To win I felt like we had to out rebound FSU and have fewer than 12 turnovers. I put the chances of both of those things happening at less than 5%.
If you’d have told me we’d have shot a similar percentage, yet outrebounded FSU despite huge foul trouble for Vandy and only 1 minute for Anya, I would not have believed it. The team as a whole really focused on rebounding and I was proud of them.
The team really looks like a cohesive unit. I loved how guys like Lee, Vandy, Washington and Lewis stepped it up in crunch time when Warren and Turner were saddled with foul trouble.
On the officiating, I thought it was horrible. NC State’s 3 most important players in a game against FSU all played fewer minutes than they average due to fouls. Yeah, we committed some fouls, but FSU hacked on almost every play. Their fouls were also really spread out and not on the “important” players. This is been one of my criticisms of ACC officiating for years. It’s not just the number of fouls, it is who they are against and when that happens in the game.
I’m not saying had we lost it was due to officiating. I’m just saying that consistently inconsistent (or sadly consistently bad) officiating has really zapped my enjoyment of the game. Look for that trend to continue against UNC. Vandy will have 2 fouls the first two times down the court and Ralston and Warren will both have 2 by half time.
