A subtle murmur of boos sounded in the RBC Center during the first half of N.C. State’s game against Florida State on Wednesday night. As fans watched FSU hustle after a loose ball and call a timeout, with the Wolfpack trailing 23-6 and 8:21 remaining in the first half, the Pack looked like it again might fail to score 20 points in a single half this season, giving coach Sidney Lowe reason for concern.
N.C. State’s starters were outscored, out-rebounded and out-hustled in the opening minutes, according to Lowe.
“Our starters were just awful. I thought they were awful tonight,” Lowe said. “They came out and missed a couple of open shots and didn’t pick it up on the defensive end. And we had to go to the bench.”
Just one minute later, with his team trailing by 19 points, Lowe was desperate for any player to step up and hit shots.
“What’s going through my mind is, ‘Who am I going to put in right now?'” Lowe said.
That’s when Trevor Ferguson, who had entered the game moments before, answered the call.
The redshirt sophomore played the best half of his career, connecting on all of his three 3-point attempts for nine points, and hustling for three rebounds in only nine first-half minutes, as the boos quickly turned into a roar of “Fergie” chants.
With that spark from Ferguson, the Pack trailed by only eight points at halftime.
But despite Ferguson’s career-high 17 points and four hard-earned rebounds in the game, the Pack could not turn the corner in the second half, falling 72-62 to the Seminoles (17-12, 6-8 ACC).
State cut the lead to two points at one point in the second half, but FSU guards Toney Douglas and Jason Rich seemed to have an answer for every Pack run as they finished with 20 and 21 points, respectively.
“We’d get a couple of baskets, and the next thing you know, they’d come down and we’d give up a basket. And it would kill our momentum,” sophomore point guard Marques Johnson said. “At one point it just turned on us, and we couldn’t get over that edge, it seemed like.”
According to Ferguson, the problem of starting games flat, or playing only one solid half of basketball, has hurt State this season. The Pack has now lost six straight conference games.
“That should be motivation enough,” Ferguson said of the losing streak. “But I don’t know. It seems like we come out dead every time, and it’s killing us. We just dig ourselves in a hole.”
The Pack now finds itself in a big “hole” at 15-13 overall and 4-10 in the conference. Just six games ago the Pack sat at .500 in the conference, and now it is in jeopardy of finishing the season with a losing record.
“We definitely need to make a strong run in the ACC Tournament to make it to any decent postseason tournaments,” Johnson said.
According to Lowe, his staff has done everything possible to prepare his team for competition, and the players have simply come up short.
“We do everything we can to have these guys ready to play. We prepare. We have strategies,” Lowe said. “[The coaches] can’t rebound. We can’t make the shots. We can’t get in front of a guy to defend him.”
Guest tickets now available for DukeStudents can now print a ticket for themselves on demand and purchase up to two guest tickets at $20 apiece on the student ticket Web site for this Saturday’s noon game against Duke at the RBC Center.Because Student Government had originally designated the game as one that would not have guest tickets, Associate Athletics Director for External Operations Dick Christy said Athletics waited long enough to give students plenty of time to reserve tickets before allowing guest tickets beginning early Wednesday afternoon.Christy said he hopes the move will encourage students who are in town to bring their friends to the game so the student sections can be full.– Clark Leonard
Sights & SoundsFirst-name basis Throughout the game, N.C. State students heckled Florida State players, more often than not by first name.
‘Fergie, Fergie’ The crowd cheered Trevor Ferguson’s name repeatedly throughout the game, recognizing and appreciating the redshirt sophomore’s career-high performance of 17 points.
‘Let’s go Ball Boy’ This was a chant by the student section after a State ball boy refused to get referee Carl Hess water during a timeout. After making his way towards the Pack bench, the ball boy was influenced by the motions of students behind State’s bench and returned to his post behind the basket, with no water in hand.
— Derek Medlin
By the numbers17 points by sophomore guard Trevor Ferguson, a career-high. He also added four rebounds and two assists.13 Offensive rebounds snatched by Florida State. The 15 second-chance points the Seminoles got from the boards proved to be crucial to the outcome.10 Number of ACC losses for the Wolfpack. State becomes the first team in the conference to reach the 10-loss mark. State drops to 15-13 on the year with two regular-season games remaining.Source: N.C. State Athletics
