Because he deserves to have his picture featured!!!

Had to throw this up this morning because Ralston Turner definitely deserves it!

Link to N&O recap.

With 23 points from Turner, who started for injured T.J. Warren, that’s just what the Wolfpack got at PNC Arena, a 65-56 decision over the Terrapins.

Turner made five 3-pointers, all during the second half, to lift the Wolfpack (12-7, 2-4) to its second win against Maryland since 2006. The Terps, who are leaving for the Big Ten in June, got a going-away present – complete with some N.C. State fans chanting “ACC! ACC!” as they exited the court – on Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried’s 50th birthday.

“Our guys were determined, they were absolutely determined not to lay down,” Gottfried said. “It was a great win for our group.”

Warren, who averages an ACC-best 22.2 points per game, injured an ankle late in Saturday’s loss to Duke, Gottfried said. He was unable to practice Sunday and was gimpy in the shoot-around Monday afternoon. Without Warren, the Pack relied on Turner, who made a pair of 3-pointers – the second at 8 minutes, 50 seconds in the second half – to put the Wolfpack ahead for good.

Turner also scored eight straight points after Maryland (11-8, 3-3) had cut N.C. State’s lead to 54-53 with a putback by sophomore forward Charles Mitchell, who finished with 18 rebounds.

Turner has been ON FIRE over the last few weeks – hitting almost 50% of his three point attempts over the last few weeks. Despite his shooting prowess, Turner’s playing time has been limited by sloppy play that has been marred by lackadaisical turnovers and generally awful defense. Not last night!

From bill.onthebeach:

1. ANTHONY and Tyler had ZERO turnovers…
2. Dez LEE played great defense
3. Turner hit some three pointers…

AND
Our BIGS…. Vandenberg, Anya, Freeman played forty minutes of fearless ball under the basket….

AND with fewer options to choose from….
Our Coaches didn’t get creative or boneheaded and try something risky with the game coming down to the wire.

We finished the game at 40% shooting after 20% in the first half… but even in the first half we were doing all the right things most of time — the shots just weren’t falling. Contrast that with the last several games where we weren’t doing anything right and it didn’t matter whether the shots were failing or not.

Overall…. except for that dead spot from 15 -8 minutes in the first… we played the most consistent Team ball on both ends we have played this season.

Now… don’t go buy your Eastern Regional tickets just quite yet… the kids are young and they are going to suck again more than a few times before this season is over. But they will NEVER FORGET how it felt to walk off the court tonight AS THE WINNING TEAM (not the same thing as a bunch of guys who scored more points than the other bunch of guys) AND they will use that as they continue to improve.

There were a lot of TV shots of Cuz sitting over there on the bench in his street clothes. When the rest of the bench was jumping up and cheering, Cuz just sat there and smiled a little…. For us to be the best TEAM we can be… Cuz needs to be a leader…. I’m sorry I didn’t see more of that tonight.

If it takes two or three games for his ankle to heal 100%… he should use the time to work on his leadership skills. Some of us haven’t forgotten some of the things that went on last season and Cuz knows what I am talking about.

Now that we have done this ONE TIME…. what we have GOTT to figure out how to do this night after night and with Cuz on floor too.

Tonight against the TWERPS was nothing more and nothing less than one big step in the right direction.

God Bless you Lefty — where ever you are.

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13-14 Basketball

Home Forums Because he deserves to have his picture featured!!!

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 30 total)
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  • #38034
    StateFans
    Keymaster

    Had to throw this up this morning because Ralston Turner definitely deserves it! Link to N&O recap. With 23 points from Turner, who started for injure
    [See the full post at: Because he deserves to have his picture featured!!!]

    #38036
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    After I fell asleep at halftime…I hope somebody was perpetuating the Black Scott Wood meme.

    #38047
    Packzingo
    Participant

    Well, I found a new way for the Pack to pull out a win, fall asleep at half time!!!! I have to admit, I didn’t have high expectations following the Terps 1 for 11 shooting and still only 5 pts behind. Then to have that three fall right at the half to go down by 9 …….. scoring only 20 in the first half, it just looked pretty dismal. Then, to wake up to see on the news we won…….what???? Great to see RT have some shots fall and build some confidence plus much better play from the Bigs and Lee…..

