NC State 64, East Carolina 57

Box Score

NC StateFour FactorseFG50.0Turnover Rate20.5Off Reb Rate24.1FTM/FGA48.8ECUFour FactorseFG50.0Turnover Rate25.2Off Reb Rate33.3FTM/FGA3.6











-- I knew it. I knew it all the time. Never had a doubt. Not even the slightest ink-- JESUS CHRIST, THIS TEAM IS GOING TO KILL ME. Losing to the Pirates in football is one thing, but getting beaten in hoops would have been the ultimate indignity.

-- Courtney Fells, Point Guard? I can live with that. Gavin Grant, Shooting Guard? Hmm...maybe this isn't the best idea. Fells ended the game with a team-high five assists, and the Wolfpack only turned the ball over twice in the second half (after the switch was made) versus 11 times in the first half (prior to the switch). Gavin attempted five threes in the second half, likely as much a function of ECU's zone defense as it was of his positional switch.

-- East Carolina, coming in with a 45.4 effective field goal percentage on the season, shot 62.5% in the opening half. Fortunately, they remembered that they do in fact suck at shooting and hit only 37% of their attempts in the second half. The Pirates ended up finishing the game with an offensive efficiency right near their average (89.8 on the night, 87.5 for the season).

-- Ben McCauley. He passes, he scores, he rebounds.

ORtg %Poss OR% DR% eFG% FTRate TO%

120.6 30.3 11.5 21.6 55.6 144.4 17.3

All of those numbers are stellar. Horner was the only other NC State player with an offensive rating above 100, but anyone can be efficient while using less than 10% of the team's possessions. McCauley was asked to shoulder more weight than he has all season--and he came through big time.

-- Spin-O-Rama:

Costner’s biggest shot of the night came with the shot clock running down and just over three minutes to play. He caught the ball going away from the Wolfpack basket, but glanced at the shot clock at the other end of the floor and noticed that there were only two seconds remaining. He made a quick turn and launched a desperation shot that went in as the buzzer went off.

"I knew I had to get it up quick," Costner said.

Asked if that was a high-percentage shot for him, Costner smiled and said, "Let’s just say I don’t lose in H-O-R-S-E. That was a H-O-R-S-E shot."