N.C. State
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Wolfpack takes care of business against underdog Longwood
REYNOLDS COLISEUM/RALEIGH It’s not uncommon for high-level college basketball teams to schedule a “firewall” game in February, an all-but-guaranteed win over a lesser visiting team just in case there’s a need to end a losing streak.
N.C. State’s is tonight.
- Photo courtesy NCSU athletics
- State guard Erica Donovan
The Lancers will join three other Western Virginia schools in the Big South next season.
Duke alumna Wanisha Smith is a Longwood assistant coach.
Common wisdom might say the Wolfpack needs six wins to earn an at-large NCAA bid, and State has six games left in the regular season. Two victories would likely assure a WNIT berth.
State will play tonight without leading scorer Marissa Kastanek, who is nursing a foot injury. She’s expected back for the sold-out “Hoops 4 Hope” game against Wake Forest on Sunday.
It doesn’t matter.
State never trails, scoring the first eight points and leading by 21 at halftime en route to a 74-45 victory.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Wolfpack's road gets tougher with 55-47 home loss to Virginia
- Photo by Chris Baird
- State's Marissa Kastanek corrals a loose ball as Simone Egwu looks on.
And today the Wolfpack women’s team will continue it.
It’s undoubtedly a big one, as the Wolfpack (14-9, 4-6) will take on Virginia (16-7, 4-6) for sole possession of seventh place in the ACC.
The Cavaliers are coached by Duke alumna Joanne Boyle, and have been in town for the weekend after losing a tough battle at No. 23 UNC 64-56 on Friday night.
Five ACC teams — Duke, Miami, Maryland, UNC and Georgia Tech in that order — are fairly certain to get NCAA bids. And there will probably be one more spot coming from among the Wahoos, Wolfpack and Florida State.
The Wolfpack likely needs six wins to get it, and would have to beat every unranked team on the schedule and get one significant upset to get over the hurdle. That makes this one a “must” win.
And it’s Virginia that gets it, leading almost the whole way in a 55-47 victory.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The Ballad of Bzdelik: Scott Wood’s sharpshooting propels N.C. State over Wake Forest 87-76
- Lauren Carroll/Winston-Salem Journal
- Jeff Bzdelik (beneath hands)
Instead, my takeaway from will be something far more mundane and perplexing. In a world where “coach-speak” and “player-speak” are the order of the day, the postgame press conference performance by Wake Forest coach Jeff Bzdelik was an exercise in existentialism. There was no ranting or raving, no wild-eyed lunacy, and no pronounced expressions of madness. Just a slowly simmering attempt to find meaning in athletic existence in the wake of losing one of the few conference games this year that the Wake gaffer thought was there for the taking. I’ve titled it “The Ballad of Bzdelik.”
Friday, February 3, 2012
Hoop Cheese: The Twitter of our discontent, and getting ready for Duke-UNC bonfires
- File photo by D.L. Anderson
- Celebrating victory over Butler. April 5, 2010.
The pagans among us recall that Groundhog Day is a manifestation of the ancient practice of watching the sun go down. Forty-some days after the winter solstice marks the lowest point in meaningless non-conference games, Feb. 2 tells us that spring is on the way, and that we're halfway to the midpoint of March Madness.
But spring is only on the way when Duke and UNC meet in basketball. The women are doing it on Monday, and anticipation is so high for this showdown in Cameron Indoor Stadium that the Duke press office was moved to issue a hopeful memo to the media, alerting us to the possible spontaneous eruption of a bonfire. Duke students "may celebrate afterward with a bonfire in the West Campus residential quad area."
And why, the city fire marshall "has approved plans for a bonfire in front of House P."
The men have a game going on Wednesday, Feb. 8. It's at 9 p.m. in Chapel Hill. If UNC wins, students *may* concoct a daring plan to occupy a street somewhere in town and jump over small bonfire-lets. If Duke wins, we'll be making a beeline for House P.
But, back to the awful winter, the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by the sum of tweets. But now, there will be tweets no more, as our resident anti-Shakespearean Adam Sobsey relates.
The December run of awful blowouts was made tolerable partly by unfiltered frankness from players via their Twitter thingies. But Mike Krzyzewski and his grim-visag'd henchmen with unwrinkled suits have stepped in to save the players from themselves accept the players' wise self-censorship. No more loose tweets leading to defeats.
By the way, basketball may on the march in Raleigh but the point production is suffering. Neil Morris tells us about it after the jump. Potter, Harrington and Sobsey follow.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
- Al Drago
- Lorenzo Brown's final shot falls short in N.C. State's 61-60 loss to Virignia
As I departed the RBC Center following N.C. State’s 61-60 loss to Virginia, ahead of the rest of the media corps still rapping out their copy inside the bowels of the arena, the most jarring yet poignant image of the evening was the sight of Johnson as he walked out at the same time. Johnson was barely recognizable, his eyes shrouded beneath a light grey hoodie, his lips pursed and not passing a word. Accompanied by a small group of friends and/or family, he climbed into the passenger seat of a waiting vehicle and rode off, surely contemplating not just the heart-wrenching defeat but his subpar performance: 0-6 from the field, 0-4 from the free throw line and a key possession late in the second half when he missed three straight shots, including two open layups.
