The NC State Wolfpack took down the St. Paul's College Tigers 84-42 in impressive fashion. The Pack showed off their new up tempo offense to a crowd of students and season ticket holders in storied Reynolds Coliseum.
The crowd came away impressed as Javi Gonzalez and Farnold Degand pushed the pace all night long, leading to easy buckets and an some exciting highlights. Tracy Smith led all scorers with 21, and freshman Scott Wood pitched in 12, going 4-4 from three point range.
We'll have a detailed recap coming soon.
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69 Responses to "Wolfpack Wins Exhibition 84-42"5 minutes until tip. We're hearing the starting line-up is going to be:
Javi Gonzalez
CJ Williams
Scott Wood
Dennis Horner
Tracy Smith
ps. I just saw something I've never seen...Javi just threw one down in warm-ups
Gavin Grant in the house.
Will you get video?
No video allowed during the season...unless it's a news station. Sorry guys, we tried.
8-0 Wolfpack after the first 2:30. Tracy has 5 points. Their frontcourt is completely overmatched.
Scott Wood just drilled his first 3 pointer.
Farnold Degand was the first man off the bench at the 15:46 mark.
scott wood is ON FIRE. 3-3 from deep
At the 14:33 mark, it is 18-2. Scott Wood leads the team with 9 points (3-3 3pt). Smith has 7 points
Painter and Mays entered at the 14 minute mark.
what's the turnovers like? Speed of the Game?
Josh Davis entered at the 12:48 mark.
I dont know what it says about Thomas that Josh davis and Wood are both playing over him.
PUT in BIG Jordan!
Corey...are you at the game?
Nickoli,
From our count, only three turnovers to this point (10 mintues left in the 1st) and the game has been played at a very fast pace. The guards are getting it and running and for the most part making the right decisions.
Corey,
Thomas is going to have to beat out Josh Davis for minutes, as they play pretty much the same style of game.
Horner is bricking 3s left and right. Prob wont be starting for long playing like this.
No I'm not at the game. I'm listening to it on the radio.
And......at the 7:29 mark....introducing Jordan Vandenberg
Horner is playing fine, he's just missing his 3. It's early in the season..he shot a pretty decent 36% last year if I remember correctly.
You sure Jordan is in? they haven't mentioned him on the radio.
We're at the game courtside. He's in.
n/m I hear him now.
7 turnovers
Wood 4/4 from deep
The last 3 minutes have been pretty sloppy with the staff choosing to mix and match the line-ups.
wow. Wood just drilled a 3 on the break... he's 4-4 and sends the crowd into a frenzy every time he touches it.
whats the score?
WPH, how do you feel about the overall play of State right now?
Painter is a real nice addition when he's on the floor, he's VERY active around the rim.
WPH are you on a white Mac across from the bench?
How do you think the 4 position is coming along? Do you think Horner will keep it?
The score at the half is 44-22 Wolfpack lead. Talent wise, St. Pauls is way overmatched, but this NC State team has a lot of potential and a high IQ.
They can really give you so may different looks. If they want to really get the pace going they can run with Javi and Degand....they can go athletic with Painter and Davis or beat you from deep with Horner and Wood. I'm also verrry impressed with Wood. The kid is lights out.
otto,
Yep thats us with the white Mac.
I'm at the game so excuse the bad typing from the palm pre but my standouts in the first half is have to be wood and smith. Both dominating their positions. Good pg play but not perfect. Degand looks good he could come up on some people.
go pack!!!!
WPH, whats the deal with johnny thomas? I was really excited for him to make a comeback this year and im wondering why he hasnt gotten in at all.
Nickoli,
I don't see Horner losing his spot, but I do see Painter playing a bigger and bigger role as the season goes along. He's a trouble maker around the rim.
Scoring Leaders at the Half-
Wood- 12
Smith- 11
Horner - 5
Degand- 4
Painter- 4
Gonzalez- 3
Mays- 3
Williams- 2
CJ doing anything at all?
PackLeader,
Yeah, Wood has come out with confidence I've never seen...With all the hype about his shot you I wouldnt have been surprised to see him pressing and trying to impress, but he just came out and started draining from the get go.
Smith is a monster...as advertised.
any news of why Thomas isn't playing?
Not sure what the deal is with Johnny T. and why he's not playing. He warmed up.
CJ has 5 assist, Farnold and Javi 3 each. That sounds good. Painter leads rebounding. I like these stats.
How does the defense look?
CJ is playing fine, but he's not playing as aggressive on the offensive end...but really he's not needing to. Tracy Smith and Scott Wood are pacing things with 17 and 12 respectively.
The defense is playing very aggressive, pushing up on the guards and getting a lot of deflections. They are boxing out, but need to attack the glass a little more when Smith and Painter aren't on the court.
Horner 2/10 0-6 from 3
Maybe it's not needed this game, but CJ HAS to start driving to the hoop. We have to have that from him. If he does not step up this year he is going to be on the pine next year when Zo comes in. We need points from that spot.
How does the fast break look? Any easy buckets off of the break?
Pack leads 64-28 with 10 minutes to play.
^^ Degand is seeing more floor time for that very reason. He's getting up and down the floor, pushing the pace and even has 6 points.
Jordan logging any minutes?
With 8 minutes left in the 2nd half Johnny Thomas enters the game.
^^
Jordan is not only logging minutes, he just showed off his soft touch with a little 8 foot jumper, then pulled down a board and hit Josh Davis with a half court outlet pass to start the break, followed by a little high-lo action where he flashed high and hit Painter rolling to the hoop for an 'And 1"
Thomas do anything?
