After losing seven of its previous eight games, N.C. State (13-11, 3-7 ACC) made easy work of Wake Forest (8-17, 1-9 ACC) in an 80-55 victory on Sunday afternoon. The demolition was the Wolfpack’s first conference road win since February 27th of last year, as well as just its fourth in the past 26 attempts.
State began the matinee on an 8-0 run that demoralized a Demon Deacon club that currently occupies the ACC basement. While Leslie chipped in 13 first half points, State snatched the early lead and would not trail all afternoon long in Winston-Salem. The freshman forward from Holly Springs said the dominate performance would be imperative to the team’s confidence in future match ups coming down the stretch.
“For us, this is a confidence builder and we’re just going to try to get better after this,” Leslie said. “Wake fought hard and I definitely commend them on that. Guarding Tracy isn’t easy and he dominates down there. They lost it at the end, but it is what it is.”
Despite missing last Saturday’s match up against Duke due to violation team policy, Leslie displayed no signs of rust. Finishing with 19 points and eight rebounds, Leslie was largely responsible for the mass exodus of Demon Deacon faithful that poured towards the exits with several minutes left to play at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
“We know how we need to play and we have to run with it,” Leslie said. “Whatever’s off the court is off the court and whatever is on the court is on the court. No matter what, we just need to play hard.”
With Leslie in the starting line up with fellow freshman Ryan Harrow and Lorenzo Brown, it marked just the second time this season that the three have began the game together. However, Sunday’s leading scorer ended up being senior Tracy Smith who’s inside presence overpowered Wake Forest in scoring 20 points.
“We were on a losing streak and I think the guys knew that we had to come out and get a good win,” Smith said. “My knee is feeling great and I just went out there and gave all I got.”
State’s 25-point winning margin went down in the record books not just as a throttling of the Demon Deacons, but also as a historic victory in terms of ACC play. The margin was the third largest all-time spread within road conference play for N.C. State, as the last time it won in conference outside of Raleigh by 25 points was over half a century ago in 1954.
“I thought that’s the best game we’ve put together in awhile on both ends of the floor,” Lowe said. “It was a tremendous effort by our kids. Just a total team effort, and that’s indicated by the 22 assists we had today. The ball was moving.”
After dropping its last four games, as well as its last six ACC road contests, the Pack responded with its most dominant effort since beating Wake Forest 90-69 in January at the RBC Center. Fourth year head coach Sidney Lowe said that his team’s work ethic and mental toughness was a large reason that they were able to put together such a complete performance.
“What really helped us is that our bigs were running,” Lowe said. “Tracy ran the floor, C.J. ran the floor and got two dunks, and that’s the key if you want to be a running team. It tells a lot about our kids. I know people locally have joked, but I’ve said all along that they won’t hang their shoulders or put their heads down.”
As Clemson (17-8, 6-5 ACC) arrives next in Raleigh for an anticipated conference match up, Lowe said that he still fully believes in his team because of how hard they continue to work.
“If we go through a tough stretch, they come to practice the next day working hard, talking to each other, and wanting that next win,” Lowe said. “I’m just glad that the work paid off. Certainly the coaches haven’t given up, we still believe in them. It’s a credit to those guys that they continue to play.”
State will have an opportunity to showcases its tenacity as the Pack can avenge a 60-50 loss to Clemson suffered earlier this season. The Wolfpack will be hosting the Tigers at 7 p.m. on Thursday night from the RBC Center with the game being nationally televised on ESPN2.
