EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The ACC looks wide open, not to mention so-so, after North Carolina and Duke, and perhaps Florida State. There’s a lot of room for anyone to finish in the first division, and similarly to slide into the second division if injuries come into play or some players just don’t develop. That, along with what they showed at the Legends Classic, means a team like North Carolina State should be seen as one of those teams that can finish in that top half.
The Wolfpack lost to Vanderbilt 86-79 in the semifinals of the Legends Classic before coming back to knock off Texas in the consolation game two nights later. There is a good deal to like about this team from what they did here, especially since Saturday night is far from a bad loss for them. It’s not just the usual “good effort”, either, although that was one thing head coach Mark Gottfried liked from his team in the game.
C.J. Leslie, their most talented player, was suspended for the first three games by the NCAA and made his debut on Saturday. Now that they have him back, the Wolfpack should be better, and that was evident as he scored 20 points to lead them and was their best player on the evening.
Once Leslie came in the game on Saturday, he made his presence felt as he completed a conventional three-point play. He would later score 10 straight Wolfpack points, including two more conventional three-point plays, and scored 18 points in the half to keep them in the game while Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins was putting on a clinic shooting the ball from long range at the other end.
After lifting them in the first half, Leslie wasn’t a big factor in the second half. Gottfried thinks fatigue set in, and later he started to cramp up at a key time. When Leslie was helped off the court in the second half and the Wolfpack down 70-68, things could have taken a big turn for the worse. Although they didn’t pull it out, they didn’t go away and they had already stayed in the game with him not being the factor he was in the first half.
Richard Howell, who averaged a double-double in the first three games of the season, was a non-factor until several minutes into the second half. The junior came up big as the Wolfpack grabbed the lead a couple of times, and finished just shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. With Leslie back, Howell figures to have an easier go of it as teams likely focus more defensive attention on Leslie.
NC State doesn’t have their whole team at the moment. Starting shooting guard Scott Wood is out with a sprained ankle suffered early in the win over Princeton, and likely will be out about another week. They are also awaiting a decision from the NCAA on the eligibility of freshman Thomas de Thaey, a 6’8″ forward from Belgium. They feel he can further bolster what is already a potentially strong frontcourt that also has freshman Tyler Harris starting along with junior DeShawn Painter, who needs to do better than the one rebound he had Saturday night.
The backcourt is where the Wolfpack will need some development to continue, although depth could be a concern regardless of what happens. C.J. Williams is serviceable on the wing, while Alex Johnson is off to a slow start. Lorenzo Brown is off to a nice start at the point, and at 6’5″ he can be a matchup problem there. Brown has 33 assists with just 15 turnovers in the first five games, evidence that he’s growing up at that spot.
“He’s learning how to run a team,” Gottfried said of Brown, who has as high a ceiling as just about anyone on the team. “It’s not an easy thing to learn, but I think he’s doing very well.”
The Wolfpack will have more chances to prove themselves in non-conference play, starting with Indiana at home in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge next week. A few days later is a trip to Stanford, and less than two weeks later, they host Syracuse. The first two are not likely to be signature wins if they should come out on top, but they won’t hurt. The Syracuse game is the big one before ACC play from an NCAA Tournament standpoint. As potential opportunities in ACC play go, they get North Carolina twice but play Duke and Florida State just once each.
All told, the Wolfpack look to be in a better place than they were first projected. It helps that the ACC doesn’t look to be very strong all the way through, which might leave a door open for some perceived overachieving. The backcourt depth is a concern, but if Brown keeps growing, Wood comes back fine and they stay healthy, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this team was in the mix for a spot in the top half of the ACC based on what they have shown thus far.