    #38051
    Texpack
    Participant

    I’ve been tough on Turner all season. This morning he deserves lots of kudos. Maybe he just needs more minutes to get into the rhythm of the game.

    I continue to be encouraged by the play of the young big men. This is not a group of young Sudhops or even Watts, these guys are going to be an absolute nightmare for the rest of the league going forward.

    Dez “Switchblade” Lee deserves a lot of credit for both his defense last night and his junkyard toughness. His decision to give the ball up to Washington for the jam instead of taking the points himself added a lot of energy to the early part of the second half.

    Hopefully Warren will be back soon. I’m not sure we can win too many with the cast we had last night.

    #38052
    oakcity
    Participant

    Yesterday it was “We lost to Duke, fire Gottfried!” Now, its “TJ wasn’t enough of a leader while he was injured on the bench”? Geez.

    #38054
    wilmwolf80
    Participant

    It is amazing how two different people can watch the same thing, and see completely different things. I saw TJ doing a great job of leading from the bench. He was in on the huddles, talking with the guys, giving them advice. He was cheering from the bench. No, he wasn’t jumping up and down with the walk-ons, but he does have a sprained ankle, so there is that. I’ve been impressed with how demonstrative and vocal TJ has been lately. He’s gotten fired up emotionally many times this year so far. I personally like his quiet assassin persona. That makes it all the more meaningful when he gets emotional, and the guys listen. As for the game, big props for the defensive intensity in the second half, and for guys actually moving and working the offense, in addition to pushing the ball in transition. Much like last year’s team, we have shown that the guys are capable of playing lock-down defense. It is just a matter of making that happen for two halves of basketball in the same game. Props to all of the guys for the effort last night, it was a big win.

    #38057
    PapaWolf
    Participant

    Agree, and perhaps TJ was not happy because Gott kept him on the bench – in the best interests of both TJ and the team.

    I’ve got no major complaints about last night. Could we have played better, yes we could. They got too many open threes. Had we defended the three better, the game would not have been close. But that’s the deal. We shut down Wells pretty well, and missed those open shots from the corner. We also could have rebounded better. They out rebounded us by 9.

    But we played all 8 guys at least 10 minutes. Every player scored and everyone but Tyler got a rebound.

    Coach K said he thought we were a really good team. I think he’s right, we’ve just got to put all of the pieces together. It’s going to take time. I still think we are an NIT team this year, but we’re going to be a handful next year and the year after if we can just keep everyone in Raleigh. (excepting, of course, TJ)

    #38059
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    You can’t criticize Buckets for his baseline personality. A quiet guy/introvert is gonna be a quiet guy/introvert. Trying to force somone into a fiery talker will only come off as fake and forced.

    More than one way to inspire and lead, folks.

    #38062
    ryebread
    Participant

    Agreed about Warren BJD. I think he’s just a different personality type. Part of what makes him such a silent assassin is that he’s silent. We can’t love it on one side and hate it another. That’s not fair to him. If he has an ankle sprain, he shouldn’t be jumping up and down on it.

    The team gutted out a must win game last night. They pulled together, gave it high effort across the board without their best player.

    The defense was significantly better than it has been all year. I thought Des Lee played great fundamental defense against Des Wells.

    And Turner? What’s not to love? He’s been on fire recently and really stepped up last night. It’s much easier to do that when you’re the second option than when you are the first.

    The freshman big men will be up and down this year. I think by the time they’re juniors, they’re going to be one of those Big East styled, physical, mature front lines. In the new look ACC, we’re going to need that. The key will be stacking up some similar kids behind them.

    I would be remiss not to mention my general opinion of Maryland. I think they should be staying in the ACC, but given they’re leaving, I was happy to send them off with a loss. I think they’re really going to struggle in the Big 10 because I think Turgeon’s a bad coach and I think they’re generally trending downward in the ACC. Every year that Gary’s legacy becomes more of a memory, the harder things are going to be for them. I’m so thankful we didn’t get the Turg.

    #38063
    tjfoose1
    Participant

    I posted this in the Maryland preview entry on the main blog, which may not get too much traffic the day after the game. This is too important to leave stranded out there.

