Wake at NC State: Another Heartbreaker on the Road

All season long Wake coaches and fans have been harping on the shooting of the Demon Deacons. This afternoon it was a failure to box out that cost the Deacons the game. With 2.3 seconds left, Gavin Grant launched an errant 3-pointer, but “instead of boxing out we ball-watched a little bit,” said Dino, and Ben McCauley came out of nowhere to slam home the rebound at the buzzer. With the basket, NC State won the game 67-65.

From what I heard of James Johnson's statement after the game, they basically thought the game was over and he had no idea where McCauley came from anyway. Basically it sounds like they quit playing, which is a very unfortunate way to lose a game.

Although the last play may have been the one that cost the Deacs the game, the team’s 2-11 3-point shooting in the 2^nd half allowed NC State the opportunity to catch up after trailing by seven at the half.

“We talked before the game that in order to win on the road, we have to have good shot selection. For the most part this year we’ve really taken good care of the basketball, and we only had nine turnovers again today which is doggone good on the road, but our shot selection was poor at times. When we learn to recognize what’s a good shot and what’s not, our shooting percentage will go up, up enough to let us win.”

“It’s amazing that we’re in there with a chance to win these games shooting like we’re shooting from behind the arc. If we had any better percentage from behind the three, we might have beet Maryland, might have beat Clemson, might have beaten NC State, but that was not the case.”

For the third straight game the Deacs gave up a lead in the last ten minutes of the game, still holding a 7 point lead with 8 minutes left. The offense went cold, foul trouble caught up, and State climbed back in it with some excellent shooting. I would also criticize the one posession Wake went into the stalling four corners offense, which once again failed to produce any points. When the offense doesn't move and doesn't work bad things happen for this team, but unfortunately they don't seem to have fully learned this yet. The Wolfpack shot 6-10 from beyond the arc in the second half and really forced Wake to work hard to hold on to any kind of lead.

Ish Smith deserves credit for his fourth game tying or winning basket in the final seconds but when the Deacs didn’t box out on what should have been the final shot of regulation, NC State capitalized on the opportunity.

Although he fouled out, Chas McFarland had another stellar performance, scoring 9 points and grabbing 8 rebounds, however the most impressive part of his game today was his defense on JJ Hickson who struggled with only 10 points. NC State coach Sidney Lowe said that Chas “is the most improved player in the league. He’s long, active, and has good timing. He was a good match-up against JJ Hickson.”

I will admit to having not had the best view in the stadium, but from what I could tell this was one of the most poorly officiated games I've seen Wake play in this year. The refs took too much control of the game with ticky-tack foul calls, and not just on Wake. Something like 8 fouls were called of the ball today, something you don't see very often. Sometimes you just have to let them play.

There isn’t a whole lot more to say about this game. Missed shots and poor shot selection in the second half allowed NC State back in the game, and NC State made a great heads-up play to win it at the end. State deserves credit for hanging around all game long and for making some very big baskets down the stretch. They put themselves in position to win the game and made the big play when it mattered the most.

I still believe this Wake team will break through eventually on the road. With two home games this week (GT on Wednesday, UVA on Saturday) Wake can get above .500 in the league and then make that record even more impressive with a road win at Florida State.

Although some fans may want to, the team is done blaming their youth for the struggles on the road. Ish said after the game that “I don’t want to use our youth [as an excuse] because we’ve been through 20 or 21 games together. We just have to get one, it’s kind of like a monkey on our back and we’re inching closer and closer hoping we can pull it out.”

It seems like it has to happen eventually and hopefully it will come sooner rather than later. It was another heartbreaker today, but I’m a huge fan of this team and every time out they are fun to watch. They will keep improving and I think Wake fans will see some big things out of this bunch of guys, hopefully this season.