Of N.C. State’s three meetings with rival North Carolina last season, only one was a blowout.
Though the Wolfpack (11-3) stunned the then No. 3 Tar Heels 83-79 in the RBC Center and lost by only nine points in the ACC Championship game, Carolina handed State a 83-64 loss at Chapel Hill.
According to redshirt junior Simon Harris, the absence of coach Sidney Lowe for the second half of that Feb. 21, 2007, game was the main difference, as Lowe left the game for the hospital due to flu-like symptoms and dehydration.
“That affected it a lot,” Harris said. “We had a lot of momentum going on, and with coach going down, he’s our leader. He’s the guy that we look to every day to see what we need to do when we go in there. So when he went down, it was big.”
This season, as the State opens ACC play at Carolina (16-0, 1-0 ACC) for the first time since the 1995-96 season, Lowe is healthy and in much better physical shape than last season.
His team, on the other hand, is not.
With redshirt sophomore point guard Farnold Degand out for the season with an ACL injury, junior Courtney Fells questionable with an ankle sprain suffered against N.C. Central and sophomore Dennis Horner also questionable for Saturday, Lowe couldn’t help but express his concern about team depth.
“That’s a concern with the injuries that we have right now,” Lowe said. “That’s probably my biggest concern, where we came into this thing with a lot of depth and could go nine or 10 deep, and our rotation is getting a little shorter now.”
Lowe said comparisons to last year’s team, which edged Carolina at home, are unfair. He said he’s “going to have to see” how prepared his team is against a bigger, faster team than the Pack has faced in its recent seven-game winning streak.
“We’re so different,” Lowe said. “Had we come back with Engin [Atsur] as the point guard and all these guys, yeah, then I could say that. But we’ve come back, really, with a new team and with some young guys running your show for you who hadn’t played in that position and hadn’t played in these types of games before. So, I wasn’t really looking to capitalize on that [last year’s success] … I’m judging this team based on this group and not what that group did toward the end of last season.”
Still, Pack players said they are confident and “excited” about the chance to upset their top-ranked rivals. Freshman center J.J. Hickson said he feels the Pack is capable of beating any team.
“We’re up there with those two teams [Carolina and Duke],” Hickson said. “If you ask anyone on this team, they’re going to say the same thing. We feel we can beat any team in the ACC right now.”
The Pack will certainly face a new challenge in Chapel Hill, as the Tar Heels’ up-tempo, fast-break offense is a polar opposite of the Pack’s recent competition, which patiently played zone defense and forced the Pack to take perimeter shots.
Lowe said he hopes his team overcomes the adversity of recent injuries and scoring troubles and proves itself in a crowded and hostile Dean Dome.
“It’s a different team now,” Lowe said. “It’s a new season. And now we have to do this on a consistent basis against our conference.”
Probable Starters: N.C. State (11-3) @ No. 1 North Carolina (16-0, 1-0 ACC)
N.C. StatePos. Name Height PPGG Javier Gonzalez 6-0 1.9G *Courtney Fells 6-5 8.9F Gavin Grant 6-8 13.3F Brandon Costner 6-9 10.9F J.J. Hickson 6-9 16.5*Fells is questionable for the game with an ankle sprain, according to N.C. State Athletics
North CarolinaPos. Name Height PPGG Ty Lawson 5-11 13.5G Wayne Ellington 6-4 18.1F Marcus Ginyard 6-5 6.9F Tyler Hansbrough 6-9 21.8C Deon Thompson 6-8 8.3
Key MatchupsTy Lawson vs. Javier Gonzalez/Marques Johnson – Many thought Farnold Degand’s speed could match up with Lawson, but it remains to be seen how Gonzalez and Johnson will handle ACC competition, particularly a player as good as Lawson. In Sidney Lowe’s words: “That’s a tough haul for anybody to guard him. But again, I like the way our guys are playing right now … But we can’t allow him to control the game.”
Tyler Hansbrough vs. J.J. Hickson – The All-American and reigning ACC player of the year vs. one of the ACC’s most dominant freshman. This matchup is hyped as both players are 6-9 and have a similar intensity and presence in the post. Whoever stays under control and out of foul trouble will likely get the edge. In Lowe’s words: “Hansbrough is an excellent player…[But] it’s not about J.J. and Tyler, it’s really just we’re going to see how our team handles it, going there in that environment, in a tough environment, and seeing how we react to that.”
