NC State Pregame/Postgame Thread

[Scotty2Hotty 520]

NC State is a 1 point favorite. Anybody watched the Wolfpack this season? Just one loss, on the road by 4 to Wisconsin.

[AuburnNTexas 7,134]

This game will go a long way towards telling us how good the Auburn team is. NC State is a very solid team playing at home where they are really tough. A win there cements my believe that we have a very good team. My caveat on this team has always been seeing them playing away games against good teams in a hostile gym. UAB game was not a true away game as was not at UAB home court and we had a large Auburn fan base there.  

I know we have a lot of very talented players, but you need talented players, inner toughness and team chemistry to win tough road games.  This will be our first real test in a hostile environment. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Wouldn't be surprised to see any outcome in this game, except for us getting blown out. Could see us losing competitively, winning, or winning by a whole lot. Will depend on our ability to get crucial stops and make some shots. Those two things, I think, are going to go a long way for us when we are on this year: we will be shooting lights out and making commanding stops on defense. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Essentially, I believe if we are "on" shooting, we can beat anyone in the country and beat them handily. If we can't shoot very well, we'll be in really competitive games. Also, NC State should be ranked already...

[lost 452]

We have not covered the last 3 games in the point spread, and if UAB had not thrown the ball away there at the end or even some how hit that desperation shot it was a loss.  We really have not been consistent.  Okeke had a bad game,  then Dunbar could not even hit the backboard, then Bryce can't even hit a free throw...  If not for Harper and the defense overall played it might be a different story.    Looking at NC State they are a high potent offense that can shoot.  But their strength of schedule has been very weak, and this should play in Au's favor.  But you wonder how much sliding Purifoy in the mix will hurt the smoothness of the "machine".  Hopefully he will fit in his place nicely and they all will continue to work together....  I see this being a close game.  If both Harper and Bryce are stone cold from 3 this could get ugly because State does not miss their 3's....The only good thing is they are not a good take it to the basket type team.

[boisnumber1 2,818]

I'm not optimistic about this game, but I would love to be wrong. We just have not been clicking as a team. Our D has been on par most games, but on O we have just been very erratic. I keep waiting for this team to Wow me like Ive expected but it hasnt happened yet. Hopefully this game will be the one where we turn it up a notch. With all that being said, we are still winning when not playing nearly as well as we are capable imo - which is a very good thing.

[auburntiger1987 759]

Anyone know much about them? I looked up their rpi on warren nolen and the rip of the teams they played, no real big wins to see. 

[AURex 1,990]

Basically, NC State and Auburn have very similar records. Neither has beaten a ranked team. NC State beat the crap out of Vandy and beat St Peters and UNC-Asheville worse than Auburn did.

A lot of wondering if AU is overrated, because the track record to date is marginal, but then, this being pre-conference period, most teams have a questionmark next to their true power.

For Auburn, as always, if the 3s are dropping, it is a fun game for us. If not, Auburn is in a slugfest inside, which is not Auburn's strength.

Since this is being played at NC State arena, I'm not surprised that the Wolfpack is favored.

I'm looking for Auburn to fire up the energy level, crank the tempo, invoke the Real D defense, load all cylinders of the scoring engine, and dominate!

 

[ellitor 33,080]

50 minutes ago, auburntiger1987 said:

I looked up their rpi on warren nolen and the rip of the teams they played, no real big wins to see. 

RPI is a bad measure. NET & KenPom ratings are better. They are #15 on the NET & #21 on KenPom. The NET is what the NCAA Committee will use when determining the field of 68 & the seeding. They are 1-1 vs. Group 1 teams with a good loss at Wisky & beating Vandy by 15 on a neutral court. They also have a Group 2 win, which is considered quality also, over Penn St at a neutral site by 11.

[ellitor 33,080]

NC State now favored by 2 per Covers.com.

[gr82b4au 5,568]

6 hours ago, AuburnNTexas said:

This game will go a long way towards telling us how good the Auburn team is. This will be our first real test in a hostile environment. 

