Miami shoot 1-9 from 3 point land.  Their star performer held to about half his season average.

How did the Pack answer?  By not scoring a field goal until 9.5 minutes into the game. (They had 6 turnovers during this stretch.)

The Wolfpack managed to find a way to slide in under the low bar the Hurricanes set to lose to Miami 63-50.  The ACC tournament loss puts an end to a disappointing season.

The loss was pretty much symbolic for how the Wolfpack played the 0′7 - ‘08 season:
Uninspired, ineffective effort with plenty of turnovers and uncanny ability to not be able to score.

Hickson got his game back, scoring more than half of the Pack’s 50 points (27). If that wasn’t enough, he also tossed in 14 rebounds.

Just how bad was it? Fells was the second leading scorer on the team with 6 points.

Departing senior Gavin Grant, in his final game for the Wolfpack, was seemingly pulled from the game for not being “ready to play.”

The Pack as a team shot 34% on the day from the field (vs. Miami’s 37%). They also shot 2-15 from the 3 point line, apparently believing that if you have one of the ACC’s lowest field goal percentages, you should try shooting from farther out.

This was NC State’s first losing season since 2001.

The only bright spot from the season, freshman J.J. Hickson, didn’t say whether he was going to bolt for the NBA. He’s projected as a first round pick. While he could improve his game, this season’s team was left no indication that there’s any reason to stick around.

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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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Great article today at RedandWhitefromState.com about where Hickson would be taken in the NBA draft if he declared:

Hickson was widely thought to be a one year player, and after this season, he was thought to be headed to the pro ranks. That was before he came to Raleigh. –RedandWhiteFromState.com

ESPN.com calls him a potential sleeper for the draft.

Hickson got off to a phenomenal start, but I definitely think there’s some things he could learn with another season or two at State. (..and I’m hoping he sticks around to rub off on the other guys on the team as well.) Most of Hickson’s game is very close to the basket, and while there’s nothing wrong with that, he’s not going to be as effective in the NBA as he is in college ball with rebounding and put backs. While I don’t think he’s ever going to be any sort of consistent mid-range shooter, it wouldn’t hurt to expand that a bit and work on free throws (67%).

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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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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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J.J. Hickson just set the ACC record for freshman for rebounds in a game by pulling down 23 against Clemson.

But did you know that Hickson also currently leads all ACC freshman in scoring (15.3 ppg), rebounding (8.8 rpg), and blocked shots (1.64 pg)?

He also leads the entire ACC (not just freshman) in field goal percentage (60.3%).

He has nine double-doubles and is the only freshman with two games of at least 30 points. He also has reached double digits in scoring in 22 out of the 25 games played this season.

He’s also been named ACC Rookie of the Week three times this season.

Here’s an interesting look back to a 2006 blog post where Scout.com had listed almost 20 schools interested or recruiting Hickson in April, 2006 …NC State wasn’t even on the list.

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13 straight missed shots. 10 minute scoreless streak. 2-20 shooting over the last 15 minutes of the 1st half. 0-9 streak from the three point line during the second half.

Despite dreadful stats like these, NC State was able to battle back in the second half to take a 64-62 lead with only 2:30 to go. But a three pointer from Clemson freshman Terrence Oglesby with 2:00 to go was the key play in the game:

“It was at the top of our scouting report: ‘Don’t release off of him,’” State coach Sidney Lowe said. “And then he gets a wide open 3.” –FayObserver.com

Hickson scored 13 points and 23 rebounds to lead the Wolfpack, however he went the first 14 minutes of the game without a basket, despite having 10 rebounds at the time. Gavin Grant had 18 and Courtney Fells tossed in 17 more from to lead State.

“I told our guys we played hard, and there really wasn’t much I could say because they put forth a great effort. We just made some mistakes down the stretch there,” Coach Lowe said. –Winston-Salem Journal

…and another “must win” goes by without State getting the win. The second half run was impressive, and many thought Clemson was going to fade like they did against Carolina earlier this month. But Clemson didn’t let it happen this time.

Up next for the Wolfpack, the Tarheels on Wednesday night at 7pm.

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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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Just ran across this piece from the Winston-Salem Journal by John Delong…

Second-ranked Duke, 20-1 overall and 8-0 in the ACC, will play Boston College this afternoon in Durham.

Unranked N.C. State, 15-7 overall and 4-4 in the ACC, will play Maryland tonight in College Park.

These are the biggest overachievers and underachievers at the midway point of the ACC’s unbalanced regular-season race, the Blue Devils and the Wolfpack. These are the most surprisingly good and the most stunningly bad teams in the league. — Winston-Salem Journal

Ouch.

Delong goes on to say that what it comes down to between Duke and NC State is that chemistry, approach, and attitude. He cites J.J. Hickson as the reason for State’s chemistry issues and states that he thinks the dysfunction comes from the players being confused about their roles.

Interesting perspective. Thoughts on this?

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