Coming off two straight losses, combined with wrapping up an under achieving season, many people wouldn’t have been surprised if State packed it up and just went through the motions in the final few conference games of the season.
But, at least on Sunday, we didn’t.
The team came out, scored well, rebounded well and played just enough defense to secure the 79-74 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Saturday.
And even with a NCAA Tournament bid unlikely, the team seems to continue to play with a positive outlook.
“Our chances to be in the tournament could be up,” sophomore forward Scott Wood said. “But the way I look at it, we have the ACC tournament [coming up] and you better prepare yourself for that.”
With the win, the Pack continued to dominate over the Jackets in Raleigh as the team has won 29 of the 38 games, including having a 9-1 record in the RBC Center.
With his parents in the crowd, Wood had his best performance of the season. Wood finished with a season-high 20 points, which led the Pack. But none of those points were bigger than his final four free throws, which helped to preserve the victory for State, giving the team its fifth ACC win of the season.
“You just can’t worry about it,” Wood said. “You have to block everything out and just know you are going to step up and make it. That’s the main thing.”
The Pack built an early lead in the first half, courtesy of freshman guard Lorenzo Brown, who scored 11 of the Pack’s 16 points, in the first six minutes of the game. Brown ended up with 13 points and 3 assists.
But a solid defensive effort and steady offensive play from Brown, senior forward Tracy Smith and Wood helped the Pack take a 39-33 lead into the locker room.
However, the Jackets battled back in the second half taking the lead at 49-48 with 14:58 to go in the second half. But instead of collapsing late in the game, like the Pack has done in recent games against both UNC-Chapel Hill and Maryland, the team kept trudging along and put the game on the shoulder of its senior leader Smith.
“It was very big for us to play hard in the second half because coach told us they were going to come at us when they got their confidence,” Brown said. “So we just came out with the same intensity as they did.”
Smith took over the game late in the second half hitting two huge buckets during the Pack’s 11-0 run, helping the team put the game out of reach.
“That is what Tracy [Smith] does. He is an automatic scorer,” Brown said. “We want to go to him every time.”
For the second game in a row, the Pack got huge minutes from sophomore center Jordan Vandenberg. After hardly playing for most of the year, Vandenberg has been a huge plus for the Pack in the last two games as he scored eight points off of the bench.
“I have been having fun,” Vandenberg said. “The team has been finding me and I have had good opportunities to make a couple plays. I didn’t know I was going to play last game as much as I did and I just kind of carried the momentum into this game.”
The Pack returns to action Tuesday night as it plays its final road game of the season against Virginia in Charlottesville with the tip-off set for 7 p.m.
