Quick thoughts from Marquette-NCSU game

In the words of the Wolfpack faithful, “that’s some NC State sh*t right there.” The Pack holds the lead throughout the majority of the game, lose the lead with minutes to play, fight back, and lose on a last second 3-pt shot.  I know the Pack did some things that didn’t help their effort, but I’m starting to lose my faith in karma….

*Marquette scored 18 points off 18 NCSU turnovers, with the majority of those turnovers coming from the guards against the Marquette press in the first half.  Is it just me or has NC State not been able to attack a press comfortably since Dumb & Dumber was #1 at the box office (or at least #1 in my mind) .  Cut those turnovers in half, and State has a double digit lead going into the half. 

First half defense was very good against the quick slashing guards of Marquette, holding them to 39% shooting  in the first half , compared to State’st 54%.  Again, the turnovers limited the Pack to get a better cushion at the half.

*While our turnovers did tremendously hurt, it does say a lot about the Pack to lose the lead and fight back  to have MULTIPLE opportunities to take the lead  in the closing moments, despite Marquette shooting over 60% in the second half (including 57% from 3 pt range). 

*I still do not agree with the way Sid is substituting during the games.  Costner, Fells, and McCauley should NEVER be on the bench at the same time at this point in the season, especially against a Top 25 team at home.  Costner and McCauley came out of the 2nd half with a lead, and did not come into the game until <10 min left in the game and we were down 4.  Why take them out for so long?  Costner was shooting 90% from the field last night!  I dont know…..I know we want to get the younger players experience and playing time to ready for conference play, but this was a crucial game for our NCAA resume and needed to be treated like a conference game.  We don’t have the talent right now to let our main starters sit on the bench for 5+ minute stretches when we have a lead <15.

Also another bit of good news for the Pack is that Fergalicious was reported to have broken/fractured his hand last night.  At least it wasn’t a knee I guess.

All that said, we got a lot of season left to go.  All we can do is work hard on the things we didn’t do well and maintain the things we did do well.  I love the way the team is playing and it is nice to see a Wolfpack team on the court actually showing a hint of competitive emotion again.  Now lets take care of business before another huge game @ Florida next week.

NC State Fans, keep up with the latest Wolfpack Journal blog, subscribe to our RSS feed.