20 Wins! State Advances in NIT (Updated Sat 4:30pm)

“The atmosphere in Reynolds hasn’t lost anything.”

ACCNow Blog Entry

NC State’s Red Coat Revival continued on a night where Reynolds Coliseum was rocking, and the officiating was even more unstable as the ‘not-good-enough-for-the-Big-Dance’ zebras lost control of the game in the in the second half. In a season where NC State didn’t have a player called for a single technical foul, the YMCA referees from Hillsborough Street deemed it necessary to call two technicals on NC State players in the same game?!

NC State’s 11th NIT Appearance is shaping up to be a good one. The Wolfpack controlled 80% of Friday night’s game and led the last 32 minutes and 12 seconds to defeat Marist 69-62.

The win was particularly satisfying to many old-school Wolfpackers who found it hard to swallow that NC State lost its last meaningful game in the Old Barn when Herb Sendek’s 1999 Wolfpack fell victim to Princeton in the NIT. As opposed to the last NIT game played in Reynolds, tonight’s match-up only had one team on the floor who thought that the role of center is to float around the three-point line. Tonight’s win now means that program may have won its last meaningful game in the building.

Fans who tried to watch the game on ESPNU were met with quite a surprise when ESPNU chose to stick with Live coverage of the NCAA Wrestling Championships. Ultimately, the channel switched to the game 25 minutes late (9:55) and with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half. It is hard to understand how/why ESPN had the right/power to dictate the day and starting time of our game if they weren’t going to actually televise it!

State now advances to the NIT Quarterfinals where to play West Virginia for the second time time this season. In early December, West Virginia defeated State 71-60 in one of the Wolfpack’s first games without Engin Atsur. The rematch of the Wolfpack and Mountaineers will take place on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and will be televised on ESPN (if it Tuesday) or ESPN2 (if Wednesday).

Some quick numbers to absorb:

* Sidney Lowe’s postseason record improves 5-1.

* The Red Blazer’s record improves to 5-1-1.

* NC State wins twenty games for the year.

* Sidney Lowe becomes the fourth NC State coach to record 20 wins in his first season. The previous ones were Les Robinson, Press Maravich, and Everett Case.

* NC State has appeared in six consecutive postseasons.

* With the win, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s 2007 postseason record improves to an impressive 10-2. In addition to the NCAA Tournament games, Florida State defeated the Big Ten’s Michigan earlier in the day to also advance to the NIT quarterfinals.

The last two comments left by our readers in this previous entry are very relevant to my comments. One comment is a review of the December’s State-WVU game and the other is an eye-witness account of Reynolds tonight.

I just got back from Reynolds. What a game. We all got to see the players up close and personal in the tight, small gym. The noise meter was not there, and neither did they turn off the lights prior to our introduction. But I passed these off as relating to the last-minuteness of all the preparations…

…I got my tix scalped, it was a bunch, and it was worth it ; } just a fun, fun environment. it seemed like the players decided to cheer us for supporting them when the game was over, seemed like a pleasant mutual gesture, us applauding them, and the players applauding their base.

You can click here for a link to some pictures taken of the evening.

Updated for Good Press:

* CBS Sportsline says that State is continues an “Exhasuting Run”

There’s still some magic left in Sidney Lowe’s red jacket — and in North Carolina State’s creaky Reynolds Coliseum.

Ben McCauley scored 19 points and the Wolfpack continued their exhausting, exhilarating postseason run with a 69-62 victory over Marist on Friday night in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Dennis Horner and Gavin Grant added 13 points apiece for N.C. State (20-15), which played its sixth game in nine days and improved to 5-1 in that span.

The weary Wolfpack fed off a raucous sellout crowd in a rare game at Reynolds, their venerable former home where a generation ago Lowe played point guard on the Jim Valvano-led team that won the 1983 national title.

* S6 always has the statstical recap.

Dennis Horner didn’t miss a shot, be it from the field or the line, and scored 13 points in 15 minutes–34.7 pts/40 minutes. Now that’s some scoring punch off the bench.

* The N&O’s Blog is all over One More Win in the Old Barn.

* The N&O’s newspaper also focused on the Wolfpack fans “Rocking Reynolds”

When N.C. State’s players padded onto the Reynolds Coliseum court Friday night for warm-ups, thousands of red-clad Wolfpack fans rose and gave them a standing ovation.

