NC State is recently coming off a loss in the ACC/ Big Ten Challenge against Illinois, a game that many expected the Wolfpack to take home with a win. Instead, they came home with an 88-74 loss and a ton of defensive lapses, something that is looking to be a trend early on this season under Head Coach Mark Gottfried.
NC State is giving up 78.9 points to their opponents this season, which is 290th in the country so far this season. Granted, the Wolfpack looks to be a talented roster on paper with the likes of future NBA prospect Dennis Smith Jr., Torin Dorn, Terry Henderson, and Abdul Malik-Abu. But the struggles have been there and when the offense isn’t clicking like it can, it could spell trouble for the Wolfpack this season.
Diving into some of the early stats from this season, opponents are shooting 44.5 percent from the field against NC State (ranks the Wolfpack 237th in the nation in that category), while also shooting 49 percent from inside the arc, giving up over 299 shot attempts this season (320th in the nation), 53 three pointers made (255th in the nation), and 89 offensive rebounds (320th in the nation). The list could go on in where the Wolfpack rank near the bottom defensively in statistical categories and games such as the one against Illinois on Tuesday night put it on full display.
In that game, Illinois shot 50 percent for the game, took 26 free throw attempts compared to 13 for NC State, outrebounded the Wolfpack by five on the offensive boards (11-6), had nine steals in the game, and also created 19 turnovers against NC State in the win.
Gottfried understands what needs to be done.
“We have to learn how to stay fundamentally sound,” he said after the game on Tuesday. “We can’t try to hit a home run every time you step up to the play.
We have to learn how to have more poise. We’re down six points and we feel like we’re down 15. That’s what young teams do.”
The talent is there on the offensive side of the ball, but one always hears that defense wins championships. If NC State wants a chance to get to the dance and win games in conference, defense will have to be priority number one from now on.
