NC State 95, UNCG 93

Box Score

NC StateFour FactorseFG50.8Turnover Rate13.1Off Reb Rate42.1FTM/FGA49.2UNCGFour FactorseFG57.7Turnover Rate17.0Off Reb Rate33.3FTM/FGA15.5











-- At halftime, I reminded the Universe that it's supposed to even itself out, and if UNCG didn't shoot, oh, 40% or so in the second half, it'd really be dropping the ball. The Spartans followed up their 70% first half shooting with 44.8% in the second. And despite the fact that they made a school-record number of threes, we managed to dodge the upset.

-- Have to give Gavin credit for shrugging off a tough night from the field and coming up large in the clutch. The five points he scored in the last minute of regulation couldn't have been bigger, and he hit eight of eight free throws in OT--shrugging off the fatigue that comes with playing every minute of the game--to salt away the victory. The result: a 110.9 offensive rating for the game, his third-highest of the season. This is exactly the kind of game he needed to restore his confidence heading into conference play. 18-13-6.

-- Ben McCauley comes up two dimes short of a triple-double: 26 points, 10 boards, 8 assists, 0 turnovers in 45 minutes. His ORtg for the night? 159.2. I feel like anything I say about Ben at this point would only sound like a pathetic understatement. McCauley's assist rate for the game was 42.1%, which means that he assisted on 42.1% of his teammates' made baskets. That is a huge number.

-- There's the offense! I mentioned that we'd been in a rut offensively; well, that's over with. The Wolfpack scored 95 points on about 77 possessions, which is an offensive efficiency of 124.1. It was our second-best offensive performance of the season. Just take a look at the four factors: our shooting percentage was a bit lower than usual, but we only turned the ball over 13% of the time, grabbed over 40% of our missed shots, and made a free throw for every two field goal attempts. That's a complete offensive effort.

-- The Spartans were every bit as good. Kyle Hines proved himself to be the real deal, and freshman Kendall Toney came out of nowhere to hit eight threes and score 28 points. Ricky Hickman, too, was surprisingly efficient. Their offensive efficiency for the game, 121.5, was just, you know, a hair above their season average.

-- A complete effort indeed:

Player ORtg %Poss eFG% TO%

McCauley 159.2 20.4 61.1 0.0
Ferguson 122.9 10.4 62.5 22.7
Fells 122.4 16.3 45.5 15.3
Horner 113.0 10.1 62.5 32.3
Grant 110.9 21.2 37.5 21.9
Costner 106.9 21.8 46.4 6.2