Three Points from N.C. State's 81-66 win over Wake Forest:

1) A new approach

Basically, N.C. State spent the first 25 games of the season trying to out-score its opponents. Given the Wolfpack's scoring firepower, that wasn't a bad strategy (the Pack went 18-7 in those games) but it also wasn't the best.

N.C. State has been a different team on defense over the past five games. The Pack has been more active with more steals, which leads to easy points in transition, and has allowed fewer points.

Three Points from N.C. State's 86-84 loss at Wake Forest on Tuesday:

1) No one to blame but N.C. State

Let's get this out of the way: Referees Les Jones, Ed Corbett and Ted Valentine were not good on Tuesday. There were too many fouls called, 44 in all, and there was no consistency to the calls.

That being said, the refs were not the reason N.C. State lost the game, they're not even one of the top two reasons N.C. State lost the game. N.C. State lost because its defense was bad in the second half (Wake scored 51 points) and it couldn't make consecutive free throws or an open shot when it had to.