NC State 76, San Diego 54 -- Welcome Back Boom

by Akula Wolf on Jan 1, 2011 5:08 PM EST

The boom is back and it is fabulous. Tracy Smith came off the bench about five minutes into the game and it didn't take thirty seconds for him to score in the lane and draw a foul in the process. He scored 12 in the first half and finished with a game-high 16 points on 7-12 shooting despite a lot of zone defense on San Diego's part. Granted, it was a lot of bad zone defense, but still.

-- He missed a couple of shots around the rim that he probably finishes if he's 100%, but in general he didn't look too worse for wear. It's encouraging that he was able to play 25 minutes without pain. I don't know that he is ready to get back into the starting lineup yet--I'm guessing Sid will bring him off the bench again on Wednesday--but he appears close. Closer than I would have guessed before today.

-- DeShawn Painter and Richard Howell also played well in the paint. Howell may have had the best game of his career: 13 points on 6-9 shooting, 13 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. He even made a three-pointer. (The shot clock was about to expire and he was open, so it wasn't the bad shot it usually is.) I was very pleased to see Howell and the Macrowave on the floor at the same time. Painter spent long stretches on the bench but didn't let that affect his production.

-- Ryan Harrow's jumper looked as good as it has all season and he got some tough shots in the paint to go down. Nice to see him hit a couple of mid-range jump shots.

-- Three-point shooting continues to be a struggle for this team; Scott Wood missed all three of his attempts, and he's all we have in the way of reliability right now. I didn't expect this to be such a serious problem.

-- Overall, a good and decisive performance--State had control from the start and never let it go. There were some sloppy periods with the freshmen out there, of course, but I thought the focus and the effort were good. The defense was excellent and limited USD's second chances, so the bricklaying Toreros never really had a chance. Starting to worry about our inability to force turnovers, though.

Four Factors	NC State	San Diego
eFG%	57.8	38.1
Turnover Rate	24.6	17.4
Off Reb Rate	42.9	21.4
FT Rate	22.4	25.4

	Pts	Poss	OFF_EFF	DEF_EFF
USD	54	69.2	78.1	109.9
NCSU	76	69.2	109.9	78.1

Box Score

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All the Internets are excited

Note that Every Day Should Be Saturday foresaw the brilliant return of the Macrowave.

by acc_10k on Jan 1, 2011 5:22 PM EST reply actions

Dammit, Steven

Now you’re making me feel like there’s hope again.

And we all know there’s not… but still… “so you’re saying there’s a chance!!!”.

by wolfonthehill on Jan 1, 2011 6:48 PM EST reply actions

good summary of the game BTP.

even before Tracy entered the game, i thought the team was playing well. the team played as well as they have since the East Carolina, George Mason and Syracuse games.

seeing that put back dunk by Brown from section 106 was something else. it had everyone shaking their heads!

Tracy really has the ability to position himself for entry passes that Painter doesn’t have yet, and he also has a knack for putting himself in position for “boom….” dunks. great to see him back.

Wood and Leslie had bad games. Leslie has some talent with great hops, good ball handling skills and good quickness, but so far he hasn’t shown any real shooting ability.
in today’s game he got frustrated and reverted to those court long out of control drives to the basket which got him a seat on the bench.

earlier i wrote that Painter had passed Howell by. i no longer feel that way. Howell as indicated above had a great game and works real well with Tracy.

i might add that Harrow had some fabulous finishes at the basket.

there is always hope Wolf. but its still to be seen whether State will do well enough to save Lowe’s job. SFN thinks Yow is already making a list.

by sbas2 on Jan 1, 2011 7:55 PM EST reply actions

Tracy really has the ability to position himself for entry passes that Painter doesn’t have yet, and he also has a knack for putting himself in position for "boom…." dunks.

Very good point. He’s much better at using his body to seal his defender and create a wider target. Makes life easier for the guards trying to get him the ball.

Backing The Pack

by Akula Wolf on Jan 1, 2011 10:57 PM EST up reply actions

Just in time for me to wear my new BOOM t-shirt courtesy of Backing The Pack!

I have a good feeling about this team now. The light is coming on for the freshmen. Macrowave is back. Lowe has finally figured out not to play V-berg. It’s about time for an 11-5 run through the ACC. Who’s with me? WHO’S WITH ME????

…

anybody? hello?

by TVP on Jan 1, 2011 8:24 PM EST reply actions