Pack Plays Well For an ENTIRE HALF! (Duke 92, NC State 72)

And naturally, we end the game down twenty and in complete surrender mode on defense. Have some pride to wear the uniform, and at least hit somebody if you don’t want to get into defensive or rebounding position. But don’t stand there holding your junk while a guy drives for an uncontested layup.

Not that I’m surprised, mind you. But that doesn’t stop me from being pissed.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

07-08 Basketball NCS Basketball

146 Responses to Pack Plays Well For an ENTIRE HALF! (Duke 92, NC State 72)

  1. #44 17 24 01/31/2008 at 11:25 PM #

    well…at least Javi got aggressive.

  2. senez 01/31/2008 at 11:27 PM #

    It’s hard to have so much enthusiasm when the refs have been jobbing you the entire half. I can’t blame them for some measurable frustration and letdown towards the end. The refs were absolutely ludicrous.

  3. sf59 01/31/2008 at 11:27 PM #

    duke came out on fire and took it to us, but jeez one of the most poorly officiated games i have seen in a long time. at least 12 complete horse shit calls …. and coutnless no call hand checks and fore arms…. seriously. we got our asses handed to us , but when its 8 on 5 for 40 minutes what do you expect.

  4. JeremyH 01/31/2008 at 11:28 PM #

    packgrad2000: that was sic.

    I know Javi foul trouble had A LOT to do with it our downfall, but the intensity just wasn’t there in the second half. There was a lot of heated play going on, I wonder what the rematch will be like in the RBC. I say if we don’t win that one we don’t deserve any post-season play.

  5. Sweet jumper 01/31/2008 at 11:28 PM #

    Sid and Gavin both sound frustrated in the post game interviews. I am with them.

  6. ncstu 01/31/2008 at 11:30 PM #

    BRING BACK SENDEK! THIS IS FRIKKIN EMBARASSING. I’D RATHER WATCH AL GORE MIME.

  7. BAC79 01/31/2008 at 11:30 PM #

    The refs didn’t make us quit. We did that on our own. I know its frustrating but get over it, move on offense and score.

  8. Trip 01/31/2008 at 11:30 PM #

    It’s probably hard to be motivated when Paulus can flop over on the ground and twitch a little for a foul, or kick the ball and it’s a turnover, add in hand checking, bumping, and you’ve got a recipe for frustration.

    Anyway, I’m going to ignore the 2nd half and pretend we won by 9 in the first half. This team just knows how to give me hope and then strip it away.

    Costner, I miss you.

  9. SaccoV 01/31/2008 at 11:31 PM #

    My biggest problem is that this team seems either incapable or unwillingness to assault a team at its weakspots. Javi refused to drive to the basket in the second half, which essentially gave us the lead in the first. JJ didn’t get the ball in the second half. One observation, Javi Gonzalez is, and therefore should be, our only point guard on the court. MJ is deficient in most every category. Very disheartening to watch a team build a lead against a good team on the road, and then piss the game away by doing everything possible NOT to maintain or increase their lead. Pathetic.

  10. ncstu 01/31/2008 at 11:32 PM #

    And for you you fellas blaming the refs…have you ever watched an ACC game at Duke or at UNC? what did you expect. College hoops is becoming a joke. Coach K sends his kids out there to maul you. Either do it back to them or quit like we do once every half every game.

  11. JeremyH 01/31/2008 at 11:36 PM #

    ncstu: by not complaining it will never change. remember when Coach K publicly complained about Chapel Hill getting favorable calls? We need to take a page out of his book. Coach K knows exactly what he is doing by knowing exactly what he can get away with.

  12. Sweet jumper 01/31/2008 at 11:36 PM #

    Sid said that they had a good game plan for the first 5 minutes of the second half and the players did not execute it. They completely abandoned the game plan and freelanced and got their asses kicked. Javi has definitely moved far ahead of MJ, but both point guards went under screens instead of over screens repeatedly in the second half and gave up multiple threes.

