidence of our three freshmen to get a win like this, on our home court, in front of our fans.
"Now, we just need to go get prepared to win some games on the road."
The Pack (11-4 overall, 1-0 in the ACC) couldn't have asked for a more productive win, topping its season high for points and scoring 50 second-half points for the second consecutive game. Earlier this week, Lowe and his team beat Elon 87-72 in Greensboro.
Smith, playing his third game in eight days after missing 10 games following knee surgery, helped his team dominate the boards, as it outrebounded Wake Forest 45-22, grabbed 20 offensive rebounds and scored 25 second-chance points. The Pack shot a sizzling 58.3 percent from the field in the second half and finished the game at 51.5 percent.
Freshman C.J. Leslie had 19 points and six rebounds in support of Smith, as the Wolfpack outscored the Deacons 46-24 in the paint.
"Having Tracy back in there makes a great difference for us," Lowe said. "He's our main guy inside. Not only is he going to get a shot for himself, but he can settle us down. If things are getting rattled in there, we can always call a set and get the ball in his hands.
"Today, we put a strong emphasis on getting the ball inside. I thought the guys did a good job of that."
More importantly, Lowe's team showed some razzle-dazzle to the home crowd of 16,591 spectators, especially on the alley-oop pass between freshmen Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Leslie and the behind-the-back pass sophomore Scott Wood made to C.J. Williams, who finished off the fast break with a thundering dunk.
That not only made Lowe smile, but brought back a few memories of a similar pass he made to Thurl Bailey at the end of their final regular-season game against North Carolina, in an upset of the defending national champion Tar Heels that set the Wolfpack on its way to the 1983 championship.
"That was just a good play to see, not just the way it ended, but how it got to that point," Lowe said. "Scott was very unselfish after getting the break started. C.J. never gave up on it and kept pushing to make a play.
"It was good to see the guys having fun like that."
Williams, in particular, had a blast in the contest, coming off the bench to match his career high with 16 points. He also had seven rebounds and three assists.
The two most important sequences of the game were at the end of the first half and the beginning of the second. Both times, Wake Forest cut a double-digit NC State lead to a narrow margin. Wake's Ari Stewart converted a three-point play, to cut State's lead to 32-30 with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
But the Pack scored the final eight points to take a 40-30 lead into intermission.
Wake scored the first six points of the second half, cutting the lead to 40-36, but the Wolfpack scored nine in a row and dominated the rest of the way, leading by as many as 29 points with 2:04 remaining in the game.
"This was a great initiation for our young players, to get them started in the ACC," Lowe said. "And we were able to do it at home. That's great. We know all our games won't be by that margin.
"But it's great to see that we can play this way if we do the right things and play the right way."
• By Tim Peeler, tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
