Pack's Brown looks to rebound

RALEIGH -- Lorenzo Brown has no difficulty assessing the recent flaws in his game.

Since a 20-point outing in the Wolfpack's 76-40 win over Wake Forest on Jan. 14, the N.C. State point guard hasn't been "playing too well," by his own account.

Brown and the Wolfpack are hoping today's game against the Demon Deacons (1 p.m., WRAL) will recharge his sophomore season.

"It's something I've got to get over," Brown said Friday. "This is the point in the season where you have to be playing your best to get where you want to go."

And that's the NCAA tournament, Brown added. The Wolfpack (16-7 overall, 5-3 ACC) has already matched last season's ACC win total (five) and surpassed last season's overall win total, but Brown wants more. He knows he has to break out of his five-game mini-slump to help his team.

Brown's scoring and shooting numbers in the past five ACC games have been off the pace of his first three conference games. Brown averaged 14.6 points and made 16 of his 32 shots in the first three ACC games. In the five games since, he has averaged 7.6 points and made 15 of 42 shots.

Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried said Brown has been his own worst critic. Brown, in his first season as State's point guard, has been one of the league's best at the position, Gottfried said, and one of the most productive. Brown ranks second in the ACC in assists (6.7 per game) and leads the conference in steals (1.9 per game). He also has averaged 11.7 points per game.

"I think he has done really well. It's a long season, and it's his first season as a point guard," Gottfried said. "I think he's one of the better point guards in this league, and I think he has just had a lull the last few games."

Brown hit the shot of the ACC season -- an 80-foot buzzer-beater before halftime of the North Carolina loss on Jan. 26 -- but he hasn't watched a clip of it online or on ESPN. Quite frankly, he wasn't impressed.

"I was upset about that," Brown said. "I couldn't hit a 15-footer, but I hit an 80-foot shot."

Brown said he's more concerned with his turnovers than with any shooting woes. In the first three ACC games, he had 21 assists and eight turnovers. In the last five games, he has 34 assists and 22 turnovers.

"It's just a mental thing right now," Brown said.

Gottfried has noticed the same thing. He didn't like Brown's body language in the first half of the Boston College win on Wednesday night.

"He has allowed the fact that he hasn't played as well as he'd like to really bother him," Gottfried said. "That's where I thought the body language the other day was a result of that."

Gottfried said Brown responded in the second half against the Eagles with two key assists (of his seven for the game) to help the Wolfpack win, 56-51.

"When the game was on the line, he had two great passes that were really big for us," Gottfried said.

Brown is hoping the positive finish against BC will carry over into the second half of the ACC season.

"Everybody is going to have a slump," Brown said. "It just takes one game to break out of it."