N.C. State vs. La. Tech – 7pm

N.C. State Wolfpack (9-3) vs. La. Tech Bulldogs (8-3) – 7pm @ PNC Arena; Tv: Espn3 only

Louisiana Tech team page ; GoPack game preview with links to game notes and stats

The Wolfpack will look to get back in to the win column tonight at home against Louisiana Tech … After losing the “basketball game” against West Virginia on Saturday night in Madison Square Garden, the Pack return home to face another tough opponent in the Bulldogs. N.C. State struck out in their only road/neutral games in the non-conference portion of the schedule, so protecting home court now becomes that much more important.

La. Tech enters this contest having faced one common opponent with N.C. State – a 65-52 win over Jackson St. Two of their three losses have come against decent opponents, coming close but falling short at both Temple and Syracuse; the Bulldogs also lost at UL Lafayette. La. Tech doesn’t have any signature victories to speak of this season. Given the Bulldogs’ schedule, any hope of competing for an at-large NCAA berth may already be by the wayside – unless they basically run the table.

That’s not to suggest that La. Tech isn’t a pretty good team. The Bulldogs returned the majority of the team nucleus that won 29 games a season ago.  The ’13-’14 edition of La. Tech finished in a four-way tie for first in C-USA, garnering the 1 seed in the C-USA Tournament before falling short to Tulsa in the title game. Even with the high number of victories, La. Tech’s overall schedule strength relegated them to the NIT.

This season, La. Tech was the consensus pick to win C-USA. The Bulldogs’ main challengers look to be Old Dominion and UTEP; Tulsa has moved on to the AAC. Part of the reason La. Tech was generally picked to win the conference was due to their retention of head coach Michael White. White, in his 4th season at La. Tech, flirted with the openings at both Missouri and Tennessee after the close of last season. White is on pace to record his third 20+ win season at La. Tech in four seasons and will likely be a rumored name for any potential power conference job opening after the season. Local tie: White is the son of Duke AD Kevin White.

As for style of play – guess what? They press. After handling Tennessee’s pressure fairly well, the Pack melted down in the first half against the physical, unrelenting pressure of West Virginia before looking mostly competent in the 2nd half. So, for the Wolfpack, another test – and opportunity – to get better and beat pressure.

Let’s see what happens! Hopefully the Wolfpack can put together a good game and enjoy the Christmas break from a basketball point of view. The Pack won’t be in action again until a week from tonight on December 30th. Please share your thoughts, enjoy the game, and Go Pack!

About wufpup76

'99 grad. Abundant reservoir of useless knowledge and even more useless skills. Vehement believer in the individual voice and also that it will indeed all be over by Friday.

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Home Forums N.C. State vs. La. Tech – 7pm

Viewing 25 posts - 226 through 250 (of 273 total)
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  • #66590
    pakfanistan
    Participant

    Also, does this mean we have to wait on the airing of grievances?

    #66591
    lawful
    Participant

    Everything else was a bunch of frustrated sarcasm…which is what most of this season has become. Hope it gets better from here.

    #66592
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Merry Christmas Texpack.

    Forgive me gang, but I’m watching Hawai’i vs. Wichita St., and there’s this lady photographer sitting on one of the baselines … aaaaaand she’s wearing daisy dukes. No big deal, right? Welp, she’s been sitting upright – but not with her legs crossed – I guess for better photo angles. The thing is, when they go to an up close camera angle from the defensive point of view – she is quite exposed. Like really exposed. And then going to commercial break Espn2 just showed a chick on a surfboard in a thong … never thought I would see these sights on Espn2.

    #66593
    tractor57
    Participant

    I didn’t get to watch the first half but I did listen to the last of it. Simply fugly. The second half started in the same trend. The last quarter something sparked the team and they played with passion.
    Forget the good loss/bad win crap. This was a win and probably the best 15 minutes of BB we will see this year.

    I no longer try to read the posts during a game – just doesn’t fit my style. At this point I am barely reading here at all. The signal to noise is getting really bad. The signal (posts that provide insight) still makes a check in worthy but the trend is downward.

    #66594
    tjfoose1
    Participant

    Bill, don’t get upset with water for being wet.

    #66595
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Also, does this mean we have to wait on the airing of grievances?

    Haha don’t hold back.

    #66596
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    Pup…

    check that…
    13 minutes of the best bball we’ll see this season.

    13:21 50-34 Trevor Lacey Defensive Rebound
    9:46 52-50 Anthony Barber made Layup.

    a 16-2 run … in 4:34

    and never looked back to finish 23 – 13 over the last nine minutes including 8 of the last 9 from the free throw line… with solid contributions from every body on the floor…

    final score – 73-65

    is nothing to whine or bitch about..

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #66597
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    ^Yeah Bill, I was worried when they responded and went back up by 6 at 58-52, but our guys didn’t flinch. Mental toughness cannot be questioned for this team at this time. Could probably use some more on-court toughness, like Kyle Washington gave in the 2nd half.

    #66598
    Fastback68
    Participant

    Sounds like I missed a major comeback.

