Smith, Pack stop Privateers

RALEIGH -- Point guard Javi Gonzalez gave Tracy Smith a subtle look before leading the N.C. State big man to the rim for an alley-oop.

Smith turned and softly tipped in the perfect pass for two of his game-high 20 points in the Wolfpack's 69-52 victory over New Orleans on Sunday.

It was the kind of continuity N.C. State rarely had in the previous two seasons in the kind of win the Wolfpack hopes it can build on going forward.

"Everybody's confident, and everybody's playing together," Smith said. "I think if we keep playing hard, we're going to be successful."

With the inside-out combination of Smith and Gonzalez clicking, and a suddenly effective defense limiting the Privateers, the Wolfpack (5-0) made sure there was no repeat of UNO's last trip to the RBC Center.

UNO shocked N.C. State 65-63 in the second game of the 2007-08 season, the first sign coach Sidney Lowe's second team was in trouble. During practice, Lowe reminded his young team about the Privateers' last trip.

"Any time a team beats you, I don't care what year it was, they're going to feel confident playing you whenever," Lowe said. "It could be 10 years down the road. I thought [we] were ready."

There was no repeat of the upset because Smith was too much to handle on both ends of the floor. In addition to his 20 points and eight rebounds, Smith had three of the team's 14 blocks.

"Tracy Smith was just an animal for them," UNO coach Joe Pasternack said. "We had nobody who could guard him."

Lowe was especially pleased with the defensive effort. State ranked last in the ACC in blocks last season. The Wolfpack bigs protected the basket against a smaller UNO lineup, getting three blocks from Smith and four from Dennis Horner, who also scored 10 points.

N.C. State's defense also forced UNO to shoot 34.9 percent from the floor (22-of-63) and 31.3 percent from 3-point range (5-of-16).

"It's all going to be based on our defense," Lowe said. "To win games on this level, you have to defend."

State had no trouble hitting from outside, shooting a season-best 8-of-16 from 3-point range. Sophomore C.J. Williams broke out of an early season funk with three 3-pointers on the way to a season-best 12 points. Gonzalez hit back-to-back 3s in a critical 10-0 second-half run to break open the game.

State led 15 in the first half, but twice the Privateers closed to seven points down in the second half, 38-31 and 42-35.

After Billy Humphrey pulled UNO to 42-35 with a running layup at 12:50, Gonzalez countered with two straight 3s. On the next trip down, after a steal by Julius Mays, Gonzalez fed Smith for an easy layup and a 50-35 lead.

"We got a couple of stops and ran the score up," Smith said.

State stretched its margin to 64-42 with Gonzalez's alley-oop at the 4:27 mark.

"I told him, be ready, I'll be looking for you," said Gonzalez who finished the game with 13 points and eight assists.

Five games into the season, it's clear the Wolfpack players are finally looking out for each other.

N.C. State 69, New Orleans 52

Three-point goals: 5-16, .313 (McDonald 3-5, Carmouche 1-3, Blair 1-3, Diggs 0-1, Humphrey 0-1, Tyrna 0-1, Damachoua 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocks: 1 (Tyrna). Turnovers: 13 (Hart 3, Carmouche 2, Blair 2, Lewis 2, Tyrna, Diggs, Damachoua, Mpondo). Steals: 10 (Humphrey 4, Carmouche 2, McDonald 2, Diggs, Tyrna).

Three-point goals: 8-16, .500 (Williams 3-5, Gonzalez 2-5, Wood 1-2, Mays 1-2, Horner 1-2). Team Rebounds: 4. Blocks: 14 (Horner 4, T.Smith 3, Vandenberg 3, Gonzalez 2, Williams, Painter). Turnovers: 13 (T.Smith 4, Painter 2, Williams 2, Gonzalez 2, Vandenberg, Wood, Howell). Steals: 4 (T.Smith 2, Mays, Horner).

Att.-11,027. Officials-Les Jones, Brian Dorsey, Tony Dawkins.

Latest Comment View all comments

Multimedia

Images

Related Content

• Story:
  Observations