State ends the regular season on a depressing note, losing to Wake Forest 78-67.

It looked like departing Wolfpack senior Gavin Grant might lead State back as his layup with 5:30 minutes left to go brought State within two, 60-58. But it was not to be. After fighting back from a defect of 10, the Wolfpack seemingly ran out of steam and Wake Forest went on a 7-0 run to put the Wolfpack’s regular season out of it’s misery.

State’s leading scorers against Wake were Grant (16), Hickson (11), and Costner (10). Grant also threw in 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Low points include Courtney Fells (1-5 from the field, 1-4 from 3pt line; a turnover and 4 fouls in 25 minutes) and Marques Johnson (why does this guy still get playing time? 3 points in 11 minutes on 1-4 shooting with 2 turnovers). McCauley only saw 11 minutes of action as he gave way playing time to Costner. While Costner scored 10, it was on 3-13 shooting (1-6 from 3pt land) and had 2 turnovers with only 2 rebounds.

While these are a lot of numbers, I think it’s important to point out that State shot 44% on the day. Replacing Fells, Johnson, and Costner, State would have shot 59% from the field.

Up next (and all that’s left now) is the ACC tournament.

As StateFansNation.com points out, NC State will play the ACC tourney as a twelve seed …dead last in the conference. The tournament starts on March 13th and runs through the 16th.

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Despite the season pretty much being over for State, they had a perfect opportunity to play spoiler on Senior Day at the RBC. Coach K was going for win #800 and a State win would surely knock #6 Duke out of the top 10.

The Wolfpack got off to a great start lead by a rather un-likely trio: Javi Gonzalez, Ben McCauley, and Tracy Smith.

Sidney Lowe (sporting the red blazer) sent Tracy Smith out to start the game for State (in the spot that has been filled this season by both Costner & McCauley) and he brought some much needed rebounding, inside play, and energy early on. Smith finished the day with 14 points in 22 minutes. He shot 4-5 from the field and was a perfect 6-6 from the line.

Gonzalez helped set the tone early for the Wolfpack when he caught Paulus with an elbow that opened up a gash under his eye.

After nearly knocking Paulus’ lights out, Gonzalez began shooting lights out:
4/4 from the 3pt line
6/7 from the field
Career high 18 points.

Ben McCauley played tough all day inside. He lead the way for State with 19 points. At one point the big man showed his range when he landed a surprise shot from one step inside the three point line.

Trevor Ferguson was the usual spark off the bench (many are wondering why he’s still not starting?), scoring 9 on 3-6 shooting and doing a great job bringing the ball up the court on a few possessions for State.

The guys you typically would think might lead the way in scoring, J.J. Hickson or last year’s Brandon Costner were barely involved in the game. Hickson played only 18 minutes, scoring 8 points and notching 5 rebounds (…and he tossed in an impressive block on Singler).

Costner was on the floor for 22 minutes and was held scoreless on 0-3 shooting.

Courtney Fells shot a dismal 1-4, but was 6-6 from the free throw line and ended up with 9 points.

Gavin Grant, the only Wolfpack senior on Senior Day turned in a sub-par performance, shooting 2 out of 5 for 6 points and fouled out with 2.5 minutes to go with the Wolfpack up by four.

It would seem that State was going to ruin the day for Coach K. Up by as much as 13 in the 2nd half, the Wolfpack actually out-shot Duke 38% to 54% from the field; 46% to 53% from 3-point-land; and 81 to 86% from the free throw line.

But the turnovers kept Duke in the game. Duke had 8. State had 17. This kept the door open for Duke, despite the Wolfpack outplaying them in pretty much every aspect throughout the game…

Except for the last two minutes.

Duke went on a 14-5 run. An awful call sent Demarcus Nelson to the line and he sank his two free throws with a minute to go gave Duke the lead. McCauley then turned it over with 40 seconds left on the clock. Duke pretty much ran out the clock as State tried to use defense to force a turnover Scheyer threw up a 3 with 4 seconds to go that missed. Fells with the rebound, passes it up to McCauley who threw one up in desperation from the 3 point line as time expired. A brick off the backboard later and Duke steals one, 87-86.

Despite the loss, this one was at least a different, and better effort put forth by State.

Final game next week vs. Wake Forest.

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Virginia 78 - Wolfpack 60.

Pretty much all you need to know:

Once again, State tanks the first half in a must-win game and falls behind twenty points… I think we’ve all seen this movie before. –redandwhitefromstate.com

It’s amazing that it actually ended up being this close provided that State only scored 18 in the first half (Yes, that’s right. Eighteen points) and was down 38-18 going into the break.

Costner led the way with 14, Ferguson had 11, and McCauley scored 9 with 12 rebounds. Hickson responded to the benching last game with a whopping 7 points and 5 rebounds. Other “highlights” include Javi scoring 0 in 25 minutes, the other point guard Marques Johnson scoring 3 in 15 minutes (while turning it over twice), and Grant shooting 2-6 from the field.

