WINSTON-SALEM -- All those missed layups, easy baskets made hard. Too many to count, really, although Javi Gonzalez gave it a try.
The N.C. State point guard stood in the hallway Sunday night, ticking them off, one after another.
"There were what, six or seven layups that we should have made? Wide open," Gonzalez said. "Tracy [Smith] missed about two. Jordan [Vandenberg] missed about two. Dennis [Horner] one time was wide open, he pump-faked and didn't know what to do. That's another one. Scott [Wood], layup. I missed one."
Suffice to say, N.C. State isn't good enough to overcome that many missed opportunities to win on the road against Wake Forest.
Not with State big man Tracy Smith in foul trouble, watching instead of playing almost half the game.
Not with Wake Forest's slippery Ish Smith taking control of the game, setting up dunks at one end and blocking shots at the other.
The Wolfpack was down by four points early in the second half, then missed six straight shots, including a few of those layups that stuck in Gonzalez's craw. And so a chance for N.C. State to win an ACC road game went skidding on by, Wake Forest walking away with an ugly 67-59 win.
This game was a should-win for Wake Forest - at home, against a team picked to finish in the bottom quarter of the league, that 8-1 record notwithstanding - but for N.C. State it was a could-win, and there are precious few of those in the ACC.
The Wolfpack cruised through the first part of its nonconference schedule, taking care of teams such as Akron and Austin Peay from lesser conferences even when it wasn't pretty (see: Elon), losing a winnable game at home to Northwestern, making up for that with a road upset of Marquette.
By making it through that portion of the schedule without a significant stumble, N.C. State picked up at least one vote in The Associated Press' poll, presumably from a voter or voters who didn't check all that closely to see who a few of those eight wins were against.
Five more nonconference games await before N.C. State gets into the rest of the ACC schedule. But the Wolfpack's first chance to measure itself against one of the teams in the netherworld of the jumbled middle of the ACC standings, found the Wolfpack wanting.
Smith mired in foul trouble was bad enough. The Wolfpack's timid inability to generate offense without him was worse. Finally, after Smith fouled out with 51/2 minutes to go, Gonzalez scored 13 of N.C. State's final 15 points, taking matters into his own hands.
Meanwhile, N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe was left decrying his team's inability to respond to the physical edge Wake Forest's big men set down low.
"Their bigs are hitting us, big or small," Lowe said. "We didn't hit them. We didn't take advantage, and that's very frustrating."
And then there were all those missed layups, which combined with a 6-for-21 performance from 3-point range and eight missed free throws led to an inevitable defeat.
Early in the second half, Dennis Horner fired in a 3-pointer from the right corner, bringing the Wolfpack to four points shy. From the same spot on the floor, with six minutes to go and Wake Forest's lead back to double digits, a cross-court pass from Gonzalez slipped through Horner's hands.
There were not enough plays like the former for N.C. State on Sunday and too many like the latter - too many to count.
