NC State 90 Wake Forest 69

10-11 Basketball88

Lots of great conversation from today’s game in this blog entry and also on our message boards.  NC State NEVER TRAILED and led a Big Four rival by 29 points with two minutes to go in the game when the Pack was up 90-61.  That is just fantastic.

Tracy Smith scored 23 points to help North Carolina State beat Wake Forest 90-69 on Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.

Freshman C.J. Leslie added 19 points as the Wolfpack (11-4, 1-0) won an ACC opener for the first time under fifth-year coach Sidney Lowe. N.C. State scored the game’s first six points and led the entire day, dominating in the paint and on the boards to win its sixth straight against the Demon Deacons (7-9, 0-1) in Raleigh.

N.C. State led by just four early in the second half, but ran off nine straight points to push the margin back up to double figures. The lead only grew from there, reaching as many as 29 points late in an impressive second-half performance for a team waiting for its breakout year in the league.

You can click here for ESPN’s comprehensive GameCenter. 

The following stat lines tell the story of the individual players that elevated statistically, but every Wolfpacker made key contributions in their own roles & responsibilities on the floor: Tracy Smith – 23 points, 11 rebounds; CJ Williams – 16 points, 7 rebounds; CJ Leslie – 19 points, 6 rebounds.

 

Sidney & Wake Forest

One of my favorite things about Sidney Lowe has been his ability to consistently beat Wake Forest.  I know that sounds somewhat lame – especially to any Wolfpackers over the age of 40 – but it needs to be said after Les Robinson went 2-10 against Dave Odom  and Herb Sendek went 9-15 against the Demon Deacons.

Sidney Lowe has never lost to Wake Forest in the RBC Center and is now 6-3 overall vs the Deacs.  (The Wolfpack’s last loss to Wake Forest in the RBC Center came in 2005.)

NC State has now won 11 of the last 18 games against Wake, including the last six games played in Raleigh. NC State is 8-4 all-time against Wake Forest at the RBC Center.

Opening Nuggets

NC State is now 32-26 all-time in ACC openers, including a mark of 18-8 when opening conference play at home. This was the first time that NC State opened the conference season at home under Sidney Lowe, and it was Coach Lowe’s first opening game win while at NC State.

 

N&O

The N&O has some observations from Saturday available by clicking here and their photo gallery is available by clicking here.

One thing Tracy Smith could work on while he was rehabbing his left knee was his jump shot. Smith showed more range with his face-up game and more confidence in his jump shot against Wake.

He hit a catch-and-shoot baseline jumper from about 12 feet at 6:57 in the second half that was previously not part of his offensive arsenal.

"When I couldn’t practice, I worked on my shot," said Smith, who missed 10 games with a knee injury.

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10-11 Basketball

88 Responses to NC State 90 Wake Forest 69

  1. mak4dpak 01/10/2011 at 4:52 PM #

    I can’t believe how many fans continue to make excuses for Sid. Ridiculous! Why do we relegate such tolerance, when other schools would have fired Sid a long time ago. Jimmy V, didn’t have the top recruits on his 83 championship team. It is coaching, guys, and I guess somehow Sid didn’t and never will get it. But keep up the excuses while we ride the lower tier of the ACC, even with Tracy Smith, and our allstar recruits.

  2. Wolfy__79 01/10/2011 at 5:04 PM #

    there’s not a single excuse on this or any other board for why Sidney Lowe should keep his job. he has to produce results, i haven’t seen any argument there 🙂

  3. whitefang 01/10/2011 at 5:44 PM #

    “Whatever happen to getting in the door instead of trying to crash the party ?”
    The party has been going on for several years and Lowe has yet to even knock hard on the door. Take this win and 10 or 12 more and we might sneak into the party. Based on Lowe’s previous results I would deem that highly unlikely. Even in a down year the ACC is still a tough place to play and regretfully the odds are very much stacked againt him. After all at least half of the guys he will be coaching against have proven they actually know what they are doing.
    But there is always hope that a man that has, so far, demonstrated very little in the way of consistent coaching ability will suddenly break out and display actual competance in his profession.

  4. Conrad 01/10/2011 at 6:00 PM #

    Mak4dpack, I am sorry that you dont know the difference between the truth and making excuse for Lowe. Plus V 83 team had at least 3 Mc Donalds All Americans like T. Bailey & D. Whittenburg, Lowe alone with a couple of 4 stars in L. Charles, C. Mc Queen. So get facts right before you start btching and whinning against Lowe. Another thing where were these expectation at during the 10 yrs of Sendek who was 0 for 10 in ACC reg. and tournament titles ?

