In what proved to be another disappointing game for the Pack, No. 20 Florida State (19-7, 10-2 ACC) beat N.C . State (18-9, 7-5 ACC) 76-62 at the RBC Center.
In the 48th meeting between the two teams, despite State holding a 27-20 lead in the series, the Seminoles dominated the game from start to finish, condemning the Pack to their second consecutive loss.
FSU drew first blood although the Pack was not to be left behind as sophomore forward C.J . Leslie first stole the ball and then went on to dunk it in to draw the Wolfpack level.
Both teams started slow with a score of 4-2 in the favor of the ‘Noles with 16:34 left in the first. The Pack lacked the punch in the attacking department as they recorded a 0.125 field goal shooting percentage in the first six minutes. However, senior guard C.J . William’s shot from beyond the arc, the Pack’s first field goal for over four minutes, followed by Lorenzo Brown making both his free throws put the score at 10-11 for the Pack with a little over 11 to go in the first.
Despite a spectacular alley-oop dunk by Leslie after a pass by graduate student Alex Johnson, FSU dominated the stretch, going on an 11-4 run to extend the lead to 9 points.
The FSU defense shut down the Pack and to make matters worse, Howell missed four consecutive free throws as the Pack failed to improve upon its tally of 24 points for close to three minutes.
The Pack had an opportunity to close the half strong after having possession of the ball with less than half a minute to go but some poor decision and shot making cost State as they turned over the ball. The Seminoles scored from downtown on a fast break and went into the locker room with an 11-point advantage at 37-26.
State went 6-29 from the field in the first half; junior guard Scott Wood, junior forward Richard Howell and sophomore guard Lorenzo Brown all failing to make a single point in open play with Wood unable to open his tally.
Brown scored his first field goal of the game to open the scoring for the Pack in the second half, however it proved to be little consolation for the Pack as the Seminoles extended their lead to 16 points following a powerful dunk by Okaro White.
The Seminoles at one point increased their lead to 20 points and held on to win the game 76-62 to go atop the ACC standings.
Head coach Mark Gottfried felt FSU’s defense proved to be one of the most important deciding factors.
“Well, [Florida State’s defense is] really good, there’s no question,” Gottfried said. “What you have to remember with Florida State is that they’re well-coached and experienced. They’re a veteran team; they have five seniors and a junior in the starting lineup. It’s an experienced team.”
Leslie, who scored a game high 21 points along with 9 rebounds, was one of the only few bright spots for the Pack in the game. He felt everybody needed to chip in in order to win the ball game.
“I am not going to be able to do it all by myself,” Leslie said. “It’s a team game, everybody has to come and play, our defense just wasn’t good enough.”
Williams, who made a game-high two shots from beyond the arc, felt the team didn’t perform as well as it should have.
“We didn’t play anywhere near our best,” Williams said. “We didn’t play like we played for 35 minutes against Duke and they played a great game.
“We expected them to come out with a lot of energy and to be very physical but we just weren’t able to answer the call.”
Wood, who went 1-10 in the game and is now 2-17 from the field in two games, gave credit to the Seminoles for making it difficult for the team to shoot. The team could only shoot 17-58 for the game.
“They did a really good job of making it hard for us to get open but at the same time I thought we could get more open,” Wood said. “A lot of shots didn’t fall for us, they made us take contested shots and anytime you do that, it definitely makes it tough.”
State is now 0-6 against ranked opponents this year and faces No. 7 North Carolina Tuesday at 8 p.m . at the RBC Center.