Maryland 88, NC State 64

09-10 Basketball95

Ouch. That hurt.

I know it doesn’t sound possible, but it actually looked worse than the score. NC State, now 2-4 in league play, came out flat from the first minute Saturday and never really looked in the game with the Terps. Greivis Vasquez shoulder-shrugged his way to 19 points and five assists and Landon Milbourne, who looked All-ACC much of the day, finished with 18 points and five rebounds.

NC State never got into any sort of rhythm Saturday against the Terps, and Maryland came ready to play. The defensive effort from the Wolfpack was the worst of the season and cannot continue if NC State expects to win anymore games. Maryland got any shot it wanted and, despite having a relatively small lineup, out rebounded the Pack by two.

On a side note, the free throw disparity was absolutely deplorable. Maryland made more free throws (24) than the Wolfpack attempted (16). NC State had only five more personal fouls that Maryland, but it just seemed like every foul on the Pack put the Terps on the line. Thanks Karl Hess.

Here’s the box score. Tracy Smith had the quietest double double in history (18 and 10) and Howell tallied 10 points and seven boards. Other than that it was a pretty pedestrian night for the Pack offensively. The Pack shot just 36 percent from the field and only 62 percent from the charity stripe.

There’s not much more to say really. For some additional commentary and observations you can click here for the ACC Sports Journal’s entry and click here for some discussion on our message boards. This is the type of game you try to forget as quickly as possible. The fact that Carolina comes to town Tuesday should help.

09-10 Basketball

95 Responses to Maryland 88, NC State 64

  1. ryebread 01/24/2010 at 4:48 PM #

    Before the year, I had Duke picked to win the ACC with Maryland picked second. MD disappointed in typical early season fashion with a slow start. I knew they had a senior in the most important spot on the court (PG), some other solid talent, and were coached by the best game coach in the ACC. As normal, they’re rounding into shape in about the middle of the conference season.

    It helps them that Vasquez has finally gotten his head out of his @SS. When I saw them earlier in the year, he looked totally lost. I don’t like the kid or his attitude and think he’s streaky as all get out. He’s got our number though and salivates every time he gets to play against us. I expect MD to beat us until he’s gone.

    My thoughts on the game?
    – I expected this to be a loss after the Duke win.
    – We played pitifully bad defense, particularly on the perimeter.
    – We got our typical performances from TS and RH. They’re going to give us ~ 28-30 pts and 15-20 rebounds a night between them. They are quite consistent.
    – Some kids really struggled (Horner).
    – Javi seemed locked yet again in a personal battle with Vasquez and the entire offense suffered.
    – Just like Duke was a game where things broke our way, almost everything broke against us against MD.
    – This is the first game in a long time that I just turned off. I couldn’t stand it at about the 8 minute mark of the second half.
    – We go as our guards go. Our guards didn’t play well.

    On to UNC with a reality check. I was really afraid that after the Duke win we’d follow it up with two straight losses (which sadly is the hallmark of SL’s teams). We really, really need the UNC game. It’s going to be extremely difficult — it couldn’t be setting up any more perfectly for them.

  2. Wolfy__79 01/24/2010 at 7:01 PM #

    excuse me but i don’t get this whole young guns saying and referring to them not having a coach? they do indeed have a coach, the one who recruited them. it just baffles me why anyone would say that. everyone expected a let down after winning against duke right!!? now its easy for us to be concerned with unc-ch coming into the rbc and winning. they have had alot of time to prepare, especially if they watched last night. it will be yet another true test for the youngsters, i’ll agree to that. there were some things that i saw yesterday that i wished sid wouold have done yesterday. but i think he did about everything he could to get their heads into the game. i expected for them to come out a little stronger in the second half but it was pretty obvious that they hadn’t recovered from such a big win.

    before ACC play, i thought if we had beaten florida, we might have punched our NCAA ticket. a few weeks later, we hung in each of the games after that and then knocked off duke. after that win, i didn’t jump to any conclusions about making the NCAA’s like before, but it showed promise for the rest of ACC play.

    we can second guess sid all day, but i think he had two days to prepare for md, and this young club has to experience these transitions from big w/l’s and move onto the next, by themselves. there’s not much a coach can do to help them get over their biggest win in two days to prepare for a very tough md foe. well, that’s how i see it. we know these kids want to win, we know sid wants to put us back on the map. sid has alot of experience.. some good, some bad. but what we must realize is that he is a young coach, sure not in age, but young as in being an ACC basketball coach. he’s learning the hard way about coaching in this tough league. he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel unlike his predecessor. he’s got a working style of play and appears to be bringing the youngsters along. sure its not the steepest of curves, but its there.

