January 27, 2019
NC State(11-5, 2-1 ACC) at #10 Florida State (13-1, 3-1 ACC)
NC State is rated 90 OVR (90 off/90 def/92 sht/89 reb/91 coach). Sidney Lowe is still coaching there and is up over 200 career wins now. NC State has been a consistent tournament team the past few seasons and have a very strong looking team.
NCSU has a quality road win over Texas, as well as a win over 13-5 minnesota and #24 Clemson. Their ACC loss is a road loss at an above average Virginia Tech team. Non-conference losses all appear to be to quality opposition, a 4 point loss to #16 Wisconsin, a bad loss (by 22) to a good UCLA team, and road losses at good Georgetown and St Joes teams.
NC State is #48 in the RPI and 2-3 vs top 50 opponents so far.
Scouting
PG Clayton Conklin – JR – 85 OVR – Conklin is slated as a 2
nd round pick this year, I assume that means he'll be back next year. He is the #2 scorer on the team with 11.8 ppg, also 4.8 assists. He's got solid awareness(83 o/76 D), just 1 point off from coach on the floor status. He's an outstanding defender(93 defense), good padder, and good all around scorer(87 close/81 med/78 3). Great off the dribble(88) and a good clutch shooter.
SG Nathaniel Munns – JR – 82 OVR – Natural PG. 87 defense/82 steals. Great ball handler(92). 79 close/80 med/77 3/83 off the dribble. All good but nothing spectacular. He's got good speed(91) but poor quickness (80/D) compared to most people at this level. He has one of the best hustle ratings you'll ever see(96/A+). I'm not sure what to make of Munns, a solid defensive compliment to Conklin and an average scorer I guess? 7.9 ppg.
SF Leonard Monserez – FR – 78 OVR – With A potential Monserez will be a stud, but he's not there yet. 74 defense... 87 close/79 med/64 3. 86 in traffic. He's not fast, doesn't have great awareness, and isn't a good rebounder. He's a good, but not great athlete. 6.6 ppg/4.2 rpg.
PF Geoffrey Merritt – JR – 84 OVR – 7 feet tall, natural PF – 80 orb/85 drb. 77 post off/77 post def. 86 close/87 in traffic. He's also a great athlete(A- speed/A- quickness/A- vert/A- str/B+ hustle...) His post ratings aren't that great but with a 7 footer he'll be a big threat anyway. 9.4 ppg/5.1 rpg so far this year.
C Taurance Frye – JR – 83 OVR – 6'11”, this is a team with serious size. 84 orb/75 drb. 80 post off/84 post def. A shot blocking specialist(88/A- block rating). 94 close/90 in traffic. Great awareness, like Conklin he's one point off from coach on the floor status. Frye leads the ACC in scoring at 17.9 ppg, also grabbing 5 boards a game.
NC State has 1 player rated 80+ off their bench, PG Ray Eisentrout. Another outstanding defender and average scorer. He's actually the best handler/passer on the team. We have better depth, but these guys look pretty good. Also, note that they start 4 juniors... this is a national title contender next year I bet.
Another thing that stands out is that they have no lights out 3 point shooters... some guys that could hurt us and that we sure can't leave open, but hopefully we can lag back just a little to stop dribble penetration.
Half
| Time
| FSU
| NCSU
| Notes
|
1
| 13:07
| 4
| 9
| Wow. NC State has 4 blocks already. We got one bucket inside from Pugh and a bullshit goaltending call on a shot by Summers. That's it heh. Backups are in.
|
1
| 12:30
| 9
| 9
| Heh, Weisse probably belongs in my starting lineup... amazing. He pump fakes, gets his man in the air, hits a 3. His pressure defense forces a turnover in the backcourt and he takes his man one on one, a great spin move leading to an open layup. 5 points in 30 seconds to tie it up.
|
1
| 10:30
| 11
| 11
| NC State timeout. They had both their big men sitting briefly, the timeout gets them back in.
|
1
| 10:15
| 11
| 11
| A Weisse block down low kicks off a 6th man bonus for us.
|
1
| 6:55
| 17
| 11
| Heh, Frye with 6 straight for the Pack, dominating our backup bigs. I get a timeout and get my starters back in..
|
1
| 5:20
| 22
| 11
| We haven't scored in over 5 minutes now. I get another timeout.
|
1
| 4:15
| 22
| 13
| Crosswhite gets a layup in transition, his first points, he's 1-6 now. Also, the starters now have a grand total of 6 points scored in 9 minutes on the court.
|
| HALF
| 24
| 32
| Our offense picks up a little but we're still shooting 31% for the game. I guess shooting that poorly we should be pleased to only be down 8. NC State is 12-22. They have 11 from Frye, 8 from their freshman Monserez, and 7 from SG Munns.