Coach Sidney Lowe appeared later — in his red coat — and received a roaring standup cheer from the capacity crowd of 8,400. This was a resounding tribute to a resilient, underdog team that turned February frustration into a few festive days in March.

Reynolds

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06-07 Basketball General

74 Responses to 20 Wins! State Advances in NIT (Updated Sat 4:30pm)

  1. CaptainCraptacular 03/17/2007 at 2:00 PM #

    *I wish that game had been televised because I’d really like to see it.*

    It was televised in my hometown. I remember being in disbelief at the whole thing. Didn’t Gannon go crazy in that game? I looked it up, TG was 7 for 8 from the short 3pt line.

    http://www.sportsstats.com/ACC/boxlines/WFU/1983

  2. beowolf 03/17/2007 at 2:16 PM #

    Wow, 74 points in the second half. That’s more than Arizona State scored in a game all year.

  3. noah 03/17/2007 at 2:24 PM #

    I have a tape of that WFU game somewhere. It was a Raycom/JP game.

    The officiating in the NIT is always awful. I remember a game against Providence in the NIT in 1999 that was particularly horrible. At one point, six of the 10 players on the floor were lying down nursing wounds and there weren’t any calls.

  4. VladsCross 03/17/2007 at 2:24 PM #

    I do believe that I was excited about being in attendance at that game last night as I was any in a very long time. No doubt the hottest ticket in the triangle. I was sitting on the very top row in the corner turn of the south endzone and the noize coming off all the steel was deafening. Ya gotta love it!

    Thanks beowolf for the image link. I think I’ll send it to a few tarhole fans.

  5. beowolf 03/17/2007 at 2:34 PM #

    Vlads, I have that game on tape. Great stuff. Wish I had the Wake game.

    I updated this thread with the other three Wolfpack coaches to win 20 games in their first year: Case, Maravich, and Robinson.

  6. Packster 03/17/2007 at 3:18 PM #

    Did anyone see when the camera cut to one of our female fans and she was giving the refs the finger??? I was at Amedeo’s and the place erupted when they showed that.

  7. ThomYorkepack 03/17/2007 at 3:20 PM #

    noah, I remember that Providence NIT game–I was there. The officiating in that game was even more horrendous that what we saw last night. How are officials “selected” for the NIT anyway?

    Last night Reynolds was just as I remembered it–very loud, cramped, and hot. But it sure felt like home to me. The entire experience–pregame, game, and the postgame ‘thank you’ to the fans by the players–was just fantastic and vintage Reynolds. I thank Sidney Lowe and this team for bringing back the pride and community in NC State basketball. What Sidney has done for this basketball program goes far beyond wins and losses. I just can’t wait to see what he has in store for us in the future, because to succeed with him as our head coach is about as good as it could get for me.

  8. stateleigh 03/17/2007 at 3:21 PM #

    Didn’t the “sit down” phrase start with, “Sit down Bones!”? As in Bones McKinney?

  9. noah 03/17/2007 at 3:30 PM #

    NIT refs are the ones who aren’t good enough to get picked to ref NCAA games. You’d do better to just have no refs and let the players call their own game, playground-style.

  10. ShootingGuard 03/17/2007 at 3:44 PM #

    “The pre-game speech, he doesn’t have the coat on, and sure enough, when he gets up to the big stage, he’s got it on,” McCauley said. “It’s pretty special, I think. He loves his school so much, to wear a red jacket like that, it shows he’s all about N.C. State.”

    Pretty much says it all about El Sid…

    The atmosphere was unbelieveable from 8:00pm until late in the second half when the totally biased and/or stupid pee wee refs let the game get way away from them and almost ruin a spectacular event for college basketball in general, the NIT, ESPNU, a potential rising star coach, and some potential rising star players—as well as a fanbase that puts the Cameron Crazies to shame as the utter dorks that they are!!