Agree 100%. We have not been playing well at all over the past few games. It will be interesting to see if we can snap out of our shooting funk, start sharing the ball more, start taking better shots, and simply play better. If we don’t, they will beat us.

We have the talent and the coach. We just need to play as a team. 

 

[Gene Loblaw 636]

13 hours ago, auburntiger1987 said:

Anyone know much about them? I looked up their rpi on warren nolen and the rip of the teams they played, no real big wins to see. 

They start 4 guards and play smaller than AU does. Their center/big man is a bit of an oaf too. I like the matchup. Hopefully AU just doesn’t go ice cold again from deep

[gravejd 3,270]

Looking like our toughest opponent yet. Unfortunately the teams we have played and thought were good wins (Xavier, Dayton, Arizona, Washington) seem to look less and less impressive and the season goes.  I haven't found a lot to read about NC State. They have played a week schedule and that is why they are not ranked. They score a lot of points as they average around 88 points per game. But their best wins are against Vandy and Penn St. They have a 4 point loss to Wisky and a 4 point win against Mercer that stands out. 

The stats for the players show a very efficient and balanced offense. Top scorer averages 16 pts/g but they have about 6 guys who average close to double figures. They don't block a lot of shots . The leading scorers are 6'5", 6'5", and 6'1" so looks like they are a guard driven team. We have the size but i don't know that we know how to use that advantage very well. I'm concerned if this is a guard vs. guard game we could struggle. Would love to see us use our size and beat them up down low and be opportunistic with our 3s, but i'm not sure that is our game. Our parameter defense will be testing this game. They shoot a crazy good 3 point percentage so we better get in their grill and be ok if they get around us. Hopefully the bigs will cleanup any drives to the basket. 

It will also be interesting to see how we work in Purifoy. I think we fans underestimate adding guys in after the season starts. We look and say awesome another player it has to make our team better.....well after Wiley coming in late a couple years ago and seeing the team struggle this year i'm not so sure that is the case. I think long run we are a better team with Purifoy but it make take a few more games to see it. 

 

[newclasspacck 18]

State Fan here.  are pretty much like you guys. 10 guys deep. all ten play.  We like to run it down people's throats and bury threes at a high rate.

We have played pretty much rec teams outside of three games.   This is definitely our biggest game yet so far this year.

We are very guard Heavy but we rebound very well. Our Senior G/F Torin Dorn has been pacing our scoring, but our PG Markell Johnson has been breaking out this season.  Led the ACC in assists last Year, but has been taking over game lately as a scorer and has been shooting a ridiculous percentage %72.4 on all 2pt shots 47.5% on his threes.

 

We like to pressure and trap a lot.

[Tiger 8,818]

This is going to be a hell of a game to watch because we both play a fun style. Lets hope our guys are hitting.

[jared52 4,354]

Not having watched NC State this year, I can only go on history and what I've read here. My expectations for this one pretty much align with the spread, though I think it should probably be AU+5 as the ACC environment is something these guys have never experienced. Atmosphere means so, so much in basketball, and AU coming in with that big red #8 target is going to make for a crazy PNC Arena, which is going to seat a lot of NC State fans (Google says 19,722). Ticket prices are $30 on the secondary market, but most are over $100. It's going to be like the UAB game, but the fans are going to be 90% NC State. I'm in a "just play well enough to not get blown out" mood for this one right now, but as soon as the TV switches to the game, I'll be a ball of nerves.

I don't think AU pulls this one out based on how they have been playing recently. Also, Bruce hasn't figured out the 10 man rotation yet so there will be problems on that front. It might very well make for a frustrating night, but nevertheless AU basketball is here and isn't going away this season. I couldn't be more thrilled to have the program where it is.

[1wolfpack1 4]

NC State fan here........jared52's post insinuates the big $ donors get the best seats...which is true to certain point.  However, PNC arena is designed so that students sit closest to the court, about 10 rows deep on the sides and all of the lower bowl in the end zones.  It gets pretty rowdy.  Problem for this game is that most students are home for Christmas break but I suspect there'll still be enough local students to wrap the court with crazies.  Should be a very entertaining game.  

