There comes a time, several times actually, in every season of every sport from Little League all the way to the professional ranks where athletes and coaches find out what their team is made of.
Coming off its fifth loss of the season, three of which have been on the road and one at a neutral site, the Pack travels to Tallahassee to take on Florida State on Saturday with hopes of attaining its elusive first win away from home.
In the loss against Boston College, State had trouble doing two things – defending the three-point shot and containing Reggie Jackson, who, to his credit, is a strong candidate for ACC Player of the Year and a future first round NBA draft pick. Nonetheless, John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey’s mantra for crashing weddings, “no excuses–play like a champion,” applies.
Again, the youthful Wolfpack will have its hands full guarding FSU’s leading scorer Chris Singleton, who is a threat from deep inside and on the boards. Singleton averages 15.6 points per game, 8.3 rebounds per game and shoots better than 41% from beyond the arc.
Along with Singleton, State’s big men will have their work cut out for them on the boards. Florida State is ranked No. 9 in rebounds per game while the Pack sits at No. 41. A healthy Tracy Smith certainly helps in the equation. But for the Wolfpack to be successful in Tallahassee, it must limit second chance opportunities for Florida State and be effective rebounding the basketball.
That being said, the month of January, particularly the three game stretch that began with Boston College on Tuesday and will end next Wednesday at home against Duke, is where the Pack will need to prove it can contend in the ACC. Duke has a good shot at running the table in the conference and some experts say repeating as National Champions, while Florida State has emerged as a top-tier team in the conference this season.
A win against either team would go a long way with NCAA selection committees and would serve as a great boost of confidence for the young N.C. State team.
The Pack has played some good teams, three of which rank in the top 25; however a “resume building win” still remains evasive. If State hopes to make an NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since 2005, the young Wolfpack will need to find a way to finish games, especially in conference play.
“There is an art to winning,” sophomore forward Scott Wood said in a post game interview with the News & Observer’s J.P. Giglio after Tuesday’s loss. “We’re clawing at it, but we can’t quite seem to grasp it.”
Wood seems to always have big performances against the Seminoles, averaging 24.5 points per game. The Pack hopes Wood can be its Picasso en route to improving to 2-1 in conference play and more importantly, grasping the art of winning.
