With a stamp of approval from his coach and his mom, N.C. State junior Lorenzo Brown is headed to the NBA.
Brown, who led the ACC in assists, will skip his final college season and enter the NBA draft, Kim Banks, Brown's mother, said Thursday. Banks said she spoke with her son and Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried on Wednesday.
"Coach said he's ready for the NBA," Banks said. See photos from Brown's career at N.C. State.
N.C. State could lose as many as three starters early to the NBA draft. The Wolfpack could also get C.J. Leslie, Lorenzo Brown or T.J. Warren back for another season.
The parents of Brown and Warren said Tuesday that no decision has been made about their sons' respective futures.
CBSSports.com reported Tuesday that both Brown and Leslie, both juniors, were expected to leave for the NBA.
It’s all falling into place now for N.C. State. C.J. Leslie is replicating his postseason form of a year ago. Lorenzo Brown is rounding into health. Scott Wood is making shots. Richard Howell is Richard Howell.
Virginia posed little opposition Friday N.C. State took control early as Leslie scored eight of N.C. State’s first 17 points, then pulled away when Wood hit 3-pointers on back-to-back-to-back possessions early in the second half for a 75-56 win.
GREENSBORO N.C. State beat Virginia at its own game on Friday at the ACC tournament.
The Wolfpack's defense, for the second straight day, stymied one of the top scorers in the ACC, this time in a 75-56 win over Virginia. N.C. State (24-9) will play top-seeded Miami on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the semifinals.
The Wolfpack held Virginia's Joe Harris to 13 points and got plenty of offense, and fight, from its veterans.
Three Points from N.C. State's 80-63 ACC tournament win over Virginia:
1) The real Zo
Defense and rebounding, rebounding and defense. Lorenzo Brown took care of the Wolfpack's two biggest problems of the season all by himself on Thursday.
Brown blanketed Virginia Tech's Erick Green (15 points, 5 of 19 shooting), in a bounce-back effort from the troubling loss at Florida State, and he also had seven rebounds on Thursday.
Three Points from N.C. State's 71-67 loss at Florida State:
1) Desperate times
N.C. State played 31 regular-season games, how many times during the season did the Wolfpack play with true desperation? How many times did the Wolfpack play with conspicuous urgency?
The answer matters because talent alone doesn't define greatness. It's the combination of talent with desire and the ability of a group to play with a purpose and above the level of the sum of their parts.
Florida State handed N.C. State a ticket for a bye in the ACC tournament and then the Seminoles took it away.
Freshman guard Devon Bookert scored eight of his 18 points in the final 3 minutes to carry Florida State to a 71-67 home win over the Wolfpack on Saturday afternoon in Tallahassee, Fla.
N.C. State (22-9, 11-7 ACC) only needed a win to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament and avoid having to play on Thursday. The Wolfpack beat FSU by 18 points in Raleigh two and half weeks ago and led by as many as eight points in the second half on Saturday.
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.
RALEIGH N.C. State let a 16-point lead slip away at Wake Forest in January. C.J. Leslie wouldn't let that happen on Wednesday night, not in the Wolfpack's final home game of the season, not with the real season about to begin.
Leslie's 19 points and 10 rebounds helped N.C. State throttle Wake Forest 81-66 for the Pack's sixth win in seven games and third straight at home by double-digits. N.C. State (22-8, 11-6 ACC) closed out its home schedule with a 16-1 record, including an 8-1 mark in the ACC.
It was the final home game together for State's veteran quartet of Leslie, Richard Howell, Scott Wood and Lorenzo Brown. Howell and Wood were honored on Senior Night and then Leslie proceeded to do the heavy lifting.
ATLANTA — Nothing is ever easy for N.C. State team and it wasn't on Sunday but the Wolfpack found a way to pick up a needed road win.
With 18 points from Richard Howell in the first half, and 11 from C.J. Leslie in the second half, the Wolfpack beat Georgia Tech 70-57 in another physical, deliberate, ACC basketball game best suited for Tums stockholders and amnesiacs.
The Wolfpack, as it has all season, put together a stretch brilliance, which was enough to carry it to a 14-point lead in the first half, but the Yellow Jackets jammed the tempo of the game into a grinder, like sausage into casing.
