NC. State's Richard Howell (1), DeShawn Painter (0), Alex Johnson (3), C.J. Williams (21) and Lorenzo Brown (2) react after reserve player Jaqawn Raymond hit a 3-pointer to give the Wolfpack a 76-57 lead over Boston College with less than a minute to play. ROBERT WILLETT - rwillett@newsobserver.com
ATLANTA — N.C. State needed to beat Boston College to get another shot to boost its NCAA tournament chances and Scott Wood made sure the Wolfpack took care of business on Thursday.
Wood's 22 points led the Wolfpack to a 78-57 win over the last-place Eagles to set up a much-needed matchup with fourth-seeded Virginia today in the quarterfinals.
The third win of the season over Boston College, No. 242 in the RPI, did nothing for N.C. State's NCAA hopes. A win over Virginia, No. 42, would help the Pack, which has an 0-8 record vs. top 50 teams.
"For us, the answer is to continue to win," N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried said, in response to a question about his team's tournament chances.
"I don't know if that's one game, two games, or three games. I know if we win this tournament we get to go."
Thursday's win wasn't always pretty for N.C. State (21-11) but it didn't have to be. Wood made five 3-pointers and responded to every Boston College push in the second half with a dagger. The Pack improved to 9-0 this season when Wood makes at least four 3-pointers.
"I don't think any team can beat us when he's hitting his shots," said Wolfpack guard Lorenzo Brown, who added 12 points, eight assists and five steals.
After falling behind by 17 points in the first half, the Eagles (9-22) pulled within six points in the second half but Wood answered with a 3 at 14:11 to push the Pack's lead back to 46-37.
The Eagles scrapped back to 48-41, and had a chance to make it a five-point game, but Dennis Clifford's outback swirled around the rim and out. Again, Wood came back with a 3.
Wood is firmly out of the four-game shooting slump that coincided with State's losses to Duke, Florida State, North Carolina and Clemson. He has made 17 of his last 34 shots in the past three games (all wins), compared to a 4 of 28 funk in the previous four loss.
Wood's shooting problems actually started in Atlanta a month ago when he missed three free throws in the second half of a 61-52 win over Georgia Tech. Wood had made his first 56 free throws of the season.
"Any time you miss free throws, it gets in your head," Wood said. "I think a lot of it was mental and lot of it was just not making shots."
Wood said he worked on his mechanics in practice sessions during the shooting slump but his confidence is the biggest reason for the late turnaround. When Wood makes his early shots — and he made his first three and had eight points before BC scored — he usually shoots well.
"Once you see those go in, you feel like you can make anything," Wood said.
BC couldn't buy a basket to start the game, going until the 13:27 mark before scoring with six missed shots and five turnovers on its first 11 possessions.
State led 14-0 and 23-6 lead before Ryan Anderson (22 points) got the Eagles going. The Pack relaxed in the second half, which didn't make Gottfried happy, but it was able to close out the game with a flurry of dunks from forward C.J. Leslie and Brown.
"We got away from what we were doing in the first half," said Leslie, who finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. "We let it slip a little bit in the second half but we got it back."
Video: J.P. Giglio discusses the Pack's big win
See video highlights from the game here
Comments
We need better games
Thu, 03/08/2012 - 18:24 — Shoreman67from both CJ's, as neither had a good game today, particularly CJW. Both need to step it up against Va. tomorrow. If they do and Scott Wood continues to shoot well, I think the Pack will win and advance. We also need to do a better job on the foul line---it could come down to that.
Cj's
Thu, 03/08/2012 - 21:56 — JPDOhioForgot about CJW. He struggled with his shot as well.
That said, no one was hanging their heads. Leslie and Howell both rebounded well. Brown had 8 assists. Painter was solid off the bench and hit all 4 of his free throws (although he almost made a huge mistake when he took a swing at one of the BC guys). And CJW hit that 3 at the buzzer to send to send the Pack into the locker room at the half on an up note.
Anyway, it wasn't pretty but style points don't matter now. Wins are all that matter and the Pack needs one in a big way tomorrow. Northwestern did its part today by losing to Minnesota.
Go Pack!
Needed the win
Thu, 03/08/2012 - 17:59 — JPDOhioGot the win. Some quick observations:
All-in-all, the Pack did enough to win. Didn't seem like all that much energy was expended either, so no excuse for not bringing it tomorrow. Need a big win against the Cavaliers.
Go Pack!