NC State Wins 74-49

Size was the determining factor in NC State's dominating win today. State had 7 blocked shots and out rebounded SC State 43-32 to get its first win since the final of the Old Spice Classic over Villanova. The Wolfpack's inside game had its way with SC State but the Wolfpack continued to struggle with their outside game only hitting 2 of their 14 three point attempts. After the game coach Lowe commented that NC State still needed to put a 40 minute game together and soon with Davidson coming to Raleigh next Friday.

Overall I felt the Wolfpack played well. Except for about a five minute stretch midway through the second half NC State controlled the tempo had an easy time getting the ball down low. The Pack is still making too many lazy passes and mental errors to be a serious contender for the ACC regular season title but they did play with much more intensity than they have shown in their past two games.

Star of the Game- Gavin Grant. 23 points, 7 rebounds and two assists. When Grant was on the floor State seemed to want the game more. He pushed the game's tempo and had a lot of success driving the ball in the lane. He missed some free throws down the stretch but his Kobe-esque 360 up and under lay up made up for any bad plays he might have had tonight.


NC State's defense was outstanding tonight. The Wolfpack's towering height allowed them to contest or block almost all of SC States shots. Farnold and Gavin played tight defense and Hickson grabbed 8 rebounds as NC State held the Bulldogs to 29.7% from the field.

NC State still needs to improve its outside shooting. Only going 2-14 from the field is pretty disappointing and if we wanna compete against the likes of Duke and Carolina we need to have options outside of Hickson and McCauley inside. Finally, Costner needs to improve. He did grab 7 rebounds but he's a shadow of that spectacular player we saw in the ACC tournament last year. We know what he's capable of and I'm sure Coach Lowe will have hem back to normal soon.