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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Another nice start, followed by a defensive outage, and Hansbrough domination.

Watch highlights here.

“In the second half, they came out and turned it up again and we didn’t respond,” Lowe said. “Our defense wasn’t there like it was in the first half. Against a team like that, you have to stay solid and stay focused and we didn’t do that.” –Gaston Gazette

“We stopped playing defense and we didn’t execute on offense and they took advantage of that,” NC State junior Ben McCauley said. “They got some easy buckets and got themselves on a roll. It carried over to the second half.” –TheWolfpacker.com

“They came out stronger, more physical and more aggressive on defense,” Grant said. “I think they won the game with that trap. We were throwing the ball away.” –TheWolfpacker.com

“They were just getting easy baskets after easy baskets,” said NC State freshman point guard Javier Gonzalez, who had six points and career-high nine assists. “It’s pretty tough to get the lead back against this team. In the second half, we just didn’t play defense.”–TheWolfpacker.com

Hansbrough scored 32:

“He was the best player on the floor,” N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. “He’s been playing that way for a while. He’s picked it up.” –Gaston Gazette

“We let Hansbrough go wherever he wanted, do whatever he wanted,” Grant said. “He was shooting layups and we should have just fouled him. Make him go to the free-throw line, make him earn it. You can’t win like that.”–TheWolfpacker.com

Even Hickson was off his game tonight:

“We were looking for energy and quickness [from Smith],” Lowe said. “We were able to cut into their lead a little bit. J.J. wasn’t doing good on defense and we needed someone to make stops. Tracy did a good job of that.”–TheWolfpacker.com

Lowe on 2nd half fades, turnovers:

“Our biggest thing is having trouble dealing with adversity,” Lowe said. “We haven’t been able to make a run back at them and stop theirs. We’re plagued in the second half. We start relaxing and teams take advantage of that. We make careless passes under pressure. It was a mental breakdown and we didn’t stay focused.” –TheWolfpacker.com

McCauley still thinks there’s hope for making the NCAAT:

“We still have two home games left and we feel like we can go on the road against the teams we have as well,” McCauley said. “Hopefully, we can finish .500. We have to finish 8-8. Hopefully, we can have a good showing in the ACC Tournament.” –TheWolfpacker.com

“We need to come out and play the right way,” Grant said. “We’re playing good in certain spurts, but we’ve got to put it all together for 40 minutes.” –AP

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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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Three highlights: Gonzalez to Fells dunk, Gonzalez to Hickson dunk, and McCauley with the last second put-back dunk for the win.

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