State stepped back to some easier competition where hopefully they can work on streamlining their execution and getting consistency out of their very talented freshmen.
Against USC-Upstate at least the freshmen responded. Tracy Smith had been targeted to return but did not. Ryan Harrow scored a career high 20 points on 10-13 shooting. Lorenzo Brown scored a career high 17, along with 6 assists and 5 rebounds. He disappeared against Syracuse, one reason they lost. All three freshman are too pivotal this year to allow themselves to vanish in games, as Brown did with that 2 point game.
CJ Leslie scored 13 points and had 7 rebounds. Scott Wood added 9 points on 3-4 3-pointers and State won 79-60. This was the annual Heritage Game at Reynolds Coliseum. State improved to 10-0 in regular season and NIT games at Reynolds since they left it as their full time home to move to the RBC Center beginning in 1999. Granted, they don't schedule big time opponents in Reynolds. with a capacity of 12,400 if memory serves, when they can put over 22,000 butts in the seats of the RBC Center. Having seen many games at Reynolds over the years and 4 or 5 at the RBC Center, while it's nice the RBC Center just doesn't have the same heart and soul as when Reynolds was rocking.
Next up will be Youngstown State, when Tracy Smith is now expected to play, before a showdown at home against Arizona. Last year State lost at Arizona inside of the last 10 seconds of so in a game when Tracy Smith was serving a one game suspension after criticizing the officiating for a game against Wake Forest earlier that week. Hopefully he's back this time and State can get a non-conference win that could add to a potential NCAA Tournament resume. That's jumping way ahead though. State's got 9 ACC wins to get before that can happen, and they need a healthy, productive Tracy Smith and consistent play from the freshmen game in and game out to get that.
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