I gotta say...this crowd loves Jordan Vandenberg and for good reason. He just caught a lob pass, went up and threw down with some authority, then on the other end threw someone's shot out of bounds.
Thomas had a layup on the break...then caught an ally oop that he laid/threw in
4 points and looks to be pretty healthy.
77-36 Wolfpack with 4 minutes left
how's the size of the crowd?
My boy big Vandenberg has been active on the offensive and defensive side. I reaize their tallest player is no more than 6'6 but he has has some heady passes, soft touch on his shot and quick feet on defense leading to acouple blocks. He and painter playing together look real comfortable dominating the paint. Painter really plays long on the defensive end he will earn mins for sure! JT was obviously hurtin but is still hustling.
If JT is still hurt maybe he should just go ahead and retire. I would hate to see him crippled for life.
^no need for that kind of talk. it wasn't even the first "game" of the season.
I listened to it on the radio and I think the main problems were too many turnovers and giving up too many off. rebs. Other than that it sounded pretty good.
the way our team looked tonight definitely makes me nervous for the rest of the season... with the exception of Wood I don't think our new guys are quite ready to step up and control the game yet... also our offense looked no different from last season... can we not get some better movement going, drive the lane, etc.
ok let me say this I was at the game Wood, Painter, Smith and the point guard play impressed me. I thought the rest of the newbies played well also. The main point that I got is that this new style is gonna open up the 3 ball and Wood has a super sweet J and gets it of super fast.
just got back from the game. It was awesome. This team is very fun to watch and every freshman is becoming a fan favorite already. I can only imagine next year when zo and ryan arrive in Raleigh. There looked to be quite a few recruits in the building as well. Id say 6-10.
JerseyWolf
I think people are reading into the 19 turnovers too much and flipping out. Looking at the box score: (Assists:Turnovers)
10 Gonzalez, Javier.... * 6 3
04 Kufuor, Enrico...... 0 3
14 Vandenberg, Jordan.. 3 5
30 Thomas, Johnny...... 1 3
Thats 14 of our 19 turnovers. Thats 3 TO's by a scrub that won't see PT in a real game (Kufuor), 3 TO's to 6 Assists (Javi) and then 5 from a struggling freshman, not to mention a big man (Jordan) and then the usual suspect (JT).
As the season goes on, I think we aren't going to see JT, Kuofour get much time so I'm not concerned about those 2. As for Jordan and Javi, Javi's 6 assists are impressive and he had all his 3 TO's in the first half (IIRC) so that means he changed whatever he was doing in the 2nd. Jordan will go through these kinds of growing pains, hopefully we will see that number of TO's drop as the season progresses.
Just don't get caught up in the numbers. Great showing by the Pack! Lets get the season started!
I was also at the game and here are my impressions (for what they are worth)
1) Wood can really shoot! Wow! But he is a little weak on defense.
2) T Smith has really improved his touch and technique.
3) Javi deserves to start and is our best option at point. His d has really improved.
4) Jordan still has a ways to go. He got shoved around alot by a guy 6'4" at best. He really needs to work on rebounding position.
5) Painter needs to work on his upper body strength but has major ups. He also needs to improve on rebound positioning.
6) Johnny Thomas is not 100%. His lateral movement makes him a liabilty on defense. That said he is definately a leader and calming influence on the floor to the young guys.
7) CJ was quiet but solid. He truly understnds the game. He could have jacked-up more shots but instead fed it to T Smith for easier shots.
8) Degand is still Degand. Sometimes he is solid other times he leaves you wondering what the heck he is thinking.
9) I saw Howell dressed in street clothes, but you can tell he is a BIG BIG Dude. I can't wait to see his stuff.
10) Dennis is the perfect "role-player". Don't count on him being a star but he will not cost you games either. He could light up a team for points one night and dissapear the next but he always gives all out effort.
11) The Tigers were way over matched but played very classy and with great effort
12) Finally, this team gave great effort all night long and I mean to the final buzzer. Even the walk-ons went all out. EVERYONE on the entire team scored. This team is a breath of fresh air. GO PACK!!!!!!
Man... It's so early still. To be worrying about how we're going to play when the actual season starts is kind of wasteful. I mean seriously: Lowe is probably playing with line ups, people are trying to figure out how to work with one another and there are a lot of new faces. Plus, I would bet to some degree, certain people who were hurt are playing cautiously. Me? I'm not too worried; this is practice as far as I'm concerned. People are going to be rusty, situations aren't going play out as smooth and mistakes are going to be made. We'll be alright.
Just a student's take... but I thought the offensive play was good tonight, more slashing to the basket would help with movement during the offense, but overall was a great start to the season. There were a few mistakes mostly due to inexperience on the part of underclassmen, but were impressive for the majority of the game. Possible areas to improve on would be rebounding and turnovers, but the intangibles such as an excited crowd and great hussle played helped the cause.
I don't think the turnovers by JV were a big deal either, in fact, sounds like most of his 5 turnovers came off of his attempts to dish to other guys down low. To me, thats a good thing to know that he's not just forcing things but trying to look for the open man...sometimes rare for a big. Thats what was good about Big Ben's game too, he dished to cutters a lot and it really keeps the Defense guessing. Just my thoughts! But overall, sounds like we had a good showing and our team is working well together already. REALLY impressed to hear Scott Woods production. Looks like we have more tools to work with this season than I realized.
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