In front of a boisterous sea of red and white at the RBC Center, head coach Sidney Lowe, who has always had a somewhat audacious sense of style, donned a red and white polka dot bowtie for the Pack’s ACC home contest against Virginia Tech. However, unlike Lowe’s magical red blazer which he wore in his first and only win over North Carolina in 2007, there were no powers embedded in Wolfpack red bowtie as State dropped its third straight conference game.
Each of the State’s conference losses this season have had one, overriding theme – an early, sizeable deficit. The Pack’s sixth ACC loss was no different, as Virginia Tech jumped out to a 15-point first half lead. However, rather than poor shooting during the first period, State’s downfall came on the boards. The Wolfpack was out rebounded 27-11, in the first half, allowing Virginia Tech to score 19 second chance points.
“They were just more physical than us in the first half,” sophomore forward Scott Wood said. “We were going up with one hand and they were putting two hands in our back and going and getting it like grown men.”
Along with being out rebounded, State again had trouble containing its opponents prolific scorers. Along with Boston College’s Reggie Jackson, North Carolina’s Harrison Barnes, and Duke’s Nolan Smith, the Pack had difficulty silencing VT’s Malcolm Delaney, who finished with a game high 22 points.
“It boils down to defense,” junior guard C.J. Williams said. “We just have to buckle down and be physically tough from the jump. We noticed towards the end of the game when we got physical with Virginia Tech it made them uncomfortable and that’s what we need to do from the beginning of the game.”
With the added pressure and physicality, State managed to at least make the game interesting, cutting the lead to as little as six late in the second half. However, the 15-point first half deficit was too big of a hole for the Pack to dig itself out of.
After losing three straight and six of its last seven, Williams admitted players are beginning to feel pressure to turn things around.
“Do we feel a little bit of pressure? Probably,” Williams said. “But we know that there’s still time. The window is a lot smaller now, but there’s still time. We can turn this thing around and get on a nice little run to make our run into the ACC Tournament.”
The pressure was certainly felt as boos rang along side of profanities directed toward the officiating as well as cheers of support. Senior forward Tracy Smith acknowledged the importance of having the crowd’s support.
“The crowd gets mad at us and frustrated,” Smith said. “But I understand why they’re frustrated. They don’t want to lose, and they don’t want to support a losing team. It’s up to us to go out and fight and win, not hang our heads and make all the hustle plays so we can still have the crowd behind us.”
Freshman forward C.J. Leslie led State with 18 points and six rebounds off the bench, while Smith and Wood each contributed 11 points. However, as has been the case much of the season, State’s first and second halves of basketball have been as bipolar as Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.
“The Clemson game we played spectacular first half, then played a terrible second half,” Wood said. “In the North Carolina game we just didn’t play well, period. Then tonight we put a poor first half together, and put a halfway decent second half. We just have to put a 40 minute basketball game together and we’ll go from there.”
Lowe reiterated the thoughts of his sophomore forward.
“We haven’t been able to put together two halves in our recent game,” Lowe said. “There have been five or six games where we have guys playing well, but we can’t get everybody there.”
The path to victory for Sidney Lowe, the team and the Wolfpack faithful certainly does not get any easier as they travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium, one of the nation’s most difficult gym’s to play in, Saturday to take on the Blue Devils.
“That’s the ACC,” Williams said. “They say the ACC is down, but it’s still one of the toughest conferences in the country, and we understand there will be tough road games, Saturday is one of them. But we have to turn it around right now.”
