Liveblog: Cal vs. NC State

[7:13] Just a few minutes 'til the tip, and I haven't been this nervous since...last March. Here's hoping that we will not be the suck tonight.

[7:19] Um. Plenty of good seats still available in Dallas.

[7:20] Herb in his 13th season according to the announcers...

[7:22] Didn't take long for Cal to get its first offensive board. Sigh. Leon Powe's off and running...

[7:24] Cal's hot early. Typical.

[7:26] Timeout at the 15:13 mark. Evtimov hit his first three, so that's good. Simmons just got fouled and will shoot two. The defense finally got a stop.

[7:31] Cal tall guy with two fouls. Ced still struggling from the field.

[7:32] Cal gettin' a little sloppy. Gavin missed a short fadeaway, but the Bears gave it right back. Do we have any fans in the building?

[7:35] Wow, Courtney Fells in early. Ced with the strong finish!!!

[7:36] Under 12:00 timeout. Gavin's not playing very well so far. Missed shot, turnover. Ced's only 1-4 from the field and he's missing chippies. Pack's up by a bucket, though.

[7:41] Fells with four off the bench.

[7:42] Midgley with the three ball. Just the sight of him makes me want to cry.

[7:44] Stupid damn pass by Evtimov trying to be cute via the backdoor. Decent defensive effort so far from the Pack.

[7:46] Don't shoot threes, Ced. I don't care how open you are. This has not been a very good couple of minutes. Bethel's pretty much invisible and Cam just turned the ball over. Cal's up one and heading to the free throw line.

[7:49] No one can complain about Ced not getting enough touches. He's 2-7. Ben McCauley with the tip in! Nice work, Ben.

[7:55] Cal's shooting 59%. Those jerks. The good news is they're just hitting shots...our defense hasn't been terrible.

[7:57] Simmons with an dumb foul, and that's his third. Now it's Brack on Powe. Brackman, way out of position, goes over the back on a defensive rebound.

[8:00] Brackman absolutely enrages me. He's 6-9 and rebounds like a pansie. Powe beat him for another offensive board and a stick back. At the other end, Brackman clangs a three-pointer.

[8:04] Our interior defense is terrible without Simmons in the game. The dropoff is painful. We will make all of Cal's anonymous tall guys look good before the night is over. Evtimov with an offensive foul, so Cal gets the last possession of the half. Yay.

[8:06] Halftime, Cal leads 29-25. The Pack looked confused on defense again but the Bears didn't capitalize.

[8:20] Okay, about ready to start the second half. I've turned my clothes inside-out, and I am extremely confident that this will be what the team needs to break through and score 50 points this half.

[8:22] Greg Gumbel in New York reminding us that Michigan State's defense still sucks.

[8:27] Ced starts the second with a nice +1 play. Four fouls on Hardin.

[8:29] Rod Benson with 13 points. Tony with a three, finally.

[8:33] Under 16:00, Wolfpack still down four. Bethel took a step-back three that did everything but go in. Simmons picked up his third (for real this time) with an offensive foul, but it doesn't look like Benson can guard him.

[8:36] "Nice play out of the timeout." Did everyone hear that?

[8:40] This is painful. Oh, god, it's painful.

[8:41] Under 12:00 timeout. So...anything on HBO right now? Ooh, we have a Coach Kar commercial sighting.

[9:14] Apologies (not that anyone's reading this). I've been too nervous to type.

[9:17] Cam!!!!

[9:21] A steal and it's over! Whew!

[9:22] Final: State 58, Cal 52