NC State 82, #7 Wake Forest 76

#8 Wake Forest (18-4) 34 42 76
NCSU (13-9) 42 40 82

Boxscore

Perhaps the best coverage is from long-time sportswriter A.J. Carr:  “Wolfpack Knocks Off Deacons” (News and Observer)

For a moment, let your imagination run rampant.

Picture the No. 10 ranked team in the ACC beating the No. 7 ranked team in the nation. Envision N.C. State guard Farnold Degand out scoring Wake Forest’s player-of-the-year candidate Jeff Teague. Close your eyes and see Brandon Costner going on a scoring spree.

All that and more happened  Wednesday night at the RBC Center, where the Wolfpack emerged from the depths of the conference to conquer Wake 82-76.

In my book, Carr is the best scribe the N&O has and it is good to see him back covering the Wolfpack.  I first met him in the late spring of 1974, when I was in the seventh grade and he was kind enough to bat tennis balls back and forth with me and regale me with tales of my heros, Thompson, Towe, Burleson, Rivers and Spence.  There’s not much A. J. hasn’t seen in the ACC, and his write-up gives the Pack their due.

Joe Ovies of 850 The Buzz posted some great player interviews in their write-up of the game.

The AP chimes in with “Wake’s second-half rally falls short as NC State prevails” (ESPN)

Three days after squandering an 18-point lead with 13 minutes remaining, North Carolina State was in nearly the same position again.

This time, they held on for the win.

Let’s hope that these are signs of future things to come.

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08-09 Basketball NCS Basketball Sidney Lowe

98 Responses to NC State 82, #7 Wake Forest 76

  1. Pack Leader 02/11/2009 at 10:52 PM #

    I had Front row seats from the game I will try to be the eye balls for those who couldnt make it…..

    1. Great Coaching by Sid. Ill repeat that great coaching by lowe. He threw several differnt “trick” defenses at them such as a triangle 2 and box one and shut down arguably the best PG in the confrence Teague. I am not real sure what happened to Julius but Javi had some great moments and has really showed up the last 2 games. Degand looked his best all year shooting the ball and driving.

    2. Tracey Smith out hustled everyone on the floor all night and it showed up in the stat sheet. 10 OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS. His first double of his career. Very impressive night. One play he missed his free throw, followed the ball and got the rebound and scored an And 1. Better night overall than his 31 points and that was an impressive night.

    3. To me it everyone steped up at differnt times for a stretch. Degand had a strech where he had about 8 points in a row in the first half. Costner seemed to take over in the second half and CJ fit as well in the offence as I have seen so far. Fells didnt force it and got some fast breaks dunks finally!

    4. The refs were again horrible missing several Blantant fouls. Costner even mentioned in this interview after the game about the people on his back all night. Fell’s Intentional foul was almost mirriored involving CJ Williams and WF fouled him obviously grabbiing sholders and there was no Intentional foul called……

    Great Game by the Pack!!!!!! Keep it rolling

  2. turnoffthetv 02/11/2009 at 10:53 PM #

    I go from a meltdown last sunday, “Never gonna watch this team play again” to watching (buying the game) on ACC Select tonight. It was money well spent. All $5.95 of it. I will have to say that that was about as good of a first half as I have seen put together by the PACK in a long time. It was just exciting. That Effing BOX and 1 had those Demons Bamboozled. Those first 20 minutes were something. We just defeated the # 7 team in the Nation. BIG WIN!!!!

    Signature WIN!!!

    THis team has now shown that they can beat a Nationally ranked team. Still the Same OL’ comeback from the bad guys down by 20 cut it to 2. But the PACK pulled it out. That is Progress. And to think it wasnt on TV. I’m not gonna get too excited but that was a VERY GOOD WIN IMHO.

  3. Alpha Wolf 02/11/2009 at 10:53 PM #

    Students rushed the floor against a team we beat regularly…what a truly sad state of affairs.

    If anyone deserves to rush the floor in the ACC this year, it is State’s students.

  4. levelsixtyfour 02/11/2009 at 10:55 PM #

    The rat faced fink is fucked. What a great night.

