We have the bottom to ourselves.

 Opp.
.. Pace PPP PPP EM
1. North Carolina 75.6 1.12 0.97 +0.15
2. Duke 76.5 1.12 0.98 +0.14
3. Clemson 68.4 1.09 1.01 +0.08
4. Maryland 72.1 1.05 1.04 +0.01
5. Georgia Tech 72.6 1.06 1.07 -0.02
6. Wake Forest 72.4 1.02 1.04 -0.02
7. Miami 70.0 1.04 1.07 -0.03
8. BC 69.3 1.07 1.10 -0.03
9. Virginia Tech 72.8 0.96 1.01 -0.05
10. Florida St. 68.3 0.97 1.04 -0.07
11. Virginia 69.5 0.99 1.06 -0.07
12. NC State 67.8 0.99 1.13 -0.14

When asked about Hickson's lack of touches in the second half, the second-year Wolfpack coach said Florida State's tactics were responsible.

"It's kind of like when we played against (former 7-foot-4 Virginia star) Ralph Sampson," Lowe explained, citing his playing days in 1983. "You've got one guy in front guy and one guy behind; it's tough to get it in there. We had (Hickson) running all over the place, we had him ducking in, we had him trying to ride him up higher (and) we had to swing it around.

"What you have to do is make some open shots to pull that defense out. What they were saying is that, 'We're going to play one behind and one in front and we're going to force you to swing it around and make a couple of shots.'"

Upon reviewing the game tape, however, Florida State never double-teamed Hickson in the second half. Ryan Reid and Uche Echefu fronted Hickson several times, but they never doubled down to prevent the entry pass. And N.C. State never set a screen to free him, either.