  13. bTHEredterror 01/31/2008 at 11:37 PM #

    Sid got beat off the bench in the second half. It didn’t help that Duke basically didn’t miss a three in the half either. When they did miss it went to a Devil. That dependence on the arc will haunt those bostages in the Tourneys though. I would have liked the Pack not to throw in the towel late, but there are still some things to work with even from this game.

    Early on, Javi looked in tune with things, but the constant assault wore him down mentally. I think our guys rode emotion as far as they could, but poor passing and some questionable calls (Two over the back calls and the Pele-us play) turned the tide on them. Costner made some mistakes, but he played hard. Fells had a tough night, and honestly it killed us. Grant came to play and Hickson was dominant on the glass until late. We were in the fight despite the run until about halfway thru the the 2nd half.

    I loved the delicious irony of the Duke fans throwing their shirts on the floor though!!!!

  14. JeremyH 01/31/2008 at 11:37 PM #

    And I’m not buying this “we quit” talk. Call it frustration, when absolutely nothing is going your way with no calling bumping, calling fouls that don’t exist, etc. I’m done.

  15. Ed89 01/31/2008 at 11:38 PM #

    When you are up by 9 at the half, and lose by 20, you did not make the right adjustments at halftime….(did you make any?) regardless of whether you are winning or losing, you have to make adjustments. I will not comment on the refereeing, as it played a huge part, but K simply out-coached Sid in the second half. I mean ugly. You can’t say we don’t match up that well. I don’t even think it is fundamentals, I think it is something deeper. Just not sure about where we’ll be in 3-4 years. I think our coach is in deeper than he thought. javi is an acc caliber player…and will keep improveing. johnson is a servicable 2nd stringer. we got outcoached and the referees did not help. it was blatant. you could see the duke players gain confidence when they continually hand-checked/fouled etc., while nothing was called, and then we would get called for “chippees”. i far and away despise duke and all their floppers much more than the light blue boys. i can not wait until k retires –even with the refs help, we got beat bad…very bad. being a state fan sux.

  16. westwolf 01/31/2008 at 11:38 PM #

    I’m proud of Javi’s improvement. He couldn’t sustain his willingness to drive to the lane in the second half, but he is looking much better.

    Marques, on the other hand, is a straight up liability. Has anyone on this board ever seen a D1 guard who simply can’t dribble with his left hand? Weird that a guy could get this far without being able to handle the ball.

    Carrot Top should get some more minutes.

    If Fells shows up at all, or if the refs call a decent game, we would have had a better outcome.

  17. wufpup76 01/31/2008 at 11:46 PM #

    once again, we decide NOT to play defense for an entire half and it cost us – big time …

    BAC is right, the refs didn’t make the guys wearing that nc state uniform quit … as soon as paulus made that behind the back pass to mr. all-america singler for a dunk that gave the green devils a 4 pt. lead i knew the game was over b/c our team would probably quit like pu**ies

    “BRING BACK SENDEK! THIS IS FRIKKIN EMBARASSING. I’D RATHER WATCH AL GORE MIME” … < this is an absolutely absurd comment … sendek recruited the players who quit in the second half … the players who are USED to rolling over and expecting to take it in the a** … the players who sidney brought in at least didn’t quit … gonzalez and hickson fought all the way

    listen to coach lowe’s comments and you would have heard all you needed to … state played with toughness and a purpose in the first half – especially on the defensive end and we crushed them on the boards … the team DOMINATED the first half … period … you have to give credit to duke in the second half, but not playing proper defense is a surefire way to lose and lose badly

    i’m proud of gonzalez and johnson both for fighting tonight, but they absolutely killed our momentum to start the second half … they combined to allow 5 wide open 3-pointers BEFORE the first tv timeout of the second half … inexcusable … sidney would call a timeout and tell them to not go under screens and the first thing they would each do is allow themselves to be screened and that little shit paulus killed us

    this can be a good team, but the growing pains have to go away in a hurry

    go pack

  18. Ed89 01/31/2008 at 11:48 PM #

    Why do you play Johnson? even as a backup? i don’t see it. use fells as the pg. i don’t think johnson gives you muchhe transferred for a reason…bruce pearl is sending us a thank you car for opening a scholarship, but that ain’t the reason we lost. acc basketball is a joke. it is money if duke and unc are 1/2…everything revolves around $….whether it is intentional or not, the refs swayed that game. i’m all for full background and financial checks for these guys. that being said, we gave up, and got outcoached. being a state fan sux.

