On paper, it looks like a walkover. N.C. State (10-3) is set to play North Carolina Central (1-20) at 7 p.m. today in the RBC Center. The Wolfpack enters the game riding a six-game winning streak while the Eagles have dropped 15 straight. However, if this season has shown anything about this year’s Pack, it is that no opponent can be taken for granted.
Last Saturday, the Wolfpack found itself in a similar situation. Presbyterian College entered its game with State as a heavy underdog, having won only one game all season. But at halftime, State trailed the Blue Hose 20-17 after a dismal shooting performance in which it went 1-for-11 from 3-point range. Senior forward Gavin Grant said Presbyterian controlled the tempo of the game.
“They slowed the game down,” Grant said. “There were no fast breaks. We couldn’t get any dunks. We couldn’t get the crowd into the game. They were making three [pointers]. They were making timely shots. It was just a slow game. We couldn’t get anything going to excite the fans.”
State came back to win the game 50-43 by shooting 58.8 percent in the second half, including going 5-for-7 from behind the arc. The Pack’s 50 points was its lowest offensive production of the season. In fact, the only other time State had scored less than 60 points was in an 81-58 November loss at Michigan State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Presbyterian’s 43 points marked the lowest total scored by any Wolfpack opponent this season. State held the Blue Hose to 37 percent shooting and allowed only three free throw attempts all game. Coach Sidney Lowe said he was happy with how the team did defensively.
“Defensively, I thought we were solid pretty much throughout the game,” Lowe said. “They only shot 37 percent against us, and that’s kind of what we’ve been holding people to. It’s offensively where we’re struggling.”
The Pack hopes to get off to a quicker start against North Carolina Central than it has in its previous two games. In addition to trailing Presbyterian at halftime on Saturday, State found itself down 41-32 to Western Carolina at halftime on Dec. 29. Freshman point guard Javier Gonzalez said the team needs to learn how to put away teams earlier in the game.
“That’s the thing that coach is stressing a lot,” Gonzalez said. “We always play well when we need to, like in the second half. But why not do that in the first half and go ahead and get the team out of there? We are just going to stay with it and try to get better.”
Central is State’s last non-conference opponent before it begins ACC play at North Carolina on Saturday. The Eagles have struggled this season, scoring only 54.6 points per game while allowing their opponents 83.6 points per game. Also, they have been struggling with ball control, averaging 22.6 turnovers per game thus far. Following the Presbyterian win, Gonzalez discussed what the Wolfpack needs in order to avoid another first-half letdown against the Eagles.
“Energy,” Gonzalez said. “We just got to come, no matter who we’re playing. Whether it is Presbyterian or North Carolina next week, we just got to come out the way we did at the end of this game.”