  3. highstick 01/24/2010 at 7:17 PM #

    I had to go back a edit the last few words of my post above. For some reason, my computer(or something locked up) while I was trying to edit it and I had to reboot…and then leave to go meet a client in Charlotte for lunch.

    I’m not questioning that this team is probably not an improvement over last year’s. Heck, they beat Duke so that’s got to be something of an improvement…except we beat Carolina as bad in Sid’s first year, we got all excited, and look where we’ve been since then. And don’t get me wrong, I was Sid to succeed cause I know he bleeds Red and White.

    But let’s just keep this thing in perspective folks…cheer for the team, encourage them, and let this thing play out without starting to predict outrageous things like tournament slots. Even getting a tournament slot shows no progress from the HWSNBN era. He could do that!! My aspirations and hopes for success are a lot higher than that. I’m ok with “baby steps”, but there’s too much inconsistency still.

    And criticize me if you will, but I don’t want our new Chancellor to get “suckered into believing” that a win over Duke and maybe even Carolina is going to solve what’s ill in the athletic department.

    But, with all that aside, let’s beat Carolina this week so I can gloat all way to Asheville and back this week with a couple of Tarhole grads!!

  4. 61Packer 01/24/2010 at 7:24 PM #

    The margin of victory Saturday night was Maryland’s largest in an ACC game in nearly 7 years.

  5. MA Wolfpack 01/24/2010 at 7:26 PM #

    Just because SL coached a great game and we found a way to beat Duke does not change the talent level on this team. We have the worst talent in the ACC (BC might be with us, but I need to see them play again). I have said all along that 4-12 in the ACC would be a good season for this team. Any more wins than that will be a significant accomplishment and winning fewer than 4 games would be under achieving.

    Everyone needs to appreciate and enjoy any wins we get the rest of the way. My focus is completely on player development this season and hoping we can claw our way into the NIT.

  6. MA Wolfpack 01/24/2010 at 7:31 PM #

    61Packer, Maryland played a great game on Sat night so that does not surprise me. They had guys off their bench throwing in contested jump shots and made almost all of their looks. Combine that with NCSU missing wide open looks and it’s a blow out.

    NCSU went 1-1 this week….I’ll take that.

  7. 61Packer 01/24/2010 at 9:29 PM #

    MA Wolfpack, will you take 1-1 next week?

  8. Wolfy__79 01/24/2010 at 9:52 PM #

    i can’t totally agree with you about the comparing talent levels. what throws me with that argument is that its more about what you get out of what you have. there are certainly better backcourts in the league, no question. but we’re not so bad up front. seeing javi play as a freshman, i was like what in the hell is this. last year, his instincts and play killed me. now, he makes some mistakes.. but to know where he came from, he’s much improved. he’s certainly got a lower ceiling than what we want out of the point, but what sid gets out of him really impresses me.

    as for the unc-ch win in sid first campaign, we were stronger at guard. senior engin atsur took a while, but that showed me what sid can do with a real point guard. since then, sid has gambled and lost on getting a starting point guard in here. so we make due with what we’ve got. personally i’m not comparing that unc-ch win with our duke win. the players are different, younger, be it mentally and/or physically. they couldn’t handle that type of emotional win with a two day turnaround. they might not be able to get “IT” back by tuesday. in addition, i think we’ve got the better backcourt for that matchup. .. i still say some of the players he inherited never bought in or had serious attitude problems (costner). i may be wrong, i’ve seen so many talented players that haven’t developed what so ever in their career at NCSU. but, i can see improvement in the young folks we have now…

    as far as going 4-12, i strongly disagree. my worst case prediction would be 6 wins.. with eleven games remaining, ten being ACC.. to get 4 out of those shouldn’t be out of the question. best case, we’ll get 6 out of 10. and that shouldn’t be too far out of the question. but i certainly will enjoy the wins we do get from here on out, i’m just slightly more optimistic!!