  19. blpack 01/31/2008 at 11:56 PM #

    Use BC and Gavin to help with bringing the ball up the court if need be. We shouldn’t have troubles with that. We dribble too much out front. Need more passing & the other 4 guys have to work to get open. working the shot clock down is fine, but use it to find a good shot and work their defense. Shot selection is crucial. We are getting better, but we have to keep our cool and realize it is probably going to be 8 on 5 at Duke and UNC-ch. We have to play better and move forward despite that.
    Beat Wake!!

  20. CarnifeX 01/31/2008 at 11:57 PM #

    Anyone have a replay of the soccer stop that Paulus made? I didn’t know it was legal to stop the ball with your foot. You learn something everytime that you play Dook.

    Good first half; good effort in the first half of the second half. Nice 3 point shooting by Duke in the 2nd. I don’t blame the kids, the refs or the coaches. I think we made good strides in the game; we went to the line a lot more than they did. They made a lot more shots (3’s namely) in the second than we did.

    Bring on Wake. Lets go Sid, GO PACK!

  21. ncsukyle430 01/31/2008 at 11:58 PM #

    Anyone catch what the Crazies were screaming at JJ when hit was shooting FT’s?

  22. #44 17 24 02/01/2008 at 12:02 AM #

    Ok…Im sorry, but can we make it through one loss without blaming the refs. We all know that Duke will get 2/3 calls go there way, just because they are Duke, and it is embarrassing the way we played in the second half, but what makes it more unbearable is our fanbase always blaming someone else for oour poor play. Believe me, UNC and Duke fans love to hear us complain, because we do it all the time…anyways…to me, Sid has got two more chances to make me feel like we did right by hiring him, the home games against UNC and Duke. If he doesnt lead us to a win in at least one of those games, I’m ganna have to be more hard on him.

  23. buttPACKer 02/01/2008 at 12:02 AM #

    Bring back Sendek??!!!?!!? WTF.

    Before Sid is judged incompetent, I think he deserves at least, at least, 3 years. . . It is indeed Sendek’s legacy that his remaining recruits roll over in the face of adversity. . .

  24. 79statefan 02/01/2008 at 12:29 AM #

    For those saying that the officiating is not a factor. They have never played the game. You expect Duke to get the calls at home, but this was ridiculous. I am not ready to concede anything to the blue bast@rds. It is hard to take all the abuse and not retailiate with hard fouls. That is what you have to do, but it is still hard.

    The honeymoon is not over for me. I continue to see improvement from this bunch. We must learn to accept some of this Dark blue and Baby blue BS, but enough already. Let the player and coaches decide the game. The total meltdown at the end was embarassing, but it can be fixed.

    I for one will have hope as long as I see improvement.

  25. noidea 02/01/2008 at 12:32 AM #

    I love this team.

    Please. Do Not! pretend this team is something you are each surprised to see. We are young. Our guys show flashes of individual success we should all look forward too. We ARE NOT acc title contenders. Our preseason expectations were way off base. And Sid has this team learning and playing better each and every week. All things being equal, this team has overachieved. we rely on 2 freshman to be leaders, 2 2nd year players/starters to provide considerable minutes and points and a JR and SR who simply have never learned from players in front of them how to lead. That is our teams makeup. In my Opinion, which may be worthless, we are seeing a team improve each week, a team where guys are learning and getting better, and most importantly, a team that plays harder and harder each time on the floor.

    this team will be capable of good things at the end of this year. But this team is also a few years away from understanding how and what it takes to win in this league day in and day out. Blame it on who you will, but that is where we are at.

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