Coming off its first ACC road win of the season, the Wolfpack will face three of its next four opponents at the RBC Center. In last Sunday’s “Saint Valentine’s Eve Massacre” against Wake Forest, Head Coach Sidney Lowe started the trio of talented freshmen, Ryan Harrow, Lorenzo Brown and C.J. Leslie, for just the second time all season.
“I feel that [Harrow, Brown and Leslie] have been here long enough to contribute, and they’ve earned a starting position,” Lowe said. “They’re certainly a part of the future of this program and they need to get their experience. That’s why we went with that lineup.”
According to both Lowe and the box score of the win over the Demon Deacons, the triumvirate of rookies certainly provides a spark for the Pack.
“They like playing together,” Lowe said. “In our last ball game they played well defensively–they played off of each other. And then offensively, all three are capable scorers. Lorenzo [Brown] and Ryan [Harrow] are both capable of creating something for us. Obviously, C.J. [Leslie], with his athleticism–he made a couple of plays in that last ball game that no one else on our team can make. They all three bring something special to the table.”
However, Lowe acknowledges Clemson and Wake Forest are two very different teams. Wake sits alone at the bottom of the ACC with just one win, whereas Clemson is in fifth, only three games out of second place and has won four of its last six ACC games.
“[Clemson is] a different team,” Lowe said. “They are an experienced team. Their guards have been in the trenches before. We’re not playing against freshmen or sophomores that have never played. They’re an experienced team. It’s going to be different.”
“They apply pressure a little differently than Wake Forest. Now we need to see if we can execute and be patient, do the things we did against Wake Forest and see if we can do them against Clemson.”
The Pack finds itself in a position similar to the one three weeks ago. State was coming off a win against Miami and was trying to carry momentum into a game against the Tigers. But Clemson ended those hopes as they overcame a 19-point first half deficit and defeated the visiting Wolfpack, 60-50, at Littlejohn Coliseum. State started the game on a 31-12 run over the first 14 minutes of play, but scored just 19 points during the final 26 minutes of the game. In the second half, NC State scored only 16 points and shot 25.0 percent (6-24) from the field.
“We showed them both when we executed well, when we got to the spots, the shots we got, but we also showed them the other side,” Lowe said. “What it boiled down to was, when we were up and they were getting more physical, we tried to make the same cuts we were trying to make earlier, when we needed to cut harder, sharper and be stronger with the ball.”
The game is slated for 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN 2.