Ten minutes after this encounter, Johnson tweeted this missive under his otherwise cheeky handle, @SupermanJohnson: “All the praise to you Lord. Lord I’m at rock bottom. Hear me Lord Im (sic) crying out for you! I try to be strong but I am Weak. Help me Lord."
Friday, January 27, 2012
Rodriguez' last-second shot foils Wolfpack for Florida State
- Photo by Chris Baird
- Myisha Goodwin-Coleman looks to the hoop while FSU's Chasity Clayton defends.
Making the NCAA Tournament instead of the WNIT is predicated on the Pack’s success against the ACC’s middle class, and tonight’s game with Florida State (11-10, 3-4) is a straight-up battle for fifth place.
Kellie Harper’s club comes in at 13-7, 3-4 in conference play, and has won three of its last four games. But the Pack has been licking some wounds since a 60-50 loss to arch-rival UNC here on Sunday.
Florida State has won four straight in the series, but by a total of only 18 points.
Tonight FSU keeps its magic in the series alive, winning 67-64 on Leonor Rodriguez’ 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to stay above .500.
Friday, January 20, 2012
- Peggy Boone
- Richard Howell is a...very tough player around the basket
The rest of the night belonged to the Pack, who gave their head coach the birthday present of mustering the energy of a team still smarting from their home loss to Georgia Tech last week. N.C. State bested Boston College in virtually every statistically category, most notably rebounds (44-28), steals (16-9), and fast break points (27-11). The Eagles’ bench outscored N.C. State’s, mainly because the Wolfpack doesn’t have much of one.
“The last time we were at home was definitely on our minds,” said Wood. “So we wanted to start strong and try to not let the fans down this time.”
Thursday, January 12, 2012
- @PackPride
- File Photo...
In a game that wasn’t even as close as the 11-point margin of victory would indicate, the Wolfpack (12-5, 1-1 ACC) lost 82-71 and ended a six-game winning streak to an ACC team that somehow emerged from their non-conference cupcake season with the same number of wins and losses. The Yellow Jackets (8-8, 1-1 ACC) entered Wednesday’s game in the midst of four-game losing skid, which began with a home loss to Mercer (RPI of 117) and road loss at Fordham (RPI of 203).
So, first-year Tech head coach Brian Gregory spoke for many when asked after the game whether he saw this win coming.
“Hell no,” a clearly relieved Gregory quipped. “I liked the way we played Saturday [against Duke]. Our guys are starting to grasp the concept that it’s hard to play well if you don’t practice well…I felt good about our team, but I also knew how good North Carolina State was and how well they had been playing.”
Monday, January 9, 2012
The Tortoise and the Unharried — N.C. State races past Maryland Terrapins, 79-74
- Peggy Boone
- Reinforcements arrive to help N.C. State overrun Maryland
From the packed house of 18,057 lively partisans to the heightened energy level emitting from the court to the always-pliable officiating from ACC referees, it was clear from the outset that there is a wide chasm between out-of-conference competition and the perennial pressure of Atlantic Coast Conference play. Add to that the psychological hurdle of the Terps having won the last nine contests against N.C. State. So, perhaps it was not surprising that when asked some variation of the question “Would you have won this game last year?” several Wolfpack players answered with various versions of “No.” What made the Pack’s victory even more satisfying was that it came against a team — and star player — who came ready and able to put them to the test.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Duke gets five in double figures, blows past State in final minutes
- Photo by Chris Baird
- Duke's Richa Jackson attacks the basket as (L-R) State's Marissa Kastanek, Bonae Holston and Tia Bell defend.
CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/DURHAM Duke comes home off a nice road win over Wake Forest Friday night, taking on another in-state rival today as N.C. State visits for the first time in two seasons.
The Wolfpack (10-5, 0-2 ACC) has dropped its first two conference games and will be a heavy underdog against the No. 7 Blue Devils (11-2, 2-0).
Kellie Harper’s club gave Duke a really good scare last season in Raleigh, leading by as 20 points before Chelsea Gray’s layup in the closing seconds gave Duke a 65-64 victory. But State’s last visit to Cameron in 2009 resulted in a 70-39 Duke blowout.
This time the Wolfpack puts up a good fight in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 6,172, trailing by only six with 6 ½ minutes left before Duke explodes late in an 83-59 win. It’s Duke’s 32nd straight home-court victory and 24th straight home-court win over an ACC foe.
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