North Carolina State Wolfpack
ACC (21-13, 9-9)
North Carolina State finished out the regular conference season 9-9. With a .500 record in conference and just a 19-12 overall record, it may have seemed like a mediocre season all in all. However, NC State really played well. Two of their three out-of-conference losses came to AAC champion Cincinnati and Missouri when the Tigers were ranked in the top 25. In-conference, NC State lost only twice all season to teams who finished behind them. The other seven losses were games they were "supposed" to lose. Perhaps that is little consolation to fans, but this team was a bit better than their record would indicate.
Big Wins: 12/18 at Tennessee (65-58), 1/29 Florida State (74-70), 3/3 at Pittsburgh (74-67)
Bad Losses: 11/20 North Carolina Central (72-82), 1/15 at Wake Forest (69-70), 3/1 Miami (FL) (70-85)
Coach: Mark Gottfried (3 seasons at North Carolina State)
Why They Can Surprise:
The point guard play on this team was very solid all season. With a timeshare between freshman Cat Barber and sophomore Tyler Lewis, the Wolfpack got seven combined assists per game. Lewis was especially stingy with the ball, finishing the regular season with a little better than 3.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. NC State also received solid contributions from a couple big men inside...but this is all burying the lead. The real reason NC State did anything this season was because of sophomore forward T.J. Warren. Warren was magnificent. He easily made first-team All-ACC and won the conference's Player of the Year award as well, even though his squad only managed those nine conference wins. Warren led the ACC in scoring at 24.8 points per game. No other ACC player averaged even 20. However, even more impressive than his total output was his efficiency. Besides leading the conference in points, field goals, field-goal attempts and usage rate, he also, amazingly, astoundingly, led the ACC in field-goal percentage, shooting 53.2 percent from the floor on the year. According to Wolfpack Radio on Twitter, Warren is just the third player in conference history to lead in both scoring and FG%. He also managed to lead in offensive rebounding while grabbing 7.2 total boards per game, just for good measure.
Why They Can Disappoint:
Outside of Warren, the scoring on this team was abysmal. While Barber and Lewis managed to dish out assists (mostly to Warren), they couldn't manage to find the bucket themselves. Barber was part of NC State's two through five scorers this year, and none of those four men managed to hit even 43 percent of his own shots. The Wolfpack shot 45.8 percent from the floor. Taking away Warren's production, that figure drops all the way to 42 percent. And Warren did nothing to help how poor this team was from three or from the foul line. Combined with a lack of forcing turnovers, a negative rebounding margin and a shaky scoring defense, all the data makes NC State actually seem worse than their record indicated; except, the numbers can't account for the alpha dog quality of Mr. Warren. He scored less than 17 points just three times this season, and the Pack lost all three games. Perhaps that says more than all of the team data can.
Probable Starters:
Tyler Lewis, Sophomore, Guard, 4.2 ppg, 3.6 apg
Ralston Turner, Junior, Guard, 10.2 ppg
T.J. Warren, Sophomore, Forward, 24.8 ppg, 7.2 rpg
Kyle Washington, Freshman, Forward, 4.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg
Jordan Vandenberg, Senior, Center, 4.5 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.3 bpg
Key Roleplayers:
Desmond Lee, Junior, Guard, 8.4 ppg, 1.6 apg
Anthony Barber, Freshman, Guard, 8.7 ppg, 3.6 apg
Lennard Freeman, Freshman, Forward, 4.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg
Beejay Anya, Freshman, Forward, 2.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.3 bpg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 71.2 (178th in nation, 5th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 69.9 (165, 12)
Field-Goal Percentage: 45.8 (93, 5)
Field-Goal Defense: 45.8 (93, 5)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 4.5 (325, 14)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: n/a
Free-Throw Percentage: 65.5 (309, 12)
Rebound Margin: -0.6 (213, 13)
Assists Per Game: 12.8 (163, 8)
Turnovers Per Game: 10.7 (47, 7)
Recent Postseason Appearances:
2013 NCAA Second Round loss to Temple
2012 NCAA Second Round win over San Diego State
2012 NCAA Third Round win over Georgetown
2012 NCAA Regional Semifinal loss to Kansas
2010 NIT First Round win over South Florida
2010 NIT Second Round loss to UAB
2007 NIT First Round win over Drexel
2007 NIT Second Round win over Marist
2007 NIT Quarterfinal Loss to West Virginia
2006 NCAA Round of 64 win over California
2006 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Texas
2005 NCAA Round of 64 win over Charlotte
2005 NCAA Round of 32 win over Connecticut
2005 NCAA Regional Semifinal loss to Wisconsin
2004 NCAA Round of 64 win over Louisiana
2004 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Vanderbilt
*all team stats through 3/9
See All Men’s Basketball Postseason Capsules