    #66599
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    … pup…
    Coach made a paradigmatic shift in the offense after the WVa game…
    but let’s post the details of that tomorrow on new topic…
    it will get buried here.

    that’s what put us down in the first half…
    and that’s what brought us back in the second.

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #66600
    tjfoose1
    Participant

    is nothing to whine or bitch about..

    That’s like telling a u*nc walmarter still working on their GED there’s no justification for their arrogance.

    They gonna crow because they crow. Period. It defines them.

    #66601
    Rick
    Keymaster

    .is nothing to whine or bitch about..

    Who is complaining about the result?
    The complaints were about the horrid play of the first half.

    #66602
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #66603
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    … pup…
    Coach made a paradigmatic shift in the offense after the WVa game…
    but let’s post the details of that tomorrow on new topic…
    it will get buried here.

    that’s what put us down in the first half…
    and that’s what brought us back in the second.

    Yeah I look forward to your post.

    #66604
    SaccoV
    Participant

    Good comeback. Was Gott’s undressing a reflection of the officiating or his team’s play? In the 2nd half he was without coat. By the time the score was 58-52, his tie was gone. I was hoping at least that his pants would stay on for the duration of the game.

    #66605
    El Lobo Loco!
    Participant

    Even though a win is a win, that was a painful game to watch
    So little passion, so many missed opportunities

    Luckily it was LA Tech… if it was Duke or UNC we would have come out of the 1st half with a 30 points deficit
    I was astounded for the lack of decision in going to the basket, all the time was race like a horse, stop like a mule.

    Not much hope for the rest of the season 🙁
    Hope I’m mistaken

    #66606
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Good comeback. Was Gott’s undressing a reflection of the officiating or his team’s play? In the 2nd half he was without coat. By the time the score was 58-52, his tie was gone. I was hoping at least that his pants would stay on for the duration of the game.

    Work hard play hard?

    Hawaii – Wichita State shaping up for a great ending on Espn2 for anyone still around

    #66607
    SaccoV
    Participant

    Headed to OT, WufPup! Which end has the eye candy?

    #66608
    SaccoV
    Participant

    Texas loses at home to Stanford tonight.

    #66609
    wufpup76
    Keymaster

    Headed to OT, WufPup! Which end has the eye candy?

    Haha, she’s on the Wichita end. Never a close-up, so I’m not sure of the candy level – but there were some gratuitous shots earlier.

    Good game and big shots.

    #66610
    Tau837
    Participant

    13:21 50-34 Trevor Lacey Defensive Rebound
    9:46 52-50 Anthony Barber made Layup.

    a 16-2 run … in 4:34

    That is actually 3:35. And it was a better run than that… it was 50-32 with 13:36 remaining, so it was an 18-2 run in 3:50.

    #66611
    bill.onthebeach
    Participant

    ^Check that…

    wufpup… what’s your email address?

    #NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!
    #66612
    Adventuroo
    Participant

    I was at the game and it was NOT a pleasant halftime. Just sitting there and reflecting on the score….down 15. And our FG & 3 PT & FT %’s were really depressing…..but we did lead in Turnovers. Then it really got bad.

    My take is that it was the curse of the shirt. If you look at Coach Gott’s shirt in the Postgame Presser, he probably got a call from ORW who wanted to know WHERE he bought it?

    Don’t know, but finally, the team showed some courage. They did believe and they came back.

    I wonder if they really had not taken LT seriously. Most are going home this morning and looking forward to a few days off and to be with family.

    Trevor Lacey, in the WPN post game, summed it up. KW fired them up and the shots started to fall. YES, they did change their style of play…..and were playing with confidence. Both Lacey and Cat did their spectacular behind the back dribbling….that same routine that turned the ball over ONE out every THREE possessions against WVU.

    But, they kept their poise. When we got within 2, you KNEW (or you should have) that LT would make a mini-run and extended the lead to around 8 (6?) or so. But, we took a deep breath and responded and took the lead.

    I have seen us play with a small lead against WORSE teams and been totally tense as to winning. Last night, we let it drop to 4 or so, but there was never any doubt in my mind that we were going to win.

    I did not bother to read the first 8 posts….probably a lot of adult beverages were consumed….and folks, hopefully, feel better. The holiday season can cause a lot of unneeded stress and maybe all the postings about firing Coach, firing AD Yow, burning down the PNC, etc. (or was that about UNC?) should have made folks feel better.

    GO PACK….Merry Christmas…

    #66613
    Rick
    Keymaster

    I cannot fathom why anyone would not expect negative posits when the pick is down 15 to Lt at the half.

    Whatever. The name calling will stop.

    #66614
    Wulfpack
    Participant

    My opinion of this team has started to change the past two games. We are a decent team but I’m not expecting much in conference play. We’ll be lucky to be bubble material come March. There are just so many things we don’t do well consistently.

    The team showed some fight against WVU and battled back last night, but they also dug themselves into a hole in both. And being down that much to a bad La Tech team raises concerns. That’s not going to work against better competition, which we are most certainly going to see soon. Couple that with a so so out of conference slate and a very down and deep ACC at the bottom and I’m not seeing a whole lot of room for optimism. We are going to have to knock off a few of the top teams, and right now I do not have much confidence that we can do that. We’ll be lucky to dance.

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