Pack Wins In Lowe-vertime: NCSU 84 – Miami 81

08-09 Basketball General186

UPDATE: 850 The Buzz has put post-game interviews online.

Julius Mays sank a three-pointer from the top of the key with 2.8 ticks left on the clock to give NC State a three point win in OT.  Sidney Lowe moved to 5-0 in overtime games, and he did so with a combination of solid coaching moves, tenacity by his team on the floor and some good luck at key moments down the stretch of the extra period.

1 2 OT T
Miami Hurricanes 25 45 11 81
NCSU Wolfpack 39 31 14 84

Courtney Fells had 24 points to lead the Wolfpack, who blew a 19-point lead early in the second half and a pair of leads late in regulation and in overtime before Mays shot sealed the win for the Pack. Brandon Costner added 21 points and Ben McCauley had 12.

Your post-game thoughts here.

ht: “russelbuzz” of 850 The Buzz’s Blog for “Lowe-vertime” phrase.  We like it.
08-09 Basketball General

186 Responses to Pack Wins In Lowe-vertime: NCSU 84 – Miami 81

  1. Jamie 01/27/2009 at 9:30 PM #

    @SouthernWolf – Normally, through my Wolfpack colored glasses, I would agree. Once again, I hope I am wrong. This forum, ecstatic right on the heels of an emotional OT win, is probably not the right place to say this, but I cannot handle any more emotional wreckage this season.
    That being said, there aint no way, no how, not even if Engin Atsur AND Julius Hodge came back, that we are winning this Saturday.
    (If I tell myself that enough, it won’t hurt as bad if we lose, and it will be that much sweeter if the “Gods” smile upon us!)

  2. McPete 01/27/2009 at 9:30 PM #

    “sid is by far the worst coach in the ACC”

    Dave Leito and Paul Hewitt thank you for forgetting about them.

    very nice win tonight for sid and crew. miami just doesn’t like playing us in football or basketball.

  3. packbackr04 01/27/2009 at 9:31 PM #

    i think sid is taking bong hits in the locker room. he is terrible. i am glad for the win. the players never gave up but this was terrible. why in the world would would sid allow any player to foul Mcclinton for a 3? he is only the 2nd best free throw shooter in ACC HISTORY. why in the world would he set up a quick shot with a 1 pt lead and 40 secs left? why in the hell would any player save a ball under the opposing teams basket? these are fundamentals of basketball. its inexcusable and it on the coaches

  4. SouthernWolf 01/27/2009 at 9:31 PM #

    Rochester: I strongly agree with you. (in fact i believe i am falling in love with Mays right now…)

  5. MA Wolfpack 01/27/2009 at 9:32 PM #

    Let’s not down play Miami and say they are a “mid tier” ACC team and act like NCSU should beat them. Other than UVA and GT, there is not anyone NCSU “should” beat this season. Every win NCSU can get is a major positive and doing this with John Wall in attendance has to help things. Remember that Miami was favored in this game.

    Also, instead of saying it took 14 3s, how about saying we managed a win despite getting dominated on the boards (41-26) and having 2 starters foul out. Enjoy the wins this season guys and try not to complain because there will not be a lot of them.

    Once again, it looks like we may be “ok” at PG….13 pts and 8 assists from that position is good enough to win games. Our weakness is the wings (especially 2G), but Fells scored points tonight which is why we won.

  6. Alpha Wolf 01/27/2009 at 9:33 PM #

    i like how sid called a quick pick and pop with 41 secs left in regulationwhile we were up by 1… what planet is he from????? melt the clock and take a shot and give the other team 5-10 seconds to get a shot of their own. sid is by far the worst coach in the ACC

    Let me ask you (and this really is a question): with Jack McClinton able to drive the lane nearly at will, do you want him to have even 5-6 seconds with the ball if they melt the clock and miss the shot?

    The play was sound, however, Fells feet were not set and he didn’t get off as solid a shot as he might have liked.

