State beats BC, 82-64

12-13 Basketball24

State played a complete game tonight to beat an outmatched Boston College 82-64. We (finally) played with passion and a sense of urgency, and executed well on both offense and defense. We mauled BC on the boards 38-24 and once again used good defense to set up transition points.

Purvis had 21 and Wood had 17 (and continues to close in on Ice’s record); CJ Calvin started off poorly but seemed to settle in overall with 10 points and 9 boards. Zo had a 3-minute stretch where he embarrassed everyone on the court in a maroon uniform. Howell did all his scoring early and broke his double-double streak, but still had another 10-board night. Warren had 13 and 8, and his improved rebounding is taking a lot of the burden off Howell.

State improves to 9-6 and still probably needs to win out to avoid Thursday in Greensboro. Next up is a road trip to Georgia Tech (4-10).

Box Score (ESPN)

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12-13 Basketball

24 Responses to State beats BC, 82-64

  1. MrPlywood 02/27/2013 at 10:15 PM #

    I called a “20 or 30” point win, but that BC kid took it from me at the end πŸ™‚

    Had a good feeling about Purvis early when he opened his scoring with a dunk (right?).

    Warren strikes as a gym rat kinda guy who spent hours trying all sorts of shots. He’s got really good body awareness, except for that early charge πŸ˜›

    TL – nice way to take it home.

  2. JeremyH 02/27/2013 at 10:24 PM #

    I like the minutes distribution, a full 7 man rotation with the “big four” hovering around the low 30s. For example Brown could play really aggressive defense and not have to worry about playing 38 minutes.

  3. ILPackfan 02/27/2013 at 10:42 PM #

    Yep, a good all-around game tonight. Balanced scoring, more than just RH rebounding, and some nifty passing. Let’s have another 3 games like this one to close out the season. Go Pack!

  4. Wufpacker 02/27/2013 at 10:47 PM #

    Now 9-6. Carolina and UVa both 9-5.

    Tomorrow night, Clemson and Duke are our friends.

  5. wolfpacksoldier 02/27/2013 at 10:57 PM #

    good game tonight. I feel like when none of the guys try to force it (..CALVIN) then we are a very dangerous team. We still need to cut down on the turnovers and I think Gott should look at working WBS into the rotation a little more. The way he works the ball around is as entertaining as any PG in the nation.
    BTW, did anyone hear Gott say, “Block that shit!” towards the end of the game? We could play it off as shot, not shit.. but I know what I heard…
    GO STATE!

  6. 61Packer 02/27/2013 at 11:23 PM #

    Tomorrow night, our “friends” will probably help our enemies. If Tech plays us this weekend like they played Maryland tonight, it might be another WTF road game.

    It now looks like only 5 ACC teams will advance to the NCAAT unless one of the other 7 wins the ACCT.

    I thought we looked pretty good tonight, but this BC team has got to be one of the weakest teams we’ve had in years in this conference. I still don’t think that winning the rest of our regular-season games is going to do anything for us, because beating GT, WF and FSU isn’t going to enhance our image one bit.

    Again, it was good to see Leslie and Purvis play like they had a pulse, but this season, for all practical purposes, is down the toilet unless we win the ACCT, and we WILL have to play 4 to win it.

  7. wolffpride 02/27/2013 at 11:43 PM #

    61Packer, those are some bold comments, and quite frankly, some of the dumbest things I have ever heard. I have never called out anyone directly on this board but dude, really? Winning out won’t do anything for us? Maybe national image wont change but I think riding a four game winning streak into the ACCT will be exactly what the rest of the ACC doesn’t want.

    The season is down the toilet and we will have to win 4 games for the ACC title? March 21st the season begins brother!!! Regardless of what happens in the ACCT. Us winning out and UNC losing 1 (tough schedule BTW) or UVA losing 2 is very feasable…so I call 3 games for the championship…we’ll see who’s right.

    Judging by your name I assume you have been rooting for this team for some time. No reason to get down when we still have our goal in front of us. To quote one of my favorite movies: “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.”

  8. mak4dpak 02/27/2013 at 11:48 PM #

    I will maintain my optimism, and trust Duke and Clemson will help our cause. But we have to win out, but certainly not a season down the toilet. Things can happen. Except for the last half of the first half, the team played great against BC.

  9. jbwbubba 02/28/2013 at 12:01 AM #

    Calvin also played solid defense tonight.

  10. kanabro 02/28/2013 at 12:37 AM #

    The season is down the toilet if we don’t win the ACCT?
    The amount of extreme negativity on the boards, especially after the UNC loss, is a little over the top.
    I’ll admit that I’ve found myself getting down on this team too because of squandered potential.
    If we all would just step back and look at what this team has done this year, we should be proud of our guys & the amazing turnaround Gott has done with our program.
    The problem with this season is all the hype & the expectations at the beginning.
    Every team in the ACC has had a questionable loss or two.

