Previewing NC State

The Demon Deacons are in a crucial stretch of the ACC schedule right now. Including Tuesday's 70-68 win over Miami, Wake has a five game stretch that includes three very important games to win at home and two of the most winnable road games left on the schedule.

The first of those two road games comes tomorrow afternoon in Raleigh against NC State. NC State has struggled somewhat in conference play this season. They've started 2-4 with losses against some of the tougher teams in the conference in Duke, UNC, and, Clemson, and Georgia Tech. Their wins have come against two teams Wake has beaten, Miami and Florida State.

Tomorrow is only NC State's third home game in ACC play, where they are 1-1 so far. Thursday night they looked great for a half against Duke and then completely fell apart in the second. Unfortunately I only got to see the first half of that game and then the last five or so minutes, so I'm not quite sure what changed in the second half. I'm confident that whatever weaknesses showed up in the second half were noticed by Wake's coaching staff and will be exploited tomorrow.

NC State is led by a pair of post players: freshman JJ Hickson, who's been averaging 15 points, 8 rebounds, and almost 2 blocks, and senior Gavin Grant who averages 14 points. Junior guard Courtney Fells also averages 10 points. Take a look at this head to head statistical matchup and it appears we should see a pretty close game.

For the first time this season I'll be heading on the road as well, going to Raleigh to see the game myself. I'll be blogging from the game, so if you're at home enjoying the game from your couch you can pop open that computer and see what I've been thinking. I'd also love for you to share your thoughts on the game as well.

This would be a great time to finally break through on the road, so hopefully we'll see a second straight solid road performance. It's time to finally get back over the .500 mark in the conference.