#7 NC STATE vs #2 SYRACUSE Preview (ACC Tournament Edition)

Time: 7:00 pm
TV: ACCN, ESPN
Announcers:

Survive and Advance. That’s exactly what the Pack did last night by hanging on until the final 2 minutes and then pulling away at the end. The Pack showed something at the end of the game that they’ve lacked all season, mental toughness. After the Pack gave up the lead they buckled down and played smart ball and executed very well down the stretch. Now, the Pack gave up the lead because of mental breakdowns with inbounding, lazy passes, completely losing their men on defense, so don’t take this as they’ve turned any corner but it appears they were able to collect themselves and finish the game which is something they haven’t done often this year.

Miami Recap:

The Pack once again struggled on defense, giving up 44% Offensive Rebounding, making a team who struggles to shoot the ball effectively to make it look so dang easy, and many times players completely losing track of their man. The ironic part is it was their ability to cause TO’s that was a big factor in the win tonight.

Miami pushed, shoved, and grabbed Warren all night long and while it slowed him down he was still a monster out there but he needed help and it came in the form of Ralston Turner who was en fuego at times. Turner will never be uttered by anyone as a defensive player so his ability to score last night helped because as great as Warren is someone, several someones, need to be able to put the ball in the basket.

Survive and Advance to Friday night for a rematch against the Orange. I’m not going to rehash the end of game, there are enough threads on the site for that, what I’m going to cover first is what happened during the rest of the 39:45 of the game.

Syracuse Review:

NC State came in with a great gameplan to beat the Orange and it worked…sort of. The Orange only play 5 guys, yes a 6th man plays about 15 minutes but when you get down to it there are only 5 guys really involved, so no fresh legs coming in to spell or give them a shot in the arm of energy from the bench. The Pack was able to make it difficult for the Orange to score, holding them to a sub-100 ORtg, forcing bad shots, and limiting their offensive rebounding. On top of that they were able to effectively minimize Fair and Ennis by holding them to 20 pts collectively and both to a sub-80 ORtg. The Pack failed on offense though. They got a great game from Washington and Turner provided some help, while Warren was having an average day by his standards. Usually that would be enough to win but Syracuse is a Top 10 team and everyone needs to contribute, especially when scoring even if it’s only 6-8 points. So what was the unknown in the game that had a serious impact on the final outcome? Rakeem Christmas. Christmas not only doesn’t score much per game but he doesn’t even look to shoot each game, usually about 6 ppg from about 4 shots. The Pack had no answer for Christmas who appeared to be shooting into a basket twice as large as everyone else. Add on top of it he was a monster on the boards and seriously effected the Pack’s inside game. When Christmas wasn’t blocking shots he was altering them and for a team who gets their points from 2 ft in that explains a lot.

Friday’s Matchup

Congrats Pack, you’re effectively secured yourself a bid in the NIT by beating the Canes. Beating the Orange won’t get you into the tournament but you’ll be a lot closer to the bubble. If you can go out there and execute the same gameplan as last time except this time come up with an answer to Christmas, maybe box him out with Anya while the Pack is on offense. I’m begging everyone to please help Warren out, he can’t do it alone. Also, please try and focus for the full 40 minutes.

ADVANTAGE

Predictor
Because the Pack has gotten exactly what they’ve needed so far in seeding and matchups in order to give them the best chance of making the bubble, I predict NCStateShit happens tonight. We’ll see it. It’ll come in some form and everyone will recognize it for what it is.

KenPom likes the Orange by 7.

About 1.21 Jigawatts

Class of '98, Mechanical Engineer, State fan since arriving on campus and it's been a painful ride ever since. I live by the Law of NC State Fandom, "For every Elation there is an equal and opposite Frustration."

13-14 Basketball

Home Forums #7 NC STATE vs #2 SYRACUSE Preview (ACC Tournament Edition)

Viewing 25 posts - 26 through 50 (of 292 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #46074
    TheCOWDOG
    Moderator

    Is now a good time to mention that Hull and Luckie have yet to work today?

    #46075
    redcanine
    Participant

    ^NOOOO. Take it back!

    #46078
    redisgood
    Participant

    What’s Jerami Grant’s health status?

    Grant had 16 points and 8 boards his last game, so his back must be feeling better.

    #46082
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Pitt is eating the cheater’s candy! Coach Williams, what are your thoughts right now? “Well daggumit, you know how things were weely weely hard for me a while back? Well, they are harder now. I mean, things are so hard right now I could cry. This thing right here is the hardest thing any person should ever have to face. It’s just not fair that this should be happening to me of all people. I mean damn, I’m Roy Freakin Williams”.

    #46090
    packof81
    Participant

    Pitt came to play.

    #46092
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Cue the light blue thonged refs.

    #46094
    packof81
    Participant

    Yeah, it’s too good to be true. The screw job is at hand.

    #46095
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Any chance Paige goes pro? Gawd I don’t want to have to face him next year.

    #46097
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    damn damn damn, missed dunk. Pitt is f’ing this up

    #46098
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Pitt seems to invite the three on one press. a dude gets the ball and waits until he’s totally surrounded. Is that a strategy?

    #46099
    redcanine
    Participant

    What the hell is Pitt doing? Just throw the ball towards the other side of the court and run it down.

    #46101
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Pitt deserves to lose

    #46103
    packof81
    Participant

    Wow … a 20 pt lead blown …

    #46104
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    They are running the exact same inbound play ever time. And then waiting to get trapped on the baseline. They do not deserve to win. stupid

    #46105
    JeremyH
    Participant

    nice to see unc losing…

    #46107
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    ^have u been watching?

    #46108
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    They are covered in their own vomit.

    #46109
    JeremyH
    Participant

    i like the way pitt handled the press *cough*

    #46110
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    There’s hope. Paige fouled out

    #46112
    JeremyH
    Participant

    if we had beat unc would we be an automatic bid at this point?

    #46113
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Wow, Paige out made a big difference right there

    #46114
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Doubt it

    #46115
    JeremyH
    Participant

    isn’t nate britt a high school

    #46116
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    Pitt will gag this inbounds……

    #46118
    JohnGalt78
    Participant

    wow, foul before the inbounds after all their success with that

Viewing 25 posts - 26 through 50 (of 292 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.