Now that I'm not packing, hauling, or unpacking possessions I can get back to the recent sports that passed uncommented upon.
NC State has played twice while I had my hands full with moving. They lost to UNC and beat Georgia Tech.
State played pretty well against UNC, but UNC executed better in the second half. They're the more talented team, especially with Richard Howell missing the game with a concussion, and beat State 75-63.
CJ Leslie had 13 points and 8 rebounds for State. Tracy Smith had 12 points and 7 rebounds. Lorenzo Brown had a very nice all around game. He had 11 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Ryan Harrow had 8 points and 4 assists. Jordan Vandenberg, who had played only 16 minutes in the previous 13 games got the extra minutes with Howell out. Deshawn Painter didn't play at all. Vandenberg had a surprising 4 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks. Certainly not Howell, but he showed on his 2 dunks how to get involved in the flow of the offense for a change, so they weren't offensive rebounds over a much smaller man for once. That showed that some more minutes could be coming Vandenberg's way, as he was effective in the 15 minutes he got.
Once again a big downfall for State was Scott Wood being bottled up. He managed only 3 shots all game, and scored only 3 points on 1 three pointer. He's too good of a shooter for State to be able to let him get taken out of the game. Once he shoots into a rhythm he can be deadly. We'll just call that foreshadowing heading into the Georgia Tech game.
Hosting Georgia Tech Saturday State won 79-74. Scott Wood scored a season high 20 points. He had 6 in the last 2 minutes, on a steal and layup and 4 free throws as State worked to hold off a Georgia Tech rally. Tracy Smith had 18 points. Lorenzo Brown scored 13 and had 3 assists. Ryan Harrow had 10 points 4 rebounds and a couple assists. Jordan Vandenberg got 16 minutes of playing time and scored 8 points, which may be a career high, on 4-4 shooting. He also had 3 rebounds. Richard Howell returned to the lineup. While he only had 3 points, he had 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Deshawn Painter didn't play at all again. I'm not sure why.
State shot 50% from the floor for the game, even with CJ Leslie shooting only 1-10 for 3 points. As seems to have become the trend, if Leslie isn't shooting well everything else falls apart too as frustration sets in. He only added 2 rebounds. He was 1-4 from the free throw line and played only 20 minutes.
But State won. They're 5-9 in the ACC and 15-13 on the season. At this point they're just trying to finish with a .500 or better record to be NIT eligible. They travel to Virginia and close the season hosting FSU. I'd like to think 2 wins can happen. State on the road is iffy but Virginia is 14-14 on the season. FSU comes to Raleigh with its leading scorer out for the year, on Senior Day for Tracy Smith and Javier Gonzalez, so I'd like to think State can rise to the occasion and win that one.
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