  5. Conrad 01/10/2011 at 6:20 PM #

    Whitefang, So you guys want to takeout your 16 yrs of frustration out on Lowe instead of the AD and the administration who abuse this program with the likes of Robinson & Sendek ? Again this season would have been much better if T. Smith would have played all 15 games instead of 7. So he is the key to having a very good season. But asking him to taking this very young team to the elite 8 is a crazy expectation at best.

  6. choppack1 01/10/2011 at 6:48 PM #

    No Conrad. Some of us don’t see the value of reliving Groundhog day over and over again.

    Pretty much all of us want State to win under Lowe – and at some point in all of his 4 season, it looked like this thing just would work. However, the consistency hasn’t been there. And if it was just shooting it would be one thing. For his first 4 years, the execution and effort was inconsistent. And so far this year, it’s been more consistent, but not in a good way.

    We beat an awful Wake team. We did what we were supposed to do. What will tell us more is how we’ll do against those teams w/ middle of the road talent on the road..you know, the games that don’t seem that important on paper, but really are if you’re going to be something more than a 7 seed in the NCAA tourney.

  7. mak4dpak 01/10/2011 at 7:13 PM #

    Okay Conrad, the last time I heard I could, and will express my opinion. My right. I didn’t like Sendek either. But keep rooting for Lowe, and until we make a change, a championship of any kind won’t be in our future. But when we do get our a__ kicked by the better teams in the conference, don’t whine about it. I will still have the right to bitch and whine. Are we required to keep Lowe, for the time we put up with Sendek? Hope you don’t have any Carolina friends, because it won’t be pleasant for you. Carolina fans love Sid too! And even if Lowe, Whittenburg, Bailey were McDonald’s All Americans, Coach V didn’t have a team laden with stars, in the spotlight in college basketball, like Houston did. Coach V competed with anybody, even when Lowe, Bailey, Whittenburg were not playing. Why? He knew how to coach. If Sid showed that ability, we wouldn’t be having this discussion now, would we?

  8. Gowolves 01/10/2011 at 7:52 PM #

    Conrad I m sorry but I have to agree with mak4. The reality that Lowe has not proven that he can coach. There has been a lack of effort against good teams. That should not happen. These young kids think they can get by on talent like hs. The coaches job is to get them to buy into defense and rebounding. These are signs of effort. He also at times has not played the right people considering the match ups. He is not a good coach. He cannot motivate his players. Every team has some talent at this level. The difference between average or good teams and great teams are the intangibles. Talent is talent. Coaches handle the motivating and getting his team mentally ready. He has not done this.

  9. Phang 01/10/2011 at 8:33 PM #

    NC State is leading wake 36-25 at the half.

  10. mak4dpak 01/10/2011 at 9:07 PM #

    That would be the women over Wake. Great coaches get the job done. Way to go Harper. Keep up the good work. On Sports South network. Final score 80-59. Go Pack!!!!!

  11. whitefang 01/10/2011 at 9:14 PM #

    Conrad no, I wantED to take out 16 years of frustration on the AD and administration who abuse this program with the likes of Robinson, Sendek, and Lowe. My frustrations on the AD and administration hopefully have been already “taken out.” I strongly suspect that like Robinson and Sendek, the new AD will, in 2 or 3 months, take out the rest of my frustration on the innocent, but evidently incompetent, Lowe.

  12. Conrad 01/11/2011 at 3:11 PM #

    choppack1, It has been groundhog day every since that day when the AD & the administration decided to fired Valvano. And to replace him with these 0 coaches like a L. Robinson & H. Sendek. But what about hiring a coach without any college coaching experience and the team that he inherited, losing his incoming recruiting class besides D. Horner in June ?

    Now i have to agree with you that his 1st 2 yrs was very rocky due to on the job training & subpar talent for a midmajor conference. But not even close to being the ACC standard. Plus having 2 very bad seeds that setback the team development process. These last 2 recruiting classes along with T. Smith. So things are beginning to turn around as long as Smith can stay healthy.

    And our super freshman class just cant cut it without Smith along with Woods and Howell, CJ. William. And Painter and Vanderburg is just not close to being ready.

  13. Conrad 01/11/2011 at 3:45 PM #

    Gowolves, Excuse me, but wasnt there all those things in the Srycuse & Arizona games. But not enough execution & rebounding, PG play, inside game is what cost these victories. Because Painter nor Howell, Vanderburg dont have a post present to command doubles & triples teams which opening up shooting and driving lanes for his teammates. So with Smith back in the starting lineup it gives the freshman time to develope because CJ Leslie dont have a back to the basket games but a great rebounder from the weak side. while giving Howell or Painter some really good experience by learning from Smith for next yr team. So process is there as long as Smith is there.

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