  9. Wolfy__79 01/24/2010 at 9:56 PM #

    i’d hate to see us drop one at home to unc-ch. from what i’ve seen so far this year, it will be a game.. we’re not mature enough to really put teams away every time. 1-1 out of the next two is a possiblity and not the end of the world, unless beating unc-ch and losing to central is what you are referring to? but point being, 2-5 is UGLY, but that doesn’t completely kill our season.

  10. MA Wolfpack 01/24/2010 at 10:30 PM #

    61, well we are going to beat Central so I do not really consider that a win. Your question revolves around the UNC game.

    Honestly, they are much more talented than we are, and they have a ton of size. With that said, they are extremely weak at PG which gives us a chance. Unfortunately, I expect Drew to have a good game because we do not have anyone that will bother him and force him into turnovers. It is easy to notice that we are weak offensively at PG, but we are extremely weak defensively at PG.

    I expect we will be underdogs in this game (probably 3 pts), but we can beat them. I’ll be thrilled with a win, but I expect UNC to beat us. So 2-0 would be a fantastic week, but I do not think any NCSU fan should be surprised if we lose on Tuesday.

    Wolfy_79, 6-10? That’s asking a lot out of a team that does not have a single legit ACC starter at guard. We have 4 solid bench/role players, but none of those guys are ACC starters. That is not a bad thing….we need these players too, but Harrow and Brown will change NCSU’s competitiveness.

  11. Wolfy__79 01/25/2010 at 1:47 AM #

    well its not hard to notice that i’m one of few PACK fans that is optimistic with the current situation. i only state my opinion b/c it gets a little old hearing the constant blasting that goes on amongst alumni/fans/the other side. NCSU is probably one of the toughest jobs in the ACC, mainly b/c of us, we have very high expectations… which i wouldn’t have it any other way.. and we have a long-deserved better than what we’ve put into our athletic program. however, i remain highly optimistic.

    grabbing 6 out of 10 will be tough. but i’m certainly not ruling it out. we know our team much better than last year’s team. last year, we didn’t really know what we had, we thought we did. we surviving a stretch that includes as you mentioned, javi/degand/juls/notACCcaliber type at the point. everyone knows this, me for sure, i’m not blind. but i’m well past that, it started earlier this season. it was tough to swallow, but if you forget their limitations but not your expectations.. then you will be pleased. we don’t have the best backcourt in the conference, not even the state.. but what i’ve seen fromt them thus far in the season leads me to believe that they can very well finish .500 in conference play. don’t get me wrong, it will be very tough but its doable. a loss tuesday night would be pretty crappy, but sooner or later these kids will get back to their inspired play.. it may happen during the game. they want to WIN. we may not have the record to show it, yet i say we could be playing like a top five ACC team heading into the conf tourney.. in GREENSBORO. welcome home ACC TOURNEY.

  12. Wolfy__79 01/25/2010 at 1:58 AM #

    as far as unc-ch being more talented than we are? you can say that, but i haven’t seen anything that leaps out at me.. aside from a mcdonald’s all american sticker. but sure, they’ve got talent.. they don’t play that way, and they struggle in half court sets. i’m not at all intimidated by this team, nor their team from last year. hansbra is a garbage hack artist. when they had felton, now there is one of there better players. i wasn’t all that impressed with lawson but he was good. back to the current situation, yes they have alot of size. kind of like we were two years ago… and NO point guard. we’ve got a better makeshift backcourt than they have, if roy went with his smaller lineup then they would be better.. oh yeah, they don’t have one. defensively, they will try to disrupt us, and may even get ahead. i think we prevail however, another second half route is my prediction!

  13. TOB4PREZ 01/25/2010 at 9:17 AM #

    It’s Sid’s fault we beat Duke, and the players fault we lost to Md.

    *that’s my attempt at an outlandish comment akin to some in here saying Sid’s the reason we lost to Md*…. ie- you can’t have your cake and eat it too.