Barring an ACC miracle tournament run, the Wolfpack will hopefully make the NIT. Even that looks pretty questionable right now with the way they’re playing. The loss to Virginia is their fifth in a row. They are now 15-12 on the season and 4-9 in ACC play.

They have Florida State (Wednesday night) and Duke (Saturday) at home before their regular season finale at Wake Forest on March 8.

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The Pack just couldn’t stop Tyrese Rice. 32 points and 6 assists later, the Eagles had snapped their 6 game losing streak with a win over NC State, 82-65. State tried doubleteams and traps to slow Rice down, but he handled them flawlessly, shooting 12-18 from the field. One of the telling moments? The first time State went to a full court trap to keep Rice away from the ball, he drove the length of the court for a layup.

“(Rice) let us know early it was going to be a tough night guarding him,” Costner said. –News & Observer

This might be the beginning of the end for State’s NCAA Tourney bid.

“We talked about this time (of year),” Coach Lowe said. “This was a very, very big game. To not be in it and have an opportunity to win was very disappointing. Some of the efforts were very disappointing.” –WRAL

Costner still has hope:

“We still feel we can reach the (NCAA) tournament and play well in the tournament,” N.C. State forward Brandon Costner said. “But we’ve got to have everybody show up every night…” –News & Observer

It’s been quite a disappointing season so far for a young and potentially exciting State team that just can’t find a way to score. Last night they couldn’t rebound either. Boston College is one of the worst rebounding teams in the ACC. They out-rebounded State 20-10 in the first half.

J.J. Hickson again lead the way for the Wolfpack scoring 20 points and 7 rebounds. Brandon Costner had 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists ..but also had 5 of State’s 13 turnovers. Gavin Grant also had 15 points in the loss.

Despite a critical loss, there was at least one silver lining from my standpoint: Coach Lowe left them on the floor to play their way out of the slump.

“We can’t win with three guys playing well; we can’t do it…We need six guys to at least come out and be productive and do their jobs and do what they’re supposed to do,” Lowe said. “That doesn’t entail just scoring points, it’s the defensive end that I’m looking at and I’m concerned about.” –WRAL

It doesn’t get any easier for State, who will at least be heading home. They play Clemson Saturday at 3pm at the RBC and have the Tarheels coming up Wednesday night at 7pm.

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Recently Alpha Wolf over at The Red and White From State blog pointed to a story from Fox Sports head writer Jeff Goodman who made the observation that the ‘Pack are better off with Costner on the bench.

I don’t know (and I’ll admit I’m a Costner fan) but I’ve seen his contributions as being pretty valuable this season. While it’s clear that J.J. Hickson is the future of this team, Costner’s fearlessness and confidence when he’s in the game definitely adds some swagger to the other four on the floor. But for what he adds in that department, those very same traits could be to his and State’s detriment.

It seems to me that a lot of time when Costner’s out there the other four guys (with the exception, sometimes, of Hickson) seem to either defer to him or not really know how they fit with him anymore. This, my friends, may be why people like Goodman and Alpha Wolf believe that State is better off with him on the bench.

But let’s not forget that these guys are young. Costner, a redshirt Sophomore; Hickson a true freshman. Further, Costner came into the season being the go-to guy on the team and it must be difficult for him to adjust and learn to play with the young phenom.

I do agree with one thing that was said in that I like the discipline that Sidney Lowe is trying to instill with the team. It should lead to both Costner and Hickson being able to play better together and feed off of one another.

What do you think about the Costner situation?

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Never trailing and up by as much as 19 points, NC State closed out the Hokies on Tuesday night to improve their overall record to 15-7 on the year and pull even in ACC conference play with a 4-4 record.

The win marked the sixth straight win for NC State against Virginia Tech, dating back almost four years. The win was impressive by State as forward Brandon Costner set this one out with a rib injury that he suffered during practice this week.

So why does the Wolfpack seem to have the Hokies number?

“I don’t know, man, that’s a good question,” Hokies junior guard A.D. Vassallo said. “They just know how to beat us, I guess.” –Washington Post

Freshman phenom J.J. Hickson probably had something to do with it, throwing down 21 points to lead all scorers. Courtney Fells tossed in 14 and Javier Gonzalez added a season high 11. If that wasn’t enough, the ‘Pack shot 54% from the field on Tuesday as an encore performance from last year’s victory where they shot a lights-out 66% against Tech.

Despite great shooting, Hickson cites team chemistry as the key to State’s recent success..

“Right now, we are playing with a lot of confidence,” Hickson said. “We are playing with more chemistry. Brandon didn’t play tonight, but he is still in here with us. We just have to play harder and win these two road games.” –Raleigh Chronicle

The Wolfpack heads to College Park to take on the Terrapins, Saturday at 8:00 PM.

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