    Us making the NCAA tourney is pretty much a done deal, & it’s rare that we’ve been able to say that in the last 10 years.

    I wish there’d be more rallying around our troops instead of some of these end of the world comments.

    Here’s to hoping for a strong run in March.

  11. Wufpacker 02/28/2013 at 2:17 AM #

    Seems appropriate….prison movie quotes ftw πŸ™‚

    But I do have to agree that at this point it’s not about image as much as it is about not stumbling, upping our stock/resume for seeding purposes and to go into the post season on a bit of an up note. Four in a row, two of those being on the road (regardless of one’s opinion of GT and FSU…neither of which will be pushovers at their place) will do the trick just fine.

    And it is far from a done deal that we’ll be playing on ACCT thursday. Lotsa ball yet to be played.

    But one small correction wolffpride…the season begins on 3/14 (or hopefully 3/15). I mean, does no one give a damn about the conference championship anymore these days??????

  12. PackerInRussia 02/28/2013 at 4:10 AM #

    I joined the game with about 15 or so minutes remaining in the second half (ain’t gettin’ up at 5AM for BC), so I don’t have a good overall picture. But, it seemed to me that they were being more discerning about when to run and push it down the court. More people were staying back for def. boards rather than just flying down the court and leaving it for Richard (or the other new DR, TJ). Also, it seemed that they were trying to create more fast break opportunities after MADE buckets by BC rather than slowly bringing it up the court and giving them time to get into a half-court defense. Then, they were very active on offense – lots more moving and passing. Nice effort; good game.
    How was the crowd? It sounded dead from what I was watching, but later I realized it was probably just the crappy feed I was watching on my computer.
    Also, what happens if State wins out and UNC and UVA both lose one more? We in or out (of the top 4)?

  13. tractor57 02/28/2013 at 6:31 AM #

    A workman like win (and that is exactly what was needed). No major screw ups, no major injuries unless the back of Warren’s head is a bit sore today. I didn’t see ayone hanging their head and I also saw some very good defense – granted part of the latter might be due to the defense was being applied to but I did see a better and more consistent effort.

    I understand ’61’s comments but I disagree a bit. Agreed the season has not equaled the preseason hype and with Zo going down maybe the team lost the battle but will be better suited to win the war. To me the season started with first game of regular season but there are 3 parts – regular season, the ACC tourney and then the NCAA tourney. At this point winning out and hopefully not playing on Thursday in the ACCT is the goal. Once ACCT play starts the goal is to win the tourney or advance as far as possible. History has shown that not playing on Thursday is crucial there. Next comes the NCAAT seeding and then performance in the NCAAT. The performance over the rest of the regular season will impact seeding to some degree as will performance in the ACCT. It’s Valvano survive and advance time.

  14. Pack1997 02/28/2013 at 7:07 AM #

    I find it funny that for years folks on this site have made fun of Duke and UNC on their mythical regular season championship, always pointing to the ACCT as the champion. We were hyped to be regular season champs and all of sudden when we aren’t multiple people want to act as if the season is ruined. Fact is this team can still win the ACC championship. The regular season has always been to put yourself in a better position in the tourneys.

    If we can be on a roll hitting the ACC tourney, and finish top 4, I will consider the regular season an accomplishment. I want the ACC Championship, after that let the chips fall where they may.

  15. Rick 02/28/2013 at 7:11 AM #

    “Agreed the season has not equaled the preseason hype and with Zo going down maybe the team lost the battle but will be better suited to win the war.”

    Anyone who blindly bought into the preseason hype deserves the disappointment they are experiencing.

    BTW it was a nice boring game

  16. wolfmanmat 02/28/2013 at 7:14 AM #

    A season down the toilet? That is crazy talk. We have 8 losses. 4 of them to top 15 teams. 2 of them at the buzzer and 2 of them without our best player. We only have 1 loss to a team “way” outside the NCAA(Wake). We win 2 of those 8 games and we are somewhere in the top 15. Now, we didn’t, so we can’t count those, but really we are not far from being highly ranked. EVERY team in EVERY major conference has lost 4+ games this year and none are dominant. This is the year a 4-8 seed can win it all. The season is hardly down the toilet. Was last season down the toilet? Well, this team is better than last year going into the tourney and will get a higher seed(we were 11 last year).

  17. BJD95 02/28/2013 at 7:39 AM #

    We have bad days. But I would rather have that with a high ceiling, than be a consistent pretty good team that you could set your watch by its tourney exits.

    I also don’t think we need to win out, for sure. As long as the Holes lose to Duke and at least one other team, we win the tiebreaker at 11-7.

    12-6 would give us a good shot at a 3 seed, and avoiding the Holes on Friday. But MD is likely #6, and they present significant matchup problems for us.

