" title="Spartans Weblog">Spartans Weblog

MSU beats the Wolfpack 81-58 in a game that, despite the 23-point margin, wasn’t as close as the score indicates. MSU led the game 29-9 with 5 minutes left in the first half. Official box score here. MSU was efficient in all areas of the game:

• On offense, they put up a solid effective FG% of 56.0%. Neitzel (17), Suton (16), and Morgan (15) led a balanced scoring attack. Eight of the nine players who scored put up a PPWS of at least 1.0; the exception was Durrell Summers.
• NC State’s shooting was not so good–effective FG% of 39.6%. Take JJ Hickson’s 7/11 FG shooting performance (for a game-high 21 points) out of the equation, and the rest of the team’s eFG% was utterly abysmal: 32.4%. This is a bit of a surprise as I thought Izzo had his players double-team Hickson more than he usually does against the other team’s top post player. The rest of the NC State players weren’t able to take advantage.
• MSU’s rebounding was Spartan-quality. MSU only edged NC State out 14-11 on the offensive boards, but it’s important to keep in mind that (1) MSU had fewer offensive rebounding opportunities due to its superior shooting and (2) my recollection is that NC State picked up a number of offensive rebounds in the extensive garbage time period of the final 10 minutes. MSU pulled down 41.2% of its offensive rebounding opportunities and 71.8% of it defensive rebounding opportunities–both very good numbers. Suton led the way again with 12 total rebounds. Gray had seven rebounds in just 14 minutes of play.
• The best news of all: MSU only turned the ball over 10 times in 67.7 possessions 14.8%. This wasn’t a huge surprise, as it’s almost identical to NC State’s opponents’ turnover percentage coming into the game: 14.7%. Quirky stat: 10 different MSU players recorded the 10 turnovers. All three point guards had very good nights handling the ball: Neitzel (5 assists to zero turnovers), Walton (7 to 1), and Lucas (4 to 1).

There’s always the question of how much to attribute a blowout to the winner’s superb execution versus the loser’s ineptitude. There was certainly some of both tonight. As Dave O’Brien and Steven Lavin noted, NC State seemed to have heavy legs after three days in four games they played over the weekend and just never got any sort of offensive rhythm going tonight. But credit MSU for taking full advantage of that and not taking their foot off the pedal until well into the second half, when they were up by over 30.
A few random observations (I hope the frequent use of bullet points is not the sign of a weak blogging mind):

• I noted that none of the three freshman entered the game until the 10-minute mark in the first half. I think the announcers said that, in at least one case (I forget which), this was the result of an academic issue. But it could also be Izzo making the point to the new guys that they’re not getting their minutes automatically; they have to earn them. This is the luxury the coach has now with a legitimate 12-player rotation.
• Chris Allen seemed to finally get in the groove tonight–after the three-point airball on his first attempt, at least. He finished with 9 points, including 2-for-6 three-point shooting. Having a second pure three-point shooter should ease the pressure on Neitzel a bit more.
• As indicated in the game preview, Steve Lavin is my favorite color guy and tonight’s game reminded me why. He nicely blends a folksy, Raftery-esque rhetorical style (”Beep! Beep!,” “Dipsy Doo”) with an ability to provide technical analysis accessible to the average fan. And he does such a great job of providing a coach’s perspective on things (when to call a timeout, what a coach should focus on early in the season). When I listen to most coaches-turned-commentators, it’s hard to fathom that they every had the savvy to be successful in the coaching ranks. I’ve often wondered whether there was some unspoken code among former coaches not to reveal any of their actual coaching thought processes. In short, Lavin is everything that Dickie V. isn’t. Speaking of which, TAFKATBTW beat me to the punch on the first anti-Vitale rant of the season (bending his own former pledge):

Now, an assertion that’s become so commonplace it’s a cliché. I can’t help that. It needs to be said again. And again, and again, and again.

The announcing team working the game last night [Wisconsin-Duke] posed a constant and intractable obstacle between viewers and the game. Which, not to put too fine a point on it, is pretty much the precise opposite of what an announcing team is supposed to do.

I literally found myself leaning in toward the TV and squinting at the screen, as if that would help me follow what Gerald Henderson was doing while the announcers went happily and blissfully AWOL, addressing such pressing matters as Ronde Barber, the new College Basketball Experience in Kansas City and, inevitably, Jimmy V.

This announcing team has been tarred on occasion with the easy catch-all pejorative “ESPN,” but let us be clear. It’s not ESPN. Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery and Sean McDonough share a water cooler with these guys, yet they’re consistently outstanding. No, it’s simply that last night’s announcing team has apparently been given free reign by someone in the organizational chart to ignore the game whenever they want. Which, as it happens, is very often.

Not to fear, though: as TAFKATBTW notes above, these points deserve repeating over and over. I’m sure I’ll have the opportunity to do so several time this season. And I would like to know who specifically in the ESPN org chart sent out the memo that says, “Dick Vitale shall be permitted to talk about absolutely any topic he wants to, for as long as he wants to, in the course of college basketball games carried on our network.”

Nice to have such a solid win for my first game recap (of a game I actually saw). Jacksonville is up next (Saturday night; 7:00 on the BTN). Is David Garrard back in the lineup for them yet?

Trackback URI | Comments RSS