  7. packbackr04 01/27/2009 at 9:34 PM #

    mays is definitely a player. he is going to be solid for 4 years. good dlue guy to have. Smith,CJ and JOhnny Thomas i believe are all great glue guys. now we need some stars to put up 20+ a night for us.

  8. SouthernWolf 01/27/2009 at 9:34 PM #

    I think we do need to compliment Sid Lowe for going with fells at the 2G in this lineup. He seemed a much better contributor there and with a bigger lineup we played much better D and did not get totally butt raped on the boards (though we did not get as many as we should have)

  9. Packster 01/27/2009 at 9:35 PM #

    It was not Sid’s fault that Degand fouled. It was Degand’s mistake. This is a great win for the team! Mays ICED it! Those kinds of wins don’t come along much. It was sweet. I think our guys were tired in the 2nd half. That’s why we lost the lead. Really questionable subbing again by Sid…especially playing Harris in the OT. Where did that come from? But….all that aside….Sid used his time outs brilliantly, he drew up good plays when he needed to and we kicked some Hurricane butt!

  10. BSIE80 01/27/2009 at 9:35 PM #

    The team and fans needed this win.
    Several players played extremely well and we barely pulled this out, which means yes we will struggle winning many more games.

    Not sure why Harris was playing at the end, unless he wanted fresh legs for defense (whoever he was covering)- which might be brilliant.
    I didn’t see him do anything wrong at least.

    I think we owe the game ball to Fells (6 3’s and excellent defensive stops when we needed it).

    Mays took it at the end because his defender gave it to him. We don’t have a player that can take a guy off the dribble and finish. Fells should be able to do it, but he has provlems putting the ball on the floor in traffic.
    I would have rather seen him go into Ben on the low post, but what the heck- it went down.

  11. triadwolf 01/27/2009 at 9:37 PM #

    Good win – should not have been such a nailbiter. This team is miles ahead of last years team at the point (even if the wins don’t show it).

    For all you Lowe haters – if you can’t see the constant improvement in this team you are blind or don’t know basketball. This team is playing more good minutes vs. bad minutes every week. During our drought it was our upperclassman that let us down: Bad TO by Ben; a couple of total lapses in D by Costner; foul by Ben that negated a Horner 3; and a few others. Miami had much more quickness and more playmakers than us and should have won the game. Yes, we shot well in the first half, but Sid won this game. Our ball movement looks good, our shot selection is getting much better; and our D is drastically better. Yeah Sid makes mistakes, but open your eyes and give this guy a chance.

    Enough ranting – Nice win Pack, let’s make it 2 in row!

  12. packbackr04 01/27/2009 at 9:37 PM #

    i dont want Mcclinton to have any time to drive up the court but i would much MUCH rather him have 5-10 seconds than 40… i dont even care if our shot was a fade away 3 ala herb sendekks dream offense with the shot clock winding down. why on earth would you give mcclinton a full shot clock to work with? its not like he drew the play up for kobe bryant… its courntey fells we are talking about. poor poor decision in my mind.

  13. Dr. BadgerPack 01/27/2009 at 9:37 PM #

    Critical some may be about Lowe’s coaching… how about Haith’s coaching (who some wanted in here). Fells was allowed to torch them, and State was not penalized for playing him at the 2-guard, because Haith refused to press. Period.

    Could be his personnel… but that isn’t really an excuse now, is it? 😉

  14. kyjelly 01/27/2009 at 9:39 PM #

    Good win ,nice play again by Fells,Mc and Brandon they carried us. Lets go bring on NC Central!

  15. SouthernWolf 01/27/2009 at 9:40 PM #

    Good point BadgerPack, if for some reason another team forces Fells to A: Drive into the lane B: Bring the ball up the court C: Make frequent passes then Fells turns in a TO Machine

  16. packbackr04 01/27/2009 at 9:41 PM #

    it was a crazy sub for Harris to come in for OT. but he played well. credit to the staff. big risk, but it paid off. great win for the PACK!