    But the ACCT is a “nice to have.” The real season begins the following week. I like our chances to crack the Elite Eight, if we avoid a bad draw. Get there, and who knows what might transpire next.

  18. Wufpacker 02/28/2013 at 9:01 AM #

    “But the ACCT is a Ò€œnice to have.Ò€ The real season begins the following week.”

    Et tu, BJD? πŸ™

    πŸ˜€

  19. vtpackfan 02/28/2013 at 9:09 AM #

    Thought it was interesting we went small ball in the first half for a small stretch because of the two fouls on TJW. Accustomed to seeing JV or Leslie/Howell playing all the minutes.

    I realize this was BC, but if we see Duke or UNC in the ACC’s then this could be another tool in the bag to pull. It also wouldn’t hurt in the NCAA tourney when you have no idea what you’ll face.

  20. ryebread 02/28/2013 at 9:41 AM #

    I think for some of our older fans, every year that isn’t 73-74 is a year in the toilet. Unless UNC, Duke (and now Syracuse and Louisville) falter at the same time, I don’t see those days coming back. We should strive for them, but there’s just too much parity and the conference is just too top heavy.

    In my time of watching NC State (since 1982) , our peak was under V. I loved V. He gave us great exposure and he was a very good defensive coach. The ACC was also much tougher then. We weren’t dominant though. Even in my best days of watching NC State basketball, our goal was seeding in the tournament with a coach who could get hot and win a title. We went to the Elite 8 on 3 different occasions but we also lost twice in the first round.

    For our younger fans, they’ve only endured the woeful tenures of Robinson, HWSNBN and Lowe. In that 21 (yes, 21 years), we went to the tournament only 6 times advancing to the Sweet 16 exactly one time. We won 20 games only 8 times. The rest of the time we played pretty bad basketball and underachieving against our talent level (except maybe Robinson).

    In two years of Gott, we’re back to playing for seed. We’re solidly in the tournament late in the year, not just trying to claw our way in. Last year we were in the Sweet 16 which matches our high water mark over the previous 21 years. Last night we notched our 20th win, well before any tournaments start. This is our second 20 win season in two years. Last year we had more wins than any season since V.

    Gott’s not perfect and I was critical of the hire, but you’ve got to give the staff its due. While it remains to be seen whether the momentum can be maintained, we’re already in a much better spot than we’ve been. I’ll personally take it and hope we can build from here.

    I loved the BC game last night. I hope to see 3 more down the stretch just like it. Getting a road win will be critical because we are 1-7 on the road in conference. If we defend the home court, we’ll come away with our best home record in over 10 years. Let’s get some momentum and head into the tournament strong!

    By the way, I loved the distribution of minutes last night. We’ll need more balance like that if we’re to go far in the tournament. A six man, iron man, rotation isn’t going to win a title of any sort. It might be good enough to get to the last game of the ACC tournament but be so tired that we can’t take it home.

  21. Texpack 02/28/2013 at 9:57 AM #

    1 down 12 to go. The “March” has begun.

  22. triadwolf 02/28/2013 at 12:35 PM #

    Great post Ryebread. I really think too many got caught up in the preseason hype this year and are using that as a baseline. This is the best position we have been in since 1989, maybe 1990. We have some flaws, but there’s not a team in the nation this year that doesn’t.

    Next year could be a struggle depending on how things fall with personnel, but we are looking like a program that will be a legit perennial tourney team and that hasn’t happened since V (I personally don’t consider Herb’s run comparable as we were anything but a lock all but one year on selection Sunday).

    I think there are a lot of similarities to V’s teams in that we have the both the capability to win it all and to lose in the first round. I’ll take the huge upside any day over Herb’s predictable early round exits.

    This team has something very tangible to play for the final four games (including last night) and I think that is something this team needs to remain focused. Let’s get the engine tuned over the next couple weeks, then floor it come March.

  23. ncsu1987 02/28/2013 at 1:02 PM #

    “Agreed the season has not equaled the preseason hype…”

    This is germaine to the conversation only for those who were foolish enough to buy into it. The Sloan teams of the early 70’s excepted, NCSU has NEVER had dominant, opposition crushing teams, not even when V was at the helm. What V did was win enough to get to the NCAA tournament (most of the time) and he had a knack (most of the time) of positioning the team to peak at tourney time.

    Unless you swallowed the hype hook, line and sinker, this has been a good year. If you were expecting more than “good” then you haven’t been an NCSU fan long enough, or you suffer from overabundant exuberance.

    We’re well positioned to make a post-season run. Let’s see if Gott can make it happen again.

    Oh, and LOVED the experimentation on the offensive end last night. Means that game prep for the opposition just got more interesting…

  24. state73 02/28/2013 at 4:55 PM #

    Overall this has been a very good year. When is the last time we lost only 1 game at home, and that was a shot at the buzzer! Beat both blues!

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