When: Saturday January 17 – 12:00 PM
Where: Lenovo Center
TV: The CW
Opponent: Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 86-69 / NC State 89-68
Wolfpack Snapshot:
- Record: 12-5, 3-1
- Rankings: KP #25, BT #26
- NET: 29 (Q1: 0-5, Q2: 5-0, Q3: 3-0, Q4: 4-0) – 5th highest NET in the ACC
- KenPom Adj Efficiency: Offense ranked 26th, Defense ranked 34th
Wolfpack
Season So Far:
As of the Boston College game, NC State has tweaked the offense a bit by having Darrion Williams handle the ball more. He and Copeland have the two highest assist numbers, but the ball wasn’t in Williams’ hands enough. So now ‘Q’ makes sure Darrion gets the ball plenty, and when he sits, Darrion takes over the primary ball handling role as point forward. The results have been promising, and the staff intends to continue with Williams as a point forward even after Holloman returns:
- Williams got 15 & 18 shots, two of his highest attempts of the season that resulted in back-to-back 20+ point games. The first since November.
- The two highest team 3PT% games of the season
- Two excellent team assist rates, BC 60%, FSU 53%
- Only 13 total team turnovers in two games – BC’s 4 turnovers ties the lowest for the season
Two games don’t make a true pattern, and these were two bad teams. But this is a good time to tinker, after the Georgia Tech game it’s (currently) all Q1 & Q2 the rest of the way.
What’s On the Line?
MUST WIN! Georgia Tech has dropped just past the threshold to NET 163, this is now a Q4 game. Winning won’t help our NCAAT resume, but losing would hurt. The Pack has no Q3 or Q4 losses so far. Let’s keep it that way.
Wolfpack Player Notes:
- Tre Holloman – sprained ankle – Coach Wade said he is a “full go” for GT in the Thursday coach’s show
- Scottie Ebube – Ankle injury, not yet ready to return
- Jerry Deng – sprained groin
Opponent Overview:
The Yellow Jackets were picked to finish 13th this season by the ACC basketball media.
Coach Stoudamire is in his third season and has yet to have a winning season. However, he should have gotten a plaque or something for last season’s team, because he played the whole season with major injury issues, but despite that, went to Clemson and pulled off a 3OT upset – and that was a very good Clemson team. He did take that team to the NIT, where they were bounced in the first round. He has proven he can coach.
This season they are hoping they’ve put all the injury issues behind them. He’s got a returning All-ACC player in 6’9” forward Ndongo, and a top 20 freshman from Senegal 6’10” center Sylla (currently injured) that should make the front court a problem. Reeves is also a returning starter who sat out most of last season with an injury. Starting point guard Lamar Washington, transfer from Pacific, played a season with Darrion Williams at Texas Tech.
Opponent Snapshot:
- Record: 10-8, 1-4
- Rankings: KP #137, BT #151
- NET: 163 (Q1: 0-3, Q2: 0-1, Q3: 1-4, Q4: 9-0) – 2nd lowest NET in the ACC
Player Notes
- Baye Ndongo is 7th in the ACC in FG%, and 10th in rebounds – he was voted All-ACC Preseason 2nd team
- Lamar Washington is 4th in the ACC in assists
Key Player Injuries – Not Expected to Play
- Mouhamed Sylla – ankle sprain – has not played in 3 of last 4 – including Pitt Wednesday during which he was in a boot, and played only 2 ½ minutes versus Miami last Saturday.
What to watch for:
- NCS – trends to watch
- Williams – handling the ball more, just had his third double-double of the season
- Able – increased minutes – two of his best games of the season back-to-back
- Arceneaux – fully healthy – two of his best games of the season back-to-back
- Holloman returns – What’s the Holloman / Able / Arceneaux minute distribution going to look like?
- NCS – record watch – McNeil has 52 made 3PT shots after 17 games. He’s averaging 3.1 per game, tracking for 95 in the regular season. DJ Horne’s record is 105 (40 games).
- GT – strength – guarding 3PT shooting, holding opponents to 29.8%, 4th in ACC
- GT – weakness – last in the ACC in 3PT shots made per game
- GT – strength – 4th in the ACC in blocked shots
- GT – weakness – turnovers – next to last in ACC in turnover margin
Prediction:
The Yellow Jackets come in angry after being badly mistreated by Pitt (89-66) on their home court Wednesday night. The first half stays close; both teams struggle to score but the Wolfpack closes the half on a run. Halftime score, 40-34.5. The Wolfpack tidies up a few issues at the half and maintains a double-digit lead most of the second half. Georgia Tech misses consecutive free throws and chicken for everybody! We all go home happy and ready for tougher games starting next week. Final, 80-69.