Crosswhite has 8 for us, but really that's just from launching a ton of shots. He's 3-10, 2-6 from 3. Watson is 1-4. We shot WAY too many 3 pointers. They run a 2-3 zone most of the time and I was way too willing to just shoot over it. 4-17 from 3 in the half.
|
2
| 17:45
| 35
| 34
| Quoted from my halftime coments: “We shot WAY too many 3 pointers.” I'm going to amend that to “We didn't make enough 3 pointers, just needed to shoot more!” Summers has a 3, Watson has 2, and Crosswhite drew a foul and drained 2 at the line, and we're off to a very quick 11-2 start to take the lead.
|
2
| 11:50
| 39
| 43
| They score 5 straight to go back ahead, we get a couple big turnarounds by Pugh over their backup PF, and we get a timeout to get our backups in.
|
2
| 8:40
| 42
| 51
| Our backups simply cannot hang with them, they seem to score at will from all 5 positions against my 2nd string. I call a timeout to settle things and just need to get the clock down to get my starters back in.
|
2
| 5:30
| 52
| 54
| Kylie Weisse singlehandedly saves the game for us. He scores our first 11 points in this run by our backups on 3 3's and a hook shot in the post against a smaller guard. Shiloh(backup SF) gets fouled and hits two FT's to cut the lead to 2. Our starters are back in.
|
2
| 3:45
| 54
| 57
| Heh, shades of 1983... we have a great defensive stand, get a blocked shot, Monserez recovers it with about 3 seconds left on the shot clock, he fires it out to Munns who takes a 25 foot 3 pointer, left side of the court, 1 second left on the shot clock, it goes in. Not exactly the same but yea. We get a big dunk in transition from Watson and they call a timeout.
|
2
| 2:40
| 59
| 59
| Crosswhite with a layup, they get a bucket, and Watson gets an open 3 after an inside-out play, tie game, 6th man for us, timeout NCSU.
|
2
| 2:00
| 62
| 62
| We trade 3's, tie game.
|
2
| 1:50
| 64
| 62
| Summers forces a turnover in the backcourt, picks it up and goes in for a layup, FSU leads!
|
2
| 1:40
| 66
| 62
| WOW. I'm controlling Summers and lose their PG trying to be aggressive near midcourt. I catch back up to him at the top of the key, but Pugh comes over and helps anyway, and he swats the ball away, picks it up and feeds a streaking summers for a bucket.
|
2
| 1:00
| 68
| 64
| Our ball, up 4 with a minute left.
|
Watson, who was nearly about to lose his starting job with poor play and stellar backup play by Weisse, comes up huge over and over today, hitting a 3 pointer at the end of the shot clock to ice the win.
Florida State 73
NC State 64
Similar to our early season win over Boston College... I'm not sure this is a team that we beat on the road, but this was a solid performance to pull out the victory over a tough team.
They got double digit scoring from 4 of their starters. Frye didn't do a lot in the 2
nd half, finishing with 13, but Merrit(PF) scored 13, Monserez with 15, and Munns(SG) had 13. Conklin, their PG and 2
nd leading scorer, was 0-8 from the field and 0-5 from 3, he was scoreless.
Summers: 12 points/4 assists/3 steals
Crosswhite: 14 points
Watson: 19 points/5 boards
Pugh: 8 points/13 boards
Locklier: 0 points/6 boards
Weisse: 16 points
After going 4-17 from 3 in the first half, we shoot 9-16 in the 2
nd half, ending up 13-33 for the game. Watson was 5-9 and Weisse 4-9. Summers and Crosswhite each hit a couple but were a combined 4-12, a bit worse.