    The game at Morgantown is going to be incredibly tough. Hopefully, the guys get some rest and come out on fire from the outside vs the ‘eers. We’re going to need all pistons firing together like Hickory to pull this one out…

  11. Redblogger 03/17/2007 at 4:05 PM #
  12. Buddygreen 03/17/2007 at 4:29 PM #

    My two favorite Reynolds moments. As a kid with braces my orthodontist in Raleigh/Smithfield, Dr. Stone (great guy) gave my family tickets and we went to Reynolds. It was great!
    Next in 83, I had great seats behind the basket where Lowe passed between his legs behind him to a trailing Thurl Bailey who dunked it and the ball went through the basket and bounced off Sam Perkins head. What a game! My date at the game was a UNC B—– whom I ditched later that evening. That was our first victory against a Sam Perkins and Jordan UNC team that really started the ball rolling. People talk alot about Lowe, Witt, and Thurl from that team but Myers stepped up and was a very important key to our run. The person that really deserves lots of credit is Cozell McQueen without his great defense we don’t win squat. He held his own against Ralph Sampson, Buck Williams, Sam Perkins, and even Akeem in the championship amoung others. Cozell is my unsung hero from that team.

  13. noah 03/17/2007 at 4:54 PM #

    McQueen never played against Buck Williams unless he did it in a pick-up game.

    McQueen’s freshman year was the year after Williams went pro.

  14. noah 03/17/2007 at 4:56 PM #

    McQueen did “hold” Akeem to 20 points, 18 rebounds and seven blocks. 😀

  15. choppack1 03/17/2007 at 5:07 PM #

    20 Wins in his 1st year at NC State in a year we were picked to finish last in the conference…Fantastic job by Sidney and staff. It looked like the atmosphere was awesome last night.

    I haven’t read through this post or the other one, but at the point in the game when they called the Tech on Horner they panned through the crowd and showed a girl flipping the refs off…Good stuff! Folks, if you’ve never been to Reynolds, you can’t possibly understand how the atmosphere is in there.

  16. Astral Rain 03/17/2007 at 7:30 PM #

    That 3-pt line was WAY too close… Were foul shots worth 2 that year or something?

    Then again I think college should be the Olympic line…

  17. branjawn 03/17/2007 at 7:35 PM #

    The rematch of the Wolfpack and Mountaineers will take place on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and will be televised on ESPN (if it Tuesday) or ESPN2 (if Wednesday).

    Yahoo sports has the game listed at 9pm on Tuesday.

  18. branjawn 03/17/2007 at 7:41 PM #

    WV site has it at 9 on Tues as well. ESPN.com has it on Monday still.

  19. highstick 03/17/2007 at 9:54 PM #

    Noah, he also “held Akeem to a loss”!!!!!!!!!

  20. tractor57 03/18/2007 at 7:00 AM #

    And to this day I think Guy Lewis (the Houston coach) was a genius. Before the big game he said the team with the most dunks wins. 2-1 State.
    Bailey opened the game with a dunk and Charles ended it with a dunk.

  21. ShootingGuard 03/18/2007 at 3:00 PM #

    Didn’t Cozell have something like 15 rebounds in the final?? I remember it being a bunch. I would say he did his job…

  22. tcthdi-tgsf-twhwtnc 03/19/2007 at 3:10 PM #

    “The old school cheers were great.”

    Bring back the old football cheer that went something like:

    “We’re gonna womp that side the head, gonna womp that side the head.”

  23. gumbydammit 03/19/2007 at 11:11 PM #

    I was at the beach for the game, so listening to the Wolfpack sports network. Late in the game (after the Horner Technical), during a timeout where the WSN did not go to commercial, it wa great to just listen nothing but the crowd chanting a deafening “REF YOU SUCK!” over the radio for over 90 seconds. I love my alma mater.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. StateFans Nation » Blog Archive » Burleson Anniversary - 03/18/2007

    […] We’re big fans of looking back at history and randomly identifying anniversaries and such. In that light, I got the following quick email from a friend that I thought was interesting and needed to blog — “I saw Tommy Burelson at the Marist game Friday (March 16th) and told my friend not to forget that Tommy played a big role in getting the ball rolling last year. So, I went back into the SFN archives and look what I found that was blogged exactly one year ago on March 16, 2006 – Burleson says it’s time for a change. The contrast of where we were on eyear ago with the current ‘Red Coact Revival’ that is exemplified by the fans’ passion and support on Friday night is unbelievable.” […]

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