NC State needs a much better effort in rematch with Clemson

NC State can split its season series with Clemson and pull even at 2-2 in the ACC with a win on Thursday night, but to accomplish that, State’s going to need to be just a smidge better than it was at Littlejohn a couple weeks back.

Here are some of the things that went wrong in the first game:

— NC State made only 40.9% of its two-point attempts and had 10 shots blocked. The Tigers are top-30 in both 2FG% defense and block percentage, so the Wolfpack needs to take a smarter approach to the interior.

— The Wolfpack also struggled to score from the perimeter, hitting only 5 of 22 threes. Basically all the shooting was bad, and State managed only 0.84 points per possession in the contest, which is a dreadful performance. Clemson won by 16 without a remarkable offensive effort of its own.

— State forced a meager nine turnovers and finished -5 in that category, which is a difficult handicap to overcome for this team in particular. Against good teams it’s pretty essential that they be on the positive side of the ledger here.

Things that went right:

— The Pack did rebound well at both ends, and that helped State stay in contention longer than it otherwise would’ve. Clemson is not a good offensive rebounding team, but State nonetheless held the Tigers well below their average OR%. Need to replicate that. With a better shooting night, that’s a potentially difference-making performance on the glass.

— Well that, uh, that was about it. Omer Yurtseven went for 12 and 10 with five blocks. That was good.