While State's third sub - forward Thomas de Thaey - played only three minutes, nine Yellow Jackets played at least six minutes.
It was a skewed stat because Glen Rice, Jr. (22 points) didn't start for Georgia Tech, but the Yellow Jackets finished with a 27-5 bench scoring advantage. More importantly, Georgia Tech's bench edge allowed coach Brian Gregory to use an attrition strategy that N.C. State couldn't counter.
And that's the problem.
The three bench players not named Glen Rice combined for 28 minutes and two field goal attempts. What sort of attrition--or "bench edge"--are we talking about here, because if State wanted to toss out some guys who weren't going to factor into the offensive end, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't have been an issue.
Why is six minutes the baseline? Poor Nick Foreman--logged just two minutes, couldn't figure into the column.
Nick Foreman (2 min. played): "Look at me, I took no shots!"
Nate Hicks (11): "Neither did I!"
Nick Foreman: "Are you relevant?"
Nate Hicks: "Apparently!"
Nick Foreman: "Well that is some shit right there. I'm transferring."
They had eight guys in double-figure minutes, State had seven. We could say that both squads combined for a total of 200 minutes apiece, and Georgia Tech happened to spend their 200 minutes a little better than did NC State. Georgia Tech had five guys who scored in double figures, NC State had five guys in double figures.
Even Wake Forest (10-6, 1-1) has enough frontcourt depth to hurt N.C. State on Saturday in Winston-Salem unless Leslie and Richard Howell can avoid foul trouble.
Even NC State has enough frontcourt depth to hurt Wake Forest on Saturday unless Ty Walker and Nikita Mescheriakov can avoid foul trouble. Read that stupid sentence again.