The camel's back had been terminally cracked for some time. To have any NCAA hopes at all shy of winning the ACC Championship I believe State needed to win out in the regular season then make it at the very least to the ACC Tournament Championship game. Along the way that meant beating Maryland at Maryland, a place they haven't really played well at in years, and beat UNC. Plus probably having to beat UNC and/or Duke in the ACC Tournament just to get to the championship game. Tall order for all that. Near impossible.
And it ended at Maryland. State played pretty well but fell 87-80. They were tied at 71 but got sloppy and let Maryland go on a 7-0 run, from which State could never recover.
Tracy Smith had 19 points. CJ Leslie had 18 points and 8 rebounds. Scott Wood had 15 points, hitting 5 3-pointers. Lorenzo Brown added 8 assists to go along with 8 points.
But they were hurt by Richard Howell going out with an injury 2 minutes into the game. He'll also miss the UNC game tonight. Then the poor shots and turnovers late doomed them. State falls to 4-8 in the ACC, 14-12 overall. Now at best they can finish 8-8 in the ACC at best. With no marquee wins (though to get to 8-8 they'd have to beat UNC so that would be one) that's not going to get an at-large bid this year, even with the new 68 team tournament. So it's another year of "Win the ACC championship or bust). State has a knack for making some big runs. Sidney Lowe has gotten them to Sunday a couple times. But they've never won it.
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