Previewing State @ Wake (Updated 10am Sat)

The Pack travels to Wake Forest tomorrow in a match-up of two extremely young squads who will battle to stay out of the ACC cellar all season. The game is at noon and will be televised on your local RLF (Raycom/Lincoln Financial affiliate).

I truly believe that State CAN win at Wake Forest tomorrow. If Engin Atsur was 100% healthy I would actually feel confident that State WOULD win at Wake Forest. Unfortunately for the Pack, the Deacons provide a legitimate and significant match-up challenge due to the number of bodies that Skip Prosser has at his disposal.

Wake doesn’t have many top flight studs on the roster, but they definitely have tenish guys that who are serviceable and can provide minutes. These guys played in waves against Boston College and – bad news for State – had enough horsepower to press the Eagles the entire second half while creating a lot of turnovers, havoc and easy baskets. This is the worst possible match-up for the Pack.

With this said, I expect Sidney Lowe to somewhat bite the bullet and play more guys off the Wolfpack’s bench. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a little more of Bryan Neiman, Trevor Ferguson, and even some of the football players that have joined the squad. I don’t expect much offensive impact from these guys…but, we desperately need some bodies to play good defense, rebound and provide some rest for the starters.

Similarly, Skip Prosser is expected to shake-up the Demon Deacons’ general routine as well. Prosser has hinted that Wake’s “tendency to sleepwalk through the first half might mean some changes in the starting lineup” after Boston College took at 23 point lead on the Deacons Tuesday night; Wake has trailed at halftime eight times this season.

That might mean Drum (6-foot-6), who has the experience to keep the Deacons focused early on, could replace 6-8 freshman Jamie Skeen (North Mecklenburg High), who hasn’t scored in two straight games.

As always, S6 has the statistical preview that we like to highlight and use to piggy-back our comments on. S6’s first set of comments echo my previous observation:

Probable Starters (Nine different Deacs have started a game this season, so bear with me

Not to bring up very many bad memories, but this link will take you to the last time that State and Wake squared off against each other. Just remember that no matter how bad it feels this year – we are only in year one. There is plenty of time to improve upon the following performance (that doesn’t even include State’s ACC Tournament loss to the Deacs last year).

wake

Updated Saturday, 10am
We already knew that Engin Atsur would be out for today’s game, but there are a couple of other items out there that are worth connecting to this entry.

‘As the novelty of “Hey, N.C. State’s not as bad as we thought,” wears off’, the N&O’s ACCNow Blog highlights some points echo many of our comments in recent weeks.

In the past three games, UNCG, a team that normally makes 32 percent of its 3s, made 44 percent in an overtime loss; BC, last in the ACC at 33 percent from 3, made 40 percent; Clemson, normally a 34-percent team, hit 52 percent.

Obviously, playing only six players and chasing shots from the outside for 38 to 40 minutes per game is physically draining and major reason for both the defensive and rebounding deficiencies, but it’s not the only reason, Lowe said.

“Our initial defense hasn’t been that bad. But we have to control the boards. Second opportunities have hurt us. It’s not over until you rebound.”

I understand his point since many of the open three-point looks have come on second and third opportunities, but his comments that ‘initial defense hasn’t been THAT BAD’ isn’t a ringing endorsement that initial defense has been good.

* The Wilmington Star News lists the Pack as #11 in the ACC just in front of Miami (who is currently 2-1 in the conference).

06-07 Basketball General

36 Responses to Previewing State @ Wake (Updated 10am Sat)

  1. packbackr04 01/12/2007 at 12:19 PM #

    BY THE WAY… the one whos name we shall not mention’s team is on a 6 game skid. i watched them play last night, and they really do look worse than we do…. really. it isnt pretty

  2. wolfonthehill 01/12/2007 at 12:35 PM #

    At this point, UNC-G provides match-up problems for us.

    At home, I like our chances against Wake. On the road, we’ve been…. not so good. Hopefully that changes tomorrow.

  3. wolfonthehill 01/12/2007 at 12:37 PM #

    And for the record, we beat Michigan when Bryan Nieman was getting significant minutes. Barring injury, he should be getting a lot more time than he is, if only to give other guys a rest. He couldn’t possibly make worse ball-handling decisions or play worse defense than the starters have been offering up the past few weeks.

  4. tvp 01/12/2007 at 1:00 PM #

    ^I think Sid is realizing that. I understand his reluctance to play a guy who was honorable mention all conference as a senior in high school, but his hand is being forced.

  5. Redblogger 01/12/2007 at 1:06 PM #

    I saw the game last night, coached by “He who must not be named” And I heard a lot of comments from the announcers saying things like this.

    “That was a well executed play to get the open three, but they just can’t make’m drop”

    I thought I was in a time warp.

  6. BoKnowsNCS71 01/12/2007 at 1:12 PM #

    “coached by “He who must not be named”

    You know it’s like we have a real bad case of “herbies”

    It goes away but keeps coming back. The STD (sports transmitted disaffection) around.

  7. RickJ 01/12/2007 at 1:21 PM #

    Astur has already been ruled out of tomorrow’s game. Since we don’t have a midweek game next week, hopefully he’ll be ready for Duke after a two week rest.

  8. ChuckAllYall 01/12/2007 at 1:22 PM #

    BoKnowsNCS71,

    That’s downright disturbing and I love it.

  9. BJD95 01/12/2007 at 1:25 PM #

    We could be playing Duke for last place then!

  10. Dan 01/12/2007 at 1:25 PM #

    You guys need to put down the haterade. Seriously.

