The Good
- Jaland Lowe is special. He got rushed into a couple of turnovers due to the constant pressure, but there was a lot on his plate last night. He had the ball in his hands a lot and the NC State guards really got after him. That inside out dribble right before half almost injured Middlebrooks. Incredible. One of the most confident freshman I have ever seen come through here. He is fearless.
- The free throw line, of all places, won them this game. To not shoot the three well (5-21) and win at NC State is a great sign.
- I had said Blake Hinson needed to have a big game in this one. Although he didn't shoot the three well, I still thought he played a good game overall.
- What a big shot from Zack Austin. Did very little else all game, but that was a huge three to hold off NC State's momentum.
- 6 big rebounds and a few clutch plays from Leggett.
- Federiko's last minute was pretty good. He got a lot of help and bailed out on the Burns reverse miss, but he was able to gather a big rebound and got rid of it immediately. Down the stretch, he did contest a couple of shots and it felt critical. It is not easy to forget everything and show up like that in crunch time.
The Bad
- The center position. Fede deserves credit for the last stretch of the game, but everything before that was really rough. Same for Guillermo in his limited appearance. It felt like Burns backed down both of them for a total of like half a marathon worth of space. There was never even an attempt to body up and try to draw a charge. Just nothing. You probably aren't going to see another center like Burns, but the interior defense has been pathetic.
- The offense got really stagnant. Felt like most of the second half was just literally someone dribbling down the clock until a high ball screen came. It is way too often where this team is going stretches without Blake Hinson getting a shot. There was hardly any offense run the last 20 minutes. At times, it felt like it was coming down to whether or not the officials would bail them out on a wild drive. This team has three good guards and an explosive outside shooter. They have to find a way to move the ball and open up space for some offensive sets.
- Not sure I understand that last sequence. How can you not sub in Federiko and Guillermo to be low on the free throw? I would have called a time out to not only try to freeze him after the first miss, but get those two in. You know they have to try to miss at that point. It doesn't matter how bad Fede is at the free throw line. You just need to gather and flip the ball to the other end. At that point, it would have been like 2 seconds or less. You gather that rebound and you win. Don't care what the rebounder is shooting at the line. NC State executed it and got the tip out.
With all that being said, they are alive. That is what it comes down to. They have a pulse. It certainly would have been nice to see Syracuse lose to Louisville last night. This team is going to need some help around them, as well as winning the majority down the stretch. It's easy to want to play the schedule game now, but there really is no point. It is one at a time. They earned the opportunity to play more meaningful games. That is all that matters for now.
- Jaland Lowe is special. He got rushed into a couple of turnovers due to the constant pressure, but there was a lot on his plate last night. He had the ball in his hands a lot and the NC State guards really got after him. That inside out dribble right before half almost injured Middlebrooks. Incredible. One of the most confident freshman I have ever seen come through here. He is fearless.
- The free throw line, of all places, won them this game. To not shoot the three well (5-21) and win at NC State is a great sign.
- I had said Blake Hinson needed to have a big game in this one. Although he didn't shoot the three well, I still thought he played a good game overall.
- What a big shot from Zack Austin. Did very little else all game, but that was a huge three to hold off NC State's momentum.
- 6 big rebounds and a few clutch plays from Leggett.
- Federiko's last minute was pretty good. He got a lot of help and bailed out on the Burns reverse miss, but he was able to gather a big rebound and got rid of it immediately. Down the stretch, he did contest a couple of shots and it felt critical. It is not easy to forget everything and show up like that in crunch time.
The Bad
- The center position. Fede deserves credit for the last stretch of the game, but everything before that was really rough. Same for Guillermo in his limited appearance. It felt like Burns backed down both of them for a total of like half a marathon worth of space. There was never even an attempt to body up and try to draw a charge. Just nothing. You probably aren't going to see another center like Burns, but the interior defense has been pathetic.
- The offense got really stagnant. Felt like most of the second half was just literally someone dribbling down the clock until a high ball screen came. It is way too often where this team is going stretches without Blake Hinson getting a shot. There was hardly any offense run the last 20 minutes. At times, it felt like it was coming down to whether or not the officials would bail them out on a wild drive. This team has three good guards and an explosive outside shooter. They have to find a way to move the ball and open up space for some offensive sets.
- Not sure I understand that last sequence. How can you not sub in Federiko and Guillermo to be low on the free throw? I would have called a time out to not only try to freeze him after the first miss, but get those two in. You know they have to try to miss at that point. It doesn't matter how bad Fede is at the free throw line. You just need to gather and flip the ball to the other end. At that point, it would have been like 2 seconds or less. You gather that rebound and you win. Don't care what the rebounder is shooting at the line. NC State executed it and got the tip out.
With all that being said, they are alive. That is what it comes down to. They have a pulse. It certainly would have been nice to see Syracuse lose to Louisville last night. This team is going to need some help around them, as well as winning the majority down the stretch. It's easy to want to play the schedule game now, but there really is no point. It is one at a time. They earned the opportunity to play more meaningful games. That is all that matters for now.
