1) It's not how you start, it's how you … uh, wait a sec …

N.C. State has been slow out of the gate for about a month and especially last night in an 82-71 loss to Georgia Tech.

State was able to get away with it in the previous six games, all wins, usually with a strong finish to the first half or a quick start to the second half.
 

Mark Gottfried cut to the chase in his post-game comments about N.C. State's 82-71 loss to Georgia Tech on Wednesday.

The first-year coach called it one of his team's "poorer" performances of the season. He gave a rather amusing philosophical answer in trying to explain what went wrong against a struggling Tech team that entered the game with a 7-8 record.

"Sometimes, we'd all like to come up with this grand answer of why your team doesn't play good," Gottfried said. "Sometimes you just don't play good. Hell, I go golf, (expletive), sometimes I'm terrible, sometimes I'm a little better. It's part of life."

Three Points from N.C. State's 79-74 win over Maryland:

1) A little transparency can go a long way

Mark Gottfried told his team before the Maryland game that it needed to win 11 games in the ACC to make the NCAA tournament. He told the media the same thing on Friday and then repeated his goals after the win on Sunday.

"That's our goal, I'm not afraid to say it," Gottfried said Sunday night.

RALEIGH – Once again, N.C. State won a game with a collection of players fulfilling their roles, not having just one star individual who carried the rest.

That was the formula N.C. State used in a closer-than-it-looked 79-74 win over Maryland on Sunday night.

And executing this type of game plan set in by first-year coach Mark Gottfried will most likely determined whether the Wolfpack reach their ultimate goal: the NCAA Tournament.

In the ACC opener for both teams, the Wolfpack showed more maturity in the second half. They limited their turnovers. They helped each other on the defensive end. And when it was time to pull away and win the game, the Wolfpack did just that.

RALEIGH – N.C. State leads Maryland 36-30 at halftime in the ACC opener for both teams and coaches Mark Gottfried and Mark Turgeon. Here are a few observations from the first half here at the RBC Center.

-- N.C. State outrebounded Maryland 19-12 in the first half. That’s important for the Wolfpack against Maryland’s 7-foot center Alex Len. Not only are the Wolfpack holding the Terrapins to just one shot, but they are also taking advantage when they run in transition – which included at dunk from forward C.J. Leslie that was the biggest highlight in the first half that brought the home crowd to its feet.

Both Leslie (six rebounds) and forward Richard Howell (two rebounds) have been active on the backboard.

-- Leslie leads the Wolfpack with 12 points. A few of his baskets have come after grabbing offensive rebounds. At times Leslie was too aggressive in turning the ball over two times, but he’s outplaying any big man Maryland puts on him.

-- N.C. State built its lead, and maintained it for much of the first half, on a 5-0 run midway through the half by playing solid defense. The Wolfpack also finished the half well on the defensive end. N.C. State held Maryland scoreless for the final 2:36 left on the clock. The Terrapins have turned the ball over seven times, and some of them were unforced errors.

-- Forward Scott Wood has been sharp coming off screens. Wood started the game making his first three shots. His 3-pointer, coming off a screen, helped stretch Maryland’s defense. He also recorded a block in the first half.

-- This game should stay close throughout the second half as N.C. State’s biggest lead was five. Maryland clearly wants to take time of the clock and go through its offensive sets. When Maryland is passing the ball from side-to-side, the Terrapins have scored. Guard Terrell Stoglin leads Maryland with eight points.

There are still four undefeated teams in college basketball. With nothing but Ohio Valley Conference teams left on the schedule, 15-0 Murray State may have the best chance of any of them to become the first unbeaten since Indiana in 1976.

N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried thinks so: “Yes, they can,” he said Friday.

In addition to his comments about N.C. State's ACC goals, Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried offered his expanded thoughts on the Wolfpack's NCAA chances on Friday.

Gottfried, who took Murray State and Alabama to the NCAA tournament seven times in 14 seasons and worked as an analyst for ESPN the last two seasons, has a firm grasp on the process and the selection committee's criteria.

At No. 49 in the most recent official RPI on the NCAA's web site, the Wolfpack is in bubble territory as it begins ACC play on Sunday against Maryland.

N.C. State has two goals for the start of the ACC season, that are seemingly at conflict with each other.

The Pack wants to win 11 ACC games but it also wants to take the conference season, "one game at a time."

Eleven wins is the number first-year coach Mark Gottfried has set as the goal for his team to make the NCAA tournament.

N.C. State's first ACC game of the season, and first for coach Mark Gottfried, is against Maryland on Sunday at the RBC Center.

Except Gottfried's not interested in looking ahead, not even to Maryland on Sunday, not with Delaware State (4-8) coming to Raleigh on Wednesday.

STANFORD, Calif. — Eight games is enough to convince Mark Gottfried that N.C. State's basketball team is headed in the right direction.

Almost daily, since Gottfried was hired in April, he had been preaching that the Wolfpack program, five-plus years removed from its last NCAA tournament appearance and coming off a 15-16 season, had a "long way to go."

After Sunday's disappointing 76-72 loss at Stanford, the second straight close call against a major conference opponent, Gottfried admitted Sunday that the Pack, with a 5-3 record, is "close" to being a good team.