  5. Sw0rdf1sh 02/11/2009 at 10:57 PM #

    I’m with ya Alpha….we should rush every win.

    This was a good damn game, and for anyone to degrade it against number 7 in the Country is just idiotic.

    People continue to prove that most of our fanbase just can’t fathom good when they see it.

  6. Alpha Wolf 02/11/2009 at 10:58 PM #

    This was a solid win, and the team, coaches and fans certainly needed it.

    We’re not as good as some of us may be feeling tonight, nor are we as bad as we all felt during and after the UNC game. It’s clear to me that progress is being made and that many of the younger players are starting to step up and make key contributions. That gives me some good feelings for the rest of this year and next, especially if Costner chooses to return.

    It pleases me that the Pack can get substantial second half leads against quality opponents but it still worries me that around the eight-minute mark they start to struggle and have to hold on by the skin of their teeth. This happened again tonight, but credit the players, they stepped up and finished what they started. Hopefully, that was a learning experience and a rallying cry.

    One thing has to be said — the end of game hustle was there. Big Ben chasing the ball down on the long pass, the final rebound by Costner, where he jumped as high as he possibly could, Degand’s hustle and smarts against the press – those things put them in a position to frost the cake, and they did just that.

    The good news is that State will almost certainly be back in the ACC-Big Ten matchup next year, and that they won’t be seeded DFL in the conference tournament.

    Now let’s see if they can win two in a row in the ACC. Build on this win, guys — you can play with almost anyone, but you have to start putting the other guys away!

  7. dtwncsu 02/11/2009 at 11:00 PM #

    The play of the guards allowed Smith and Brandon tp take over. Degand and Javi both deserve a lot of credit for this win. We went to a slow down game, but Lowe was telling his guys to attack. Players have to listen and keep doing what is working.

  8. GAWolf 02/11/2009 at 11:01 PM #

    It appears the refs are letting a lot more go this year across the board as far as contact…especially down low. As long as they’re consistent it shouldn’t matter.

    Question: will the State win over Wake even make the bottom half of page 1 of Sports tomorrow in the N&O?

  9. Alpha Wolf 02/11/2009 at 11:02 PM #

    ^ Not with all the slobberknockers that the press will be giving UNC.

    Also, it will be described as Wake sliding backwards, not State improving.

  10. howlie 02/11/2009 at 11:03 PM #

    Fire coach. That was the concensus here two nights ago, right? How did he suddenly get the ability to coach in two days?

    Time to make apologies here…

  11. Clarksa 02/11/2009 at 11:03 PM #

    It’s hard to believe that WFU was ranked #1 just a few weeks ago…if our players can get it into their heads that they can be a good team (and they’re close to it), then we should have a chance in every game left except maybe UNC-CH.

  12. Pack Leader 02/11/2009 at 11:04 PM #

    Thank you Alpha Wolf!!!!!

    The student were at the game 15 min before Tip off…

    Alumni didnt file in till the 15:00 min mark….

    And I dont understand why we shouldnt rush the court WF is the #7 team in the nation and NC State is under 500 in the confrence.

    By the way I saw “Coach” Flowup talking to Sid before the game and rushing towards the lockerrooms after the game…… thanks for showing up Fowl…

    ITS OUR HOUSE

  13. wufpup76 02/11/2009 at 11:06 PM #

    “Also, it will be described as Wake sliding backwards, not State improving.”

    ^Already heard this sentiment on the ESPN channels a few times, also Gminski echoed it on the Raycom broadcast.

    I understand it as Wake has struggled recently after such a good start, but a tad bit of credit for the team would be nice

  14. GAWolf 02/11/2009 at 11:09 PM #

    While I hate the Heels…seeing them put up a century on Duke in Cameron is funny.

    Do they play before we play them on the 18th? Maybe they’ll still be relishing the win in the “Greatest Game of All Time in Anything.”

  15. wufpup76 02/11/2009 at 11:11 PM #

    ^Oh – this reminds me!