  17. Packster 01/27/2009 at 9:42 PM #

    Those who are critical of Lowe tonight will never have their mind changed. This was a good win. I am seeing real improvement in this team. Lowe has shown there is a learning curve but it seems to be curving in the right direction!

  18. packbackr04 01/27/2009 at 9:44 PM #

    awesome night! hope we can repeat on Saturday! GO PACK

    g’nite gang

  19. kyjelly 01/27/2009 at 9:46 PM #

    Packster please explain ?

  20. SouthernWolf 01/27/2009 at 9:48 PM #

    you know curving in the right direction…like when a pitcher throws a rainbow curve and the ball seems to come out of nowhere…like when Sidney Lowe threw a curve ball at Frank Haith by putting Simon Harris in during overtime to play significant minutes…

  21. Alpha Wolf 01/27/2009 at 9:55 PM #

    Harris must have been put in there for his defense.

    You guys can question Lowe’s decision all you want, but I am happy for Simon Harris. He got to make an important contribution to the team he transferred to, only to be a sparsely used reserve, and best of all for him, he got to do it with his old man on the bench watching him do it.

    I know that feeling, tonight was a rare chance for me to watch the game with my own father, and it was a blast talking sports with the guy who taught me how to catch, how shoot hoops and all of that. Never underestimate that time, fellows, in all seriousness. Time is fleeting.

    Tonight might be Simon Harris’s best memory of playing hoops in college. I hope he gets more time and more chances to make a contribution, but no matter what you cannot take away the fact that he did what he was asked to do tonight, under considerable pressure and cold off the bench.

    Simon, I raise my beer mug to you in a salute.

  22. blackdom 01/27/2009 at 9:55 PM #

    Glad to get the W ^ Really?I just read the GT thread all was turned around than…….the threads before that said Mc and Fells should not play.
    Simon Harris and significant minutes should never be put in the same sentence.

  23. inhoc... 01/27/2009 at 9:56 PM #

    Chaos! ha, i`ll gladly eat my words…..
    i should have figured that sid brought a couple of coaching tools with him. i noticed that he called TO before the game got out of hand and let the U go up by an out of reach lead….i guess he also figured out how to use his dry erace marker and clip board!

  24. wolfpackbaby 01/27/2009 at 9:57 PM #

    As someone who reads this blog everyday, I want to point out a couple things. Many of you fans who continually rip carolinas “fairweather” fan base are quite hypocritical. I realize that our team is not the greatest this year, but “our” team and for the most part “our” coach are young. We had a good win tonight – lets build off of it and wish our team well come saturday. Lets lay off the negativity!!! We’ve seen better basketball lately and if not for a cocuple close losses early in the season – this “barely getting into the NIT talk” wouldnt be around. GO PACK

    I see your point, but you should also understand that people were frustrated at some of the effort we have seen in the past. Hopefully, you are right in the long run, but the fact remains that there have been times when it is the young players that put forth a great deal more effort and hustle. –Alpha

  25. BSIE80 01/27/2009 at 9:59 PM #

    Big lineup is good. What does everyone think about it?

    Would have liked to see a little zone. I guess our guys matched up ok with them in man to man.

    Tracy will need to watch the fouls, although I thought some of the calls we got sucked (Costner’s last foul was a bad call).

    Ben will need to practice the 12 foot jump shots, which he looks pretty good with. Tracy needs to take a few of these instead of forcing the ball inside all the time. I think this is why Horner got the playing time down the stretch. Tracy seems to not secure the ball as well and he tries to create something that isn’t there. If he can improve his passing/ball handling, then this lineup will be good. Costner benefited tonite because he was being defended by a 3, which he could shoot over.
    Horner will play more in this lineup. He did ok. If he can start making 3’s more consistently, this will make us better.

    Couple this with improvements in the backcourt, and maybe we still have a chance to finish 8-8, win a game in the ACCT, and get an invitation to the NCAAT.
    I know this is a stretch, but hey, I haven’t given up hope.

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