3 Points: Getting it right, getting help and moving on

Three Points from N.C. State's 55-54 loss to Wofford on Sunday:

1) Getting it right

Trevor Lacey's last-second shot looked good when it happened live.

Wofford coach Mike Young said he thought it was good. Wofford guard Eric Garcia said the same. So did N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried and Lacey himself.

But the television replay, and the still pictures N&O photographer Ethan Hyman got, showed the shot was clearly too late.

It wasn't a popular call inside Reynolds Coliseum but it was the right call and that's what matters.

There was already a circus atmosphere to Sunday's game with the return of referee Karl Hess. The last thing anyone needed was more kindling to the ACC officials/referees/umpires-hate-N.C. State fire.

Hess did enough to contribute to that with a ridiculously quick technical foul on N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried. It's easy to understand Hess wanting to assert his authority, after such a long exile, but he walked out of his rental car with that "T" loaded up and he was just waiting to put a name on it.

That's bad form by him but it's also par for his course. Hess likes to call technical fouls. Ask Danny Manning or Rick Pitino or anyone other name Google can turn up.

Given N.C. State and Wofford took the same number of free throws (13) and Wofford finished with one more foul (15 to 14), I don't think Hess is the reason N.C. State loss.

(Although, yes, I understand the two made free throws from Gottfried's first-half technical being the mathematical difference in the game.)

Overall, it was good to get the "Karl Hess Game" out of N.C. State's system but the timing of Hess’ return could have been better.

Hess worked Notre Dame’s home win over Florida State on Saturday night (a game that started at 8 p.m.). There’s no reason for the ACC to introduce travel elements in its officiating assingments when it doesn’t have to.

Also the game was at Reynolds Coliseum in a smaller but more vocal environement than Hess would have walked into than say a random Thursday night game with Jacksonville at PNC Arena.

Or as Patrick Stevens (@D1scourse on Twitter) suggested, the ACC could have eased Hess back with an N.C. State road game.

2) More help from bigs

N.C. State got 39 of its 54 points from its starting backcourt, with junior guard Trevor Lacey leading all scorers with 18 points.

Both Cat Barber (10 points) and Ralston Turner (11) failed to hit their respective season averages but still contributed.

What N.C. State didn't get was much scoring help from its forwards. BeeJay Anya had five points, the most from the Wolfpack's quartet of big men.

Lennard Freeman added four, Kyle Washington had two and Abdul-Malik Abu didn't scratch in four minutes.

Of the forwards, Washington took the most shots (seven). Washington had a short jumper go in and out with 1:07 left that would have given N.C. State a three-point lead.

Inside scoring has been scarce all season. In 10 games this season, the Wolfpack's four forwards have turned in a total of three double-digit scoring games.

What really hurt N.C. State on Sunday was the lack of offensive rebounding. State finished with three offensive rebounds and was out-scored 9-0 in second-chance points.

Wofford took a 53-52 lead with 50 seconds left when Washington couldn't corral a defensive rebound.

The final rebounding ledger was 33 to 33, which is not awful, until you consider Wofford didn't have a starter taller than 6-6.

3) Learning from early losses

N.C. State lost an early overtime game to N.C. Central last season which looked just fine by Selection Sunday when the Eagles won the MEAC and made the NCAA tournament.

This loss to Wofford, an NCAA tournament team last season, won't hurt this March for N.C. State either.

Senior guard Ralston Turner said the losses were different but could end up looking similar by the end of the season.

"It's not quite as bad as Central in our heart," Turner said. "I think we played hard, they just played better."

Mark Gottfried knew the potential for a loss was there when he scheduled the Terriers. Wofford returned all five starters from its Southern Conference championship team last season.

Senior guard Karl Cochran, in particular, was exceptional on Sunday. Cochran finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals in 37 minutes.

"We lost to a good basketball team, a veteran team," Gottfried said. "We just have to make sure we improve and get better."

Wofford coach Mike Young was complimentary of N.C. State as well.

"This Wolfpack team is going to go on and have a marvelous year," Young said.

This story was originally published December 14, 2014 at 8:51 PM with the headline "3 Points: Getting it right, getting help and moving on."