It was all too familiar. The same pattern that has plagued the Pack game after game this season sprung its ugly head up once again, but this time putting the Wolfpack down for good as the No. 7 seeded Maryland Terrapins beat the No. 10 seeded Pack 75-67.
In what is more than likely coach Sidney Lowe’s final game as the N.C. State’s head coach, the slow starts, defensive lapses and long scoring droughts that have been a trademark of Lowe’s team not only this year, but in his entire five year tenure, did him and his team in again.
“We had times where we weren’t defending, yes, but sometimes it was other things. It is just inconsistency,” Lowe said. “We’d have games where we would play well for 30 minutes, and then we wouldn’t for 10 minutes, and that would be inconsistency there.”
State gave it all it had, battling back from a 16 point second half deficit, cutting it down to six late in the game, but the Terps lead was just to great and there simply was not enough time left on the clock.
“We made a run, we just dug ourselves in a hole at the beginning of the game, down 17 and it took a lot of energy for us to get back into the game,” senior guard Javier Gonzalez said. “Finally at the end we got it down to six, but we just didn’t make the right plays.”
The two State seniors lead the way offensively for State in there final game in the white and red, as forward Tracy Smith scored 14 points and brought down eight rebounds, while Gonzalez chipped in 10 points.
With the loss, State will finishes with a below .500 record for the second time in Lowe’s coaching career, as it ends this season with a record of 15-16(5-12 in the ACC).
But it wasn’t due to a lack of effort and the desire to win on Lowe’s part.
“This is my school, I love this school,” Lowe said. “I pored my sweat for four years here and gave it my best. It was my hope and dream to come back here and do something special again.”
State started off horrendously in the early part of the first half letting Maryland build up a quick double-digit lead before it had even hit a field goal. But State battled back and cut the defect down to just nine points late in the half, with a lot of that success being attributed to the defensive switch to a 2-3 zone for the Pack.
“We wanted to slow them down a little bit,” junior forward C.J. Williams said. “They are very disciplined team and execute their offense very well so we went two different zones, a 2-3 and a 3-2 and it slowed them down for a little bit.”
But not even the defensive switch could slow down the Terps enough for State’s offensive to catch up, as the Pack shot just 31.7 percent from the field and was just 2-17 from behind the three-point line.
“That hurt us. I would say 14 of those 17 were open looks,” Lowe said. “We are not a big three point shooting team. We never have been, so that is not something that we like. But when certain guys get open we want them to look at it.”
However, State never quit and attempted to battle back late in the game, cutting it to six points after a jumper from freshman guard Lorenzo Brown, but the Terps drilled the nail in to the coffin, hitting 5-6 free throws down the stretch, clinching the victory.
“We started a little to late,” freshman guard Ryan Harrow said. “We had it going at the end of the first half and then we got it going at the end of this half. But its just unfortunate that we got it started so late.”
With a NCAA tournament bid out of the question, and a NIT bid a far off hope, Lowe’s future as the head coach of the Pack up in the air. The former State player is filled with regret at not being able to bring the program back to the level it was when he played over 20 years ago.
“It hurts me because I know what it is about down here and what it is like to win here and how the people will get behind you” Lowe said “It means a lot more to me.”