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

3 hours ago, Gene Loblaw said:

They start 4 guards and play smaller than AU does. Their center/big man is a bit of an oaf too. I like the matchup. Hopefully AU just doesn’t go ice cold again from deep

Yep. We match up pretty well with them. They’ve got some great guard play, but if we get it in a game of whose guards outperform the other, I like our chances. 

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

I like us tonight, actually. NC State has a good team, but I think we matchup very well. They’re not big... not big at all- I think we will outrebound them because of this. If you can contain Beverley for them, they won’t have much of a three point threat either. 

If we go inside like we started to in the second half against UAB, we will be fine as long as they don’t absolutely shoot the lights out like UAB. If they do shoot the lights out, we’re gonna need to hit some threes as well. 

Their strength is that they play a lot of guys. Depth is certainly one of the reasons they do well, but with us having 10 guys, I think this will not affect us very much. 

We’re the best team they’ve seen yet, and I think we’ll be ready to go. If 

 

 

 

[newclasspacck 18]

13 minutes ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

I like us tonight, actually. NC State has a good team, but I think we matchup very well. They’re not big... not big at all- I think we will outrebound them because of this. If you can contain Beverley for them, they won’t have much of a three point threat either. 

If we go inside like we started to in the second half against UAB, we will be fine as long as they don’t absolutely shoot the lights out like UAB. If they do shoot the lights out, we’re gonna need to hit some threes as well. 

Their strength is that they play a lot of guys. Depth is certainly one of the reasons they do well, but with us having 10 guys, I think this will not affect us very much. 

We’re the best team they’ve seen yet, and I think we’ll be ready to go. If 

 

 

 

While Beverly is a three point threat and he's certainly not our only one.  Torin Dorn and Markell Johnson are both Hitting over 45% from deep.

 

We've also out-rebounded every opponent we've played including a very large Wisconsin team.  This game will come down to Turnovers and making threes. 

[cole256 17,042]

This is actually a team that plays our game but shoots better than us.  We have a size advantage.....the thing about advantages is they don't mean anything if you don't use them.....coach ciampi used to say that all the time when I was a crusherat Auburn.....he was a good coach

[lost 452]

The money is really moving as now on some boards AU is -3 favorite......  But i really respect the shooting of NC State and their discipline play.  AU will have to be able to use their own Athleticism to win this game on the inside.   I believe we match up well, with Wiley coming off the bench( and now Purifoy) to help with bodies.  But with Mc and Horace  and Okeke we can run and deal with their pressure and maintain our own.. and push the ball inside...

[newclasspacck 18]

I also want to say. I've always liked you guys.  Your relationship with.... The other Alabama school mirrors ours with UNC and i feel like you guys don't get he respect you deserve. My favorite athlete of all time is an Alum (Bo). Also I've always like Bruce Pearl.  When he was a media member during his show-cause he was always High on us andd you could tell he respect our school and it's tradition.

 

I'm just really excited to play you guys and hope we can make it a more common thing.  You guys are my Favorite SEC school by far. 

[lost 452]

2 minutes ago, newclasspacck said:

I also want to say. I've always liked you guys.  Your relationship with.... The other Alabama school mirrors ours with UNC and i feel like you guys don't get he respect you deserve. My favorite athlete of all time is an Alum (Bo). Also I've always like Bruce Pearl.  When he was a media member during his show-cause he was always High on us andd you could tell he respect our school and it's tradition.

 

I'm just really excited to play you guys and hope we can make it a more common thing.  You guys are my Favorite SEC school by far. 

I love the rivalries...  We love to hate  🙂     I know i am biased but there is no greater than AU and bama....   Wish i could make the trip tonight, although i read that if you get seats up top it is like being in the nose bleed seats of a football stadium...  Lower tier would have been nice

[Scotty2Hotty 520]

20 hours ago, ellitor said:

NC State now favored by 2 per Covers.com.

Late $ on AU. AU now favored by 1.5.