Turnovers the Story as State Loses Again

J.J. Hickson slammed the ball home with 17 minutes remaining in the first half to give NC State a 2-0 lead. This was the only time State would take the lead in the game. During the next hour and a half NCSU would commit 23 turnovers as we gave the game away. In all seriousness, I think I might have been able to take better care of the ball than our guys did.

Here were the low points of the game:
-In 20 minutes of play Costner had 0 points. He has yet to rekindle the magic of last year on a consistent basis and at times gets lost on the floor. He needs to become more aggressive, take his shots and start to become a leader on this team

-Marques Johnson got the start at point guard and failed to contribute on the score board. He also played for 20 minutes and had 0 points. How can State hope to be competitive without an effective scorer running the point. Hopefully with some experience his play will get better and he can develop into a smart efficient scorer.

-Lowe needs to tweak our offense. I'm not saying he should change it or that it's a bad idea. In fact I'm sure it's a great scheme and will prove to be very effective in the future. Right now however is a different story. Our offense is stagnant. When ever one of our players get the ball it appears his only goal is to drive to the basket. Some of our players have that ability but when it occurs so frequently we start getting shots thrown right back in our faces. No one moves for each other or sets picks. We have the athletes run around opposing teams and create shots. Hopefully this can all get sorted out soon.

-Please don't let McCauley's injury be serious. The last thing we need is for one of our experienced players to go out.

Now its time to remember the good things about last night. Lets hope I can find some.

-We shot decently from the field, 44.2%, and made 5 of 12 from 3 point range. If we could have kept possession of the ball we might have been able to win this one.

-I don't know how many of you have taken notice, but I really like Tracy Smith. He did make a few mental errors but he put up 13 points in the most action he has seen this season. I really think he will be a great player for this team in the future and any experience he gets this season will really help us out in the future.

-Finally, lets not overreact to recent events. Sure we got embarrassed by UNC and smacked by Clemson, but its still early in conference play. There is still time to put a competitive team out on the court. Let's not jump on Coach Lowe's back and start questioning his coaching abilities. We all saw what he was able to do last year during the ACC tournament. He a great coach and we're lucky to have him. This is a tough time for NC State basketball but this is when we need to get behind our players and let them know that we know how good they can be.