NC State Loses To Maryland On Last-Second Shot

Box Score

So. NC State came out looking completely aimless and fell down 8-0 in the early stages of the game. It took the Wolfpack a long time to find anything resembling cohesion at the offensive end, which is to say that this did not happen in the first half. The Pack frankly was fortunate to only be down six points at the break, but the Terrapins had their own extended scoring drought during the first 20 minutes.

The Pack's offense has had very little trouble scoring efficiently this season. In fact, State had only one game in which it scored fewer than 1.07 points per possession (!) prior to tonight's game. (That was the Okie State loss.) From an efficiency standpoint, the Maryland game was State's worst of the season. These things happen. Sucks but that's basketball for you. On the plus side, it was State's best defensive effort of the year.

To State's credit, it managed to rally from a double-digit second half deficit to claim a late lead. The guys simply couldn't execute well enough with their slim lead in order to secure the game, and Maryland took advantage with a last-second bunny from Alex Len to give the Terps the win.

NC State had played the final possession smart up to that point, using a spare foul to stop the clock with around five seconds left. After that stoppage, though, things fell apart. Pe'Shon Howard drove down the left-hand side and hopelessly tossed a ball over both Richard Howell and C.J. Leslie, who'd come over to attempt to block it. Normally this would be an ideal scenario for NC State--Howard taking the final shot, that is. But when Leslie came over, he left Len by himself underneath the basket, and Len was there to calmly put Howard's airball in the basket. Oh well.

The story of the game was an uncharacteristically terrible performance offensively. Scott Wood gave one reason for the performance after the game:

Asked by a local reporter what went wrong. Scott Wood said, "The balls sucked."

— Andrew Jones (@AJonesFoxSports) January 17, 2013

There you have it. Also I totally called this in the first half.

Oh Maryland has Under Armour basketballs? Well there's the problem. Those things are probably shaped like eggs.

— Steven (@akulawolf) January 17, 2013

Stupid egg-balls!

Now let's see who won the internet today: