Florida 62, NC State 61

that I made a few posts ago about awful shit happening to NC State bball. I don’t know any State fans who were surprised at that ball going in.

cruel. the Florida player trys to miss a free throw by banking it off the backboard and it goes in. Degand misses his second foul shot and the ball bounces right to the Florida player who takes two dribbles and swishes a 75 footer. the odds? a little over two years ago a New Orleans player with Grant drapped all over him banks in a buzzer beater from half court for the win. last year with time running down, Curry hits a three pointer from almost mid court to expand Davidson’s lead to four. that is not all luck-especially with Curry’s shot-but something else is at work here. how many other ACC teams have been beaten by such shots in the last 10 years?
the second half of this game was a pressure cooker for both teams. maybe both teams realized their possibility for an NCAA bid depended on winning this game. State had a number of close shots that they shot short indicating to me that the players were feeling the pressure.
i don’t find fault with the way the team played or the way Lowe coached. the team and Lowe “busted” their buts. yeah, State missed too many foul shots, but they also missed too many shots in the lane in the second half.

I think it is abundantly clear by now that if he were a video game character, Horner’s clutch value would be 0 yet we keep putting him in positions to make crucial free throws. I would much rather have him inbounding the ball (maybe to Wood?) at end of game situations rather than receiving the ball. I am not sure if I want a cold Mays in, but he is a much better free throw shooter than Degand. I just wish State could make free throws at an average rate. The game doesn’t even go to overtime in that case.

I love super, end-of-game Javi. That dude just hates to lose. I can’t think of another recent NC State player who was able to so consistently elevate his play with the game on the line. He and Ish Smith of wake are cut from the same mold.

i think Jules hated to lose as much as Havi, and i also think Havi can actually score better than Jules could at the end of games. Jules just wan’t that atheletic and was not a good three point shooter. of course Jules did have that drive for “and one” against Connecticutt in 05!
i have been trying to figure out what Havi did to piss Lowe off such that Lowe stayed with Mays so much of the game. My son called me midway through the second half and wondered why Lowe, if his job is on the line, kept playing Mays over Havi.
i would like to see Havi play all of the time with the same mindset he has at the end of the game, but this may be an unrealistic given the energy it takes.

always played at the limit of his ability, which is so rare. He simply had no higher gear to turn to at the end of games. I think Javi tries to stay within the offense throughout most of the game, as well he should. Only at the end when points are needed quickly does he force his offense. We need him to do that because other teams have shown the mindset of forcing anyone but Tracy Smith to beat them.

With about 3 minutes left in OT, and the pack up by 5 she walks into the room and says, “Oh good, you guys are going to win one.” I immediately screamed, “NOOOOOOOOOOO! NEVER SAY THAT!” She, being a duke grad/fan and still not having grasped the wolfpack’s supreme ability to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory just waved me off and went back to whatever it was she was doing. I knew from that point, the game was over and Florida would win in excruciating fashion.

Grundy’s crazy follow shot to beat uncg

McCauley’s follow against Wake after running full court

I wish I could think of more