The NC State men’s basketball team had a scare at PNC Arena Sunday, nearly blowing a 12-point lead in the final minutes of the game against South Florida. Now, the Wolfpack (4-0) will have to regroup for matchups with Richmond and Boise State, the latter of which may be its most challenging game of the season thus far.
On Wednesday, State will face the University of Richmond Spiders, a solid team from the Atlantic 10 conference. The Spiders have known success under 10th year head coach Chris Mooney, having advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2011. Lately though, the team has struggled, posting a 19-14 record in 2014 and earning no postseason berths.
Still, the Spiders have had a decent season thus far, going 2-1 on the season with decisive wins against Radford and High Point. The team is playing with a balanced offense, as five Richmond players average over 9.5 points per game.
The Spiders are led by senior guard Kendall Anthony, who is averaging 16 points per game and posting a .545 clip from beyond the arc in his final season with the team. Most shocking about the Richmond captain is that he’s only 5 foot 8 inches and weighs just 150 pounds. Still, Anthony torched the High Point defense for 22 points in 31 minutes Saturday.
On the other end of the height spectrum is 6-foot-9-inches junior forward Alonzo Nelson-Ododa, averaging 10.7 points and 8.3 boards per game. The big man has proved to be disciplined on defense, swatting eight shots while only being tagged with five fouls on the season. Nelson-Ododa will likely challenge the bigs of State much like South Florida’s Jaleel Cousins.
While the Spiders are solid individually, the Pack should be able to take care of business in the Wednesday matchup. Defense has been a large emphasis for State this season, and Richmond has only averaged 67 points per game against mediocre competition. Look for the Pack to stifle the Richmond offense on its way to a double-digit victory.
Just two days after the Richmond game, Boise State will make the 2,400-mile journey to Raleigh for State’s second game of the week. The Pack players, especially sophomore forward BeeJay Anya, will have to fight off the temptations of overeating on Thanksgiving, as the Broncos will surely be ready to play.
Despite being known for the recent success of its football team, Boise State has been impressive on the court as of late. Since moving to the Mountain West in 2012, the Broncos have made the NCAA Tournament once and are consistently one of the favorites to win the conference.
This season, Boise State has been solid as usual, posting a 3-1 record so far. The team’s first three games were all single-digit wins against softer competition, but the Broncos were blown out by No. 3 Wisconsin in its most recent contest.
The Wisconsin loss gave insight to the Boise State squad’s reliance on star power. In the Broncos’ first three wins of the season, senior guard Anthony Drmic was averaging 20.7 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the floor.
In the first half of Boise State’s match with Wisconsin, the Badger defense singled out Drmic, holding the senior to just two points on one-for-seven shooting. Consequently, the Broncos’ scored a season-low 24 points in the opening half.
The State defense has posted mixed results against star guards on opposing teams this season. Against Jacksonville, the Dolphins’ starting guards were held scoreless, missing all seven shot attempts. However, against Hofstra, two of the Pride’s starting guards combined for 32 points, shooting five-for-12 from distance.
Outside of Drmic, Boise State does not have a very talented roster, so stopping the senior guard will be the Pack’s top priority. Because of Drmic’s 6-foot-6-inch frame, look for freshman forward Caleb Martin to have the Bronco guard’s number on Friday night.
These two contests will test the Pack’s ability to rebound from a near-loss and will be crucial for the team’s confidence heading down the stretch, because things will only get harder from here.
