As they sat at the podium one last time as student-athletes of N.C. State, senior forwards Scott Wood and Richard Howell had to find the tough balance of reflecting back on the growth of the Wolfpack basketball program over the past four years with the inevitable feeling of wonder at how a season with so much promise could end so badly.
State was eliminated from the 2013 NCAA tournament with a 76-72 loss to the Temple Owls Friday afternoon in the second round of the East region play at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. The Wolfpack ended its campaign with a 24-11 record, while Temple improved to 24-9 and advanced to take on top-seed Indiana Sunday.
In a performance that encapsulated the entire season, the Pack shot only 40 percent and committed 10 turnovers in the first half, but managed to connect on 70.4 percent of its shots and turned the ball over only three times after the halftime break.
Conversely, Temple shot 53.3 percent from the floor in the opening frame but was held to 40 percent shooting in the second half. The Pack only forced five turnovers from the Owls in the afternoon.
“I think we got off to a really poor start,” head coach Mark Gottfried said. “[Temple] turned just about every turnover into a basket. This particular team never seemed to get to the point where we could sustain and maintain great defensive effort the entire game. That is on me.
“And [Friday] is disappointing, no question disappointing,” Gottfried added. “I take full responsibility. You guys [media] can put it all on me.”
Temple senior guard Khalif Wyatt was a thorn in State’s side all afternoon. The Atlantic 10 Player of the Year went for 31 points and dished out five assists. Graduate student forward Jake O’Brien added 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting, 4-of-6 from three-point range, and five rebounds, with 13 of his points coming in the first half when the Owls began to open up a lead.
“[Wyatt] is really crafty,” Wood said. “He is a good player and that is what makes them go.”
Junior guard Lorenzo Brown, in perhaps his final college game, was the Wolfpack’s leading scorer with 22 points, along with nine assists. Brown has a total of 589 assists in his three seasons in Raleigh, good for third-best in State’s history.
Junior forward C.J. Leslie, who may also potentially leave Raleigh for the NBA, added 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting along with five rebounds and two blocks.
Howell closed out his collegiate career with 14 points and 15 rebounds. Howell finished with 1,055 rebounds at State, good for fifth place in school history, and is the all-time leader in offensive rebounds with 392.
“Me and Scott [Wood] are definitely leaving a better place than when we first got to N.C. State,” Howell said. “It has been a great experience, especially these two years with coach Gottfried and the type of turnaround we had.
“Everything that could possibly go wrong in the first half — it did — and it definitely bit us in the butt.”
After struggling early, Wood got going late to finish with 10 points on 2-for-7 shooting from the floor and 2-for-6 from three-point range. Wood also will graduate from N.C. State as a record-holder. The sharpshooter finished his career at State with 334 three-pointers.
“[Richard Howell and I] have been through the ups and downs,” Wood said. “We both came here [for] the same reason, to put N.C. State back on the map.
“I like where it is at, and I know coach Gottfried is going to continue to do a good job with it,” Wood said.