    Sid is a fine “In-Game” coach, and I can reference a MULTITUDE of games to prove my point where we trailed big at half and either came back to win or made games out of them…. that’s called MAKING ADJUSTMENTS people, and Sid is damn good at it. I’m supremely convinced (by their own words) that the vast MAJORITY of folks that want Sid gone are either babbling morons when it comes to basketball knowledge, were disappointed in the initial hire, or thought Herb was/is a God, because for those of us WITH knowledge of the game, it’s quite OVERT that Sid is going to be the man once he gets a legitimate PG on the roster.

  14. Classof89 01/25/2010 at 10:20 AM #

    Given that I thought we’d start 0-7 in the ACC after losing at home to Virginia, 2-5 after a loss to UNC just puts us back about where I expected this team to be preseason, so beating UNC for 3-4 start in ACC would be a bonus. From standpoint of mental preparation of team for UNC, I like the whupping Maryland put on us–we should be ornery and embarrassed going into the Carolina game, which is where you want to be.

  15. Mike 01/25/2010 at 11:02 AM #

    We beat Duke in a game we should have lost on paper. Fortunately, we dont play on paper, we play on TV sets.

    We have UNX around the corner.

    This was a classic trap game, coming off a huge win with the rival 2 games away. We were probably looking ahead – no fault of anyone. It is human nature to do that. It was “only” Maryland. This is why coaches preach “one game at a time”. Many of you were talking NCAA because we put it all together for one night. ONE GAME AT A TIME FOLKS, PLEASE.

  16. MA Wolfpack 01/25/2010 at 11:53 AM #

    Agree Classof89 about our mindset heading into tomorrow. Sat night should have brought the team back to reality.

  17. ldr of the pk 75 01/25/2010 at 12:45 PM #

    Team shot 30 some percent FG’s, and our stellar guards shot 20 something. When does a coach say, “next one of you guards to shoot and miss, from any range let alone long range, is on the bench” ?

    Of course then who do you use? My opinion is, anyone, cause those clowns contributed nothing.

    Team FG % FT % 3Pt%, absolutely unacceptable, I don’t care if you’re a Frosh or Senior.

  18. whope90 01/25/2010 at 2:01 PM #

    Hoping for 6-10 and stating the state job is a tough one to me is a copeout. If Va bennent can walk in the acc and start 3-1, what does that show for NC State? Don’t we have a better basketball history? Aen’t we the ones that started the ACC to begin with? Aren’t we the ones that ending UCLA’s run? ARen’t we the ones whom invented the Cardiac pack in 83? Aren’t we the ones whom beat a UNC team in the 1987 finals? Arent’ we the ones recently went to five straight NCAA”S and now for four years nothing? Aren’t we the ones with a fine RBC arena, budget and fantical fans that care and give money and alot of it? Aren’t the football and basketball arenas some of the best in the country? Have we nout build a virtual new campus off avert ferry road? To say that th”stae job is tough”is a major copeout and support for el Sid. Let’s face it, he was not qualified for the job, did not have a college degree, and no college head coaching experience and won by default due to a poor coaching search by our fine athletic director.

    Every job in life is tough, to succeed and you have to work at it,but we
    needed a qualified coach,and they are out there not someone whom states after each loss,”we missed shots”. Heck any poor cow farmer knows that? loll

    The UNC game is a must win! IF we loss the wheels on the season will come off! It is a shame that the young guns don’t have a solid head coach. imagine how good and how well off this program would be.

  19. MA Wolfpack 01/25/2010 at 2:27 PM #

    whope90, let’s see where UVA finishes before you start giving them credit for doing anything. UVA’s not going to the tournament and they will be lucky to get to 6-10 in the ACC this season. How is that going to look after starting 3-0? They better hope like crazy they take care of NCSU at home next week.

  20. Wolfy__79 01/25/2010 at 7:05 PM #

    you can face whatever facts you want, our program has taken some severe knocks over the past two decades. since you must evaluate sid on such a limited scale, then hear this, he is bringing in a kickass class next year! and if he doesn’t do well with them, he himself will move on. if that is all he does for us then that is good enough!

1 2 3 4

Leave a Reply