    Speaking of Ana’s… I’ve suggested to a few friends that, in the spirit of Title IX, the NCAA should make this (technically SFW) a sanctioned women’s sport. It obviously requires more athletic ability, strength, and fitness than many of the current sports. Trust me, as you watch it, this will become clear. It also has the added bonus of likely creating a brand new revenue sport.

    Oh well, it’s a thought.

    #38064
    Fastback68
    Participant

    There is some smoke in that pile of kindling. Had no idea that TJ had a sprained ankle from the Duke game. Since I don’t know which was better, State hitting shots, driving hard to the rim initiating contact and winning without Buckets over the turtles versus the ESPN scroll about Will Richardson switching from TOB to the Pack, I am going to just sit here with my coffee and smile about both. There were a lot of frustrating losses in 1983. Just saying!!!

    #38065
    tjfoose1
    Participant

    ^ You get that kindling from Colorado?

    #38066
    LRM
    Keymaster

    Big win. Huge difference between 1-5 and 2-4 in this ACC.

    #38067
    jbpackfan
    Participant

    Watch the Gopack.com celebration video. Warren is as happy as any other player. I think he’s probably just a quiet guy, not very demonstrative, but he wants his team to win.

    The first half of the game was really rough- seemed like without Warren State had absolutely nothing. Great second half, totally sparked by defense. Credit Gottfried and staff for the energy and improved play. Turner getting hot obviously was huge.

    When State makes a couple plays on D and gets out running, the team just comes alive. They’ve got to keep that energy up throughout.

    #38070
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    For the record, I think we should replace the “NNNNNNN….CCCCCCC……State. NC STATE!” cheer with “Blaaaaaack…Scottttttt….Wood. BLACK SCOTT WOOD!”

    Make it so, people who attend live.

    #38071
    Fastback68
    Participant

    Thanks foose. LMAO. Willing to share kindling or angel dust cigars next football season but may not have to with a real o-line. PP this morning says we are now done with PACK14 and are now turning recruits away. Plus with fewer schollies we are going to be more selective with PACK15. Perhaps I am sleep toking.

    #38073
    pakfanistan
    Participant

    For the record, I think we should replace the “NNNNNNN….CCCCCCC……State. NC STATE!” cheer with “Blaaaaaack…Scottttttt….Wood. BLACK SCOTT WOOD!”

    Make it so, people who attend live.

    I think BSW needs to die. It was more or less absent last night, and Turner went crazy.

    Also, Turner put the ball on the floor and went to the rim a few times, and pump faked a couple of times, which is something WSW never learned to do.

    #38075
    tjfoose1
    Participant

    Don’t you mean BLACK SCOTT WOO?

    #38080
    BJD95
    Keymaster

    True dat, Foose.

    #38081
    MrPlywood
    Participant

    I loved the play at about 2:50 left, when Barber split the pressure D and fed Turner for another 3 putting State up 7. We’ve been missing that kind of clutch play.

    #38083
    Rick
    Keymaster

    Turner played a good game and he was a big reason why we won but he was hardly “on fire”. He shot 5-15 from the three. Just sayin’

    I thrilled with this win. I about turned off the TV at the beginning of the second half but am glad I toughed it out. Maybe they can build off this win. Must….not….hope

    #38085
    budfox88
    Participant

    I watch a game, we get creamed, I pay no attention, we win with heart. This is my conundrum! I’m like the basement dude on the Bud commercial…

    #38086
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Ralston certainly does deserve to have his picture featured. Well done, young sir.

    And Ukraine got Talent. As for making that a sanctioned sport:

    #38087
    TheCOWDOG
    Moderator

    Turner has some moments that when he squares up, is a better than 5-15 shooter. Ya can’t beat clutch, though.

    Foose has given us a tip as to what happens to all those little Russian gymnists when they mature.

    I believe the bald judge was our very own Packer In Russia. Or, he was the lickin’ his lips in row 5.

    #38088
    Wufpacker
    Participant

    Turner definitely came up clutch in the 2nd half last night, as did a few others. Well done. I’ll refrain from comments re: future expectations based upon the performance, however, as I wouldn’t want to ruin the mood.

    Speaking of moods….Ukraine Pole Dancing FTW. I’m in favor. Or is it fervor?

    And LOL @ PIR being at the judge’s table. But I’d more suspect him as the mousy dude far right, hiding the raging semi under the table while he tries to deliver a measured response to the blonde hottie in black leather.

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