    I was actually impressed by his game plan last night. He actually went to some multiple play sets, and I even saw a match up zone. One thing is for sure, they play hard on defense. They really had a chance to knock off the #15 team in the country last night.

    However, one thing looked painfully familiar. With a few seconds to go they called a timeout to set up the potentially game tying possession. What happens after the timeout? Another TO, but this one was a turnover. He still hasnt drawn up a decent play. The offense works in its flow sometimes, but man do they struggle setting up individual plays out of timeouts.

  11. TNCSU 01/12/2007 at 1:30 PM #

    I guess Marques Johnson is already practicing with the team. At 6-5, he’ll be a big PG, but he supposedly has a nice shot, too. Any other scouting report?? We’re going to have a lot of 6’4″ – 6’6″ guards next year with the addition of Thomas, Johnson to add to Fells, Grant, and Degand, and Ferguson. I tend to doubt Degand and Ferguson will see alot of playing time…any thoughts?

  12. BJD95 01/12/2007 at 1:33 PM #

    Degand will be our ONLY PG for the first 7 games. I expect he and MJ will basically split time after that. But he almost certainly WILL play significant minutes. He is performing pretty well in practice, apparently. He is supposed to be better than Ferguson.

  13. TomA 01/12/2007 at 1:38 PM #

    Also NCSU can win if they get the same free throw stats that UNC had against Virginia earlier. UVA 8-11 UNC 26-41 But of course it all happened to work out that way in the natural process of the game…

  14. TNCSU 01/12/2007 at 1:45 PM #

    I agree that Degand will be the PG for the beginning of the season, but I don’t think Sidney would have taken a transfer if he thought he would play behind Degand — in addition, I don’t think Johnson would have transferred. The reason was that he wanted PT, baby! Therefore, my bet is that he will be the starter after the first 7 — I could be wrong, though.

    ^^UVA 8-11 UNC 26-41 I’m sorry, I just don’t believe UVa fouled 4 times more than UNC, but I’m sure Dick Vitale will explain that it is because UNC players are such great athletes, that it forces the other team to foul! Maybe partly true, but Singletary got mugged driving the lane toward the end of the game, and even the announcers mentioned, “How was that not a foul?” — Because of the baby blue uniforms, that’s why!!

  15. Andy 01/12/2007 at 1:56 PM #

    In fairness to Herb he did inherit an 11-17 team that lost its two leading scorers.

  16. StateFans 01/12/2007 at 1:57 PM #

    Hansbrough picked up his FIRST FOUL after playing TWENTY TWO MINUTES.

    Of course, it was just the natural flow of the game.

  17. packbackr04 01/12/2007 at 1:59 PM #

    TNCSU- not be a baby, but it seems SId has been getting NO LOVE from the ACC refs this year. is this just me. and again i am no whiner. it definitely is our play that is costing us games but we sure arent getting much help/ i am just making an observation and seeing what others think.

  18. TNCSU 01/12/2007 at 2:14 PM #

    I don’t think it is outright blatant, but having watched ACC basketball for almost 30 years, I DO think UNC (and Duke) gets its share of calls. Hansbrough is a fouling machine and rarely gets called. I’m not whining about it, just my observations. It’s the same in any sport, really — Michael Irvin rarely got called for Offensive Pass Interference, Roger Clemens gets the called strike over a rookie 2B, but Barry Bonds gets the ball called over a rookie pitcher. I think Roy and Coach K both get the “nod” on close calls – sometimes. I think Coach Lowe will start to get some of those calls as he becomes familiar with ACC officiating and the refs. Just my thoughts, I have no problem getting called for fouls against the Heels or Duke — especially if it’s a HARD foul! 🙂

  19. choppack1 01/12/2007 at 2:23 PM #

    yea, but Hansborough only been around for 1 year and change. Wake Forest had a guy aggressive like Hansborough – his name was Darious Songalia – he usually got to play a few minutes before getting into foul trouble.

    Interesting to see how the team responds to wake. We can beat these guys if we play w/intensity the entire game.

  20. packbackr04 01/12/2007 at 2:29 PM #

    chop^ you really hit on something there, and it is something we have been unable to do most of the year, and that is to put 2 halves together and play a complete game.

  21. highstick 01/12/2007 at 2:59 PM #

    “In all fairness”, Herb left us with less than he inherited, but we can also point a finger at our esteemed AD Foulup for dragging out the process so long, we got the short end of the recruiting stick this year. Just wonder how Herb would have done with this group.

    I’m trying to forget him too, but since this was mentioned………….

  22. BoKnowsNCS71 01/12/2007 at 3:29 PM #

    Last year was really a down year for Wake — everyone beat them (but us).

    Visser and Drum are the only Srs. No Jrs. Prosser did well initially using the former coach’s recruits but (so far) does not seem to be delivering at WF.

    I think we need to see an A game from our guys regardless.

  23. GAWolf 01/12/2007 at 3:56 PM #

    Just realized this week it was Hansbrough. Like Choppack I had been giving the guy more vowels than he deserves.

  24. tvp 01/12/2007 at 4:43 PM #

    One of my best friends is an Oregon fan. I saw the score to their game was close, and congratulated him on escaping with an ugly win over ASU. His response was telling: “I know it was a 3 point game all down the stretch, but at no point was I ever afraid we would lose.”

    Buddy…I know the feeling…if you replace “afraid we would lose” with “confident we would win.”

  25. highstick 01/12/2007 at 5:27 PM #

    Hansborough fouls everytime he breathes, but he doesn’t get called for it. Of course, the game has changed for the worse and I’m old as dirt. I think he needs to be renamed, Hansborilla!!!

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