    Sidney referred to Fowler as “Coach Fowler” twice tonight during the radio interview!

    Good ‘ol huggy bear Jed … “Coach”!

    Now all I can think about is that Craig T. Nelson show …

  16. GAWolf 02/11/2009 at 11:13 PM #

    WRAL has a special news cast “Battle of the Blues”. Jebus.

    Truthfully, Wake is sliding. That’s a fair PART of the story.

  17. GAWolf 02/11/2009 at 11:17 PM #

    Oh. And that reminds me….on the Jumbotron they were advertising the Lee Fowler Celebrity Golf Tournament.

    Ridiculous.

  18. Alpha Wolf 02/11/2009 at 11:20 PM #

    “Truthfully, Wake is sliding. That’s a fair PART of the story.”

    True, granted, but we handed them only their fourth loss of the year.

  19. GAWolf 02/11/2009 at 11:21 PM #

    I wish it was easier to hate Roy. Unfortunately, everytime I hear him speak I think more of him. He’s a good man. He’s gracious in defeat and humble in victory. There is no typical UNC air about him. I hope he stays that way.

  20. packk 02/11/2009 at 11:23 PM #

    I might vomit from the duke/unc coverage on the news. Seriously – we got no love for knocking off the # 7 or #8 team in the nation. I know the other teams are great – but really???

    At the game – it was very hard. We blew a 20 pt lead and that hurt. But having JG and FD in there realy helped. Defense was great. Fells as always was great. I wish him all the best and hope the NBA will see his potential. BC was great. BMC was subpar – I guess better on defense than the inside. GAH this stupid news coverage of Roy and his win makes me flaming mad.

  21. LRM 02/11/2009 at 11:24 PM #

    “We have to realize that everyone is gunning for us,” said Wake Forest guard Jeff Teague, who scored 11 points. “We came out lackadaisical. We think we’re Wake Forest and everyone is going to lay down for us. When we start realizing that they’re not, we’ll get back to winning.”

    Yeah Jeff, thats what everyone thinks…

    It’s a great win and I’m enjoying it. My point about the students rushing the court against a team we beat REGULARLY, one that has lost four of its past six games and is playing terrible over the past two weeks is that it shows the tragedy of just how far we’ve fallen.

  22. JeremyH 02/11/2009 at 11:25 PM #

    “The mental breakdowns and squandering of leads are a symptom of a lack of mental discipline and focus that a coach MUST train his players for.”

    agreed

    “Fire coach. That was the concensus here two nights ago, right? How did he suddenly get the ability to coach in two days?

    Time to make apologies here…”

    see above

    we are getting dominated in the last quarter of games, consistently, WHY?………..WHY?

  23. Alpha Wolf 02/11/2009 at 11:27 PM #

    “We have to realize that everyone is gunning for us,” said Wake Forest guard Jeff Teague, who scored 11 points. “We came out lackadaisical. We think we’re Wake Forest and everyone is going to lay down for us. When we start realizing that they’re not, we’ll get back to winning.”

    Yeah Jeff, thats what everyone thinks…

    No one takes State seriously, not its teams, not its fans, not its players, but rest assured, WE DO take our rivals seriously. And Wake, being a Tobacco Road neighbor IS a rival. Jeff Teague might need to take that into consideration.

    This is the ACC, son, and everyone guns for everyone in this conference. Always has, always will.

  24. Alpha Wolf 02/11/2009 at 11:29 PM #

    Oh. And that reminds me….on the Jumbotron they were advertising the Lee Fowler Celebrity Golf Tournament.

    I wonder what “celebrities” will be teeing it up in that.

    I have half a mind to pay my way into the field just for laughs.

  25. Alpha Wolf 02/11/2009 at 11:31 PM #

    “The mental breakdowns and squandering of leads are a symptom of a lack of mental discipline and focus that a coach MUST train his players for.”

    I still think it is a by-product of conditioning. It is something we should all keep our eyes on. Ever notice how UNC and Duke players blow up and get a lot of endurance as they progress? I would like to see if that happens with Sid’s recruits as they progress.

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