As the athletic department’s catch phrase has read all off-season, “the stage is set for men’s basketball,” and it did not disappoint Tuesday night against Pfeiffer University.
Tuesday night’s exhibition match was a huge win for the men’s basketball team, as it dominated both sides of the court to win 111-73.
The Pack started the first and only exhibition game of the year showing some rust. A few mishaps at the beginning of the game would quickly be overshadowed as the Wolfpack ran away with the game against the Pfeiffer Falcons on Tuesday night.
The game was the first time fans of N.C. State got a glimpse of the new recruiting class, and they did not play like freshman. Freshman guard Lorenzo Brown was the only starter out of the three big name freshman, as he opened the game with two three-pointers and received an alley-oop dunk from sophomore forward Scott Wood. Freshman guard Ryan Harrow finished the half a perfect 4-4, while freshman forward C.J. Leslie finished the half going 4-5 with a three-pointer.
“They each did good,” coach Sidney Lowe said. “They are all good basketball players. There is going to be a learning curve for them. They can’t get too excited. Excited is a good thing, don’t get me wrong, but they can’t let all of the expectations can put too much on them.”
Each member of the freshman trio ended the game with 17 points apiece. Brown started the game hot, while Harrow scored most of his points during the middle, and Leslie closed out the game strong for the Pack. This was a feat that did not go unnoticed by Lowe.
“I think its just balance,” Lowe said. “Each one of them can take over games and carry our team, which is definitely different for us. We haven’t had that here during my coaching tenure. Its good to have them, they add another dimension to this team.”
The Pack had the game in hand at half time as it took a 52-34 lead into the locker room, but the packed house stayed to see more dominance. State started the second half on a 12-3 run and never looked back.
“I thought we looked good tonight as a team,” Brown said. “We looked good on offense and on defense. We controlled both sides of the court and hopefully we’ll have more to come.”
Sophomore forward Richard Howell was also a star for the Pack on the boards, as he came down with a team-leading ten rebounds.
“It felt good to contribute to the team with rebounds,” Howell said. “At the end of the day, coach Lowe told me to get out there and come down with rebounds, so I felt like I was just doing what he wanted me to do. I just wanted to please him so that he would keep putting me on the floor.”
Though many fans have not heard as much in the offseason about Howell, Lowe says that he should be a contributor for the team the rest of the season.
“Rich has been great,” Lowe said. “He came in this summer and really worked hard to get in shape. He is trimmed down, and got his mindset right for this season. You can really see that he is crashing the boards after rebounds and he is playing well.”
The Pack will open the regular season against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles. The tip-off for the game is set for 7 p.m. on Friday night at the RBC Center.
“I can’t wait to play at the RBC Center,” Howell said. “It’s a lot bigger than Reynolds, hopefully we’ll have a sellout to start the season.”
