Another swing and a miss
Game Summary:
NC State played another solid game without getting rewarded for it.
Stanford played a poor first half, turning the ball over 9 times and scoring only 29 points. Luckily for NC State, that’s the way we like it. For those who had the ‘under’ (as compared to the Cal game) on how long it would take Big Ben to pick up his 2nd foul, you win. He headed to the bench with his second at the 10:24 mark. The Wolfpack was tied at 16 in rebounding. Trey Parker was 4-4 from 3PT and led all scorers with 12. NC State held the ACC’s leading scorer, Raynaud, to 4 points in the half. Halftime score 33-29 Wolfpack.
NC State played another close second half, only to miss the opportunity at the end of the game. Middlebrooks picked up foul #4 at the 15:18 mark, not coincidentally Raynaud played the entire half and scored 21 points (of Stanford’s 45) and pulled 6 rebounds. Trey Parker didn’t shoot as well in the second half but distributed the ball like the Pack’s point guard of the future (we hope), having 4 assists in the half. The Wolfpack led 73-72 on a Trey Parker layup with 17 seconds left. Stanford scored with 8 seconds left. The Pack ran a play for the last shot with Marcus Hill driving and kicking the ball out to Trey Parker at the 3PT line. (who shot 62.5% from 3PT for the game) It did not go in. Final score 73-74 Stanford.
Overall Takeaways:
- NC State played well but, again, was unable to close the deal despite scoring over 70 points for only the third time in ACC play
- 8 consecutive losses
- Trey Parker and Ismaël Diouf made strong cases to be starters against Louisville
- The Wolfpack missed 8 layups – huge in a one point loss
- Ben Middlebrooks seems to have lost his “benergy” – he’s picked up 4 or more fouls in 7 of the last 10 games.
- Despite Middlebrooks’ foul problems, rebounding is improving. We led the offensive rebounds again, 10-7. Stanford won the overall rebounding, 34-32.
- We passed the ball better, 13 assists on 23 made field goals is very good
Keatts Comments
Individual Highlights
- Trey Parker – Career high scoring – 19 points, career high assists – 5, career high minutes – 28
- Dontrez Styles led rebounding with 7
- Ismaël Diouf – Career highs in points (9) and rebounds (5) – 23 minutes is his second highest