State's Road Woes Continue With 82-65 Loss To BC

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — If N.C. State’s NCAA tournament bubble bursts next month, last night’s 82-65 loss at Boston College will stick out as a game the Wolfpack would like to have back.

Facing a BC team that had lost six games in a row, N.C. State (15-9, 4-6 ACC) started slow and was never able to dig itself out of an early hole.

“I don’t think we defended as well as we can (or) as well as we needed to,” N.C. State coach Sidney Lowe said. “We really didn’t have enough guys show up and play tonight…This was a tough loss, it really was. I expected us to really come out aggressive and establish ourselves early, and we didn’t do that.”

The biggest problem for the Wolfpack was Tyrese Rice. BC’s point guard shredded the N.C. State defense for 32 points and dished out six assists.

“He’s one of the best point guards in the country, not just the ACC,” Lowe said. “You saw him control it and get his shot whenever he wanted to or create something for somebody else. That’s just a very talented, smart basketball player. When you have that type of player at that position, you’re always going to be in ball games. Ninety-nine percent of the time he’s going to make the right decision or the right play.”

While Rice was controlling things for BC (13-10, 4-6) on the perimeter, N.C.

State looked inside for its offense, scoring 40 points in the paint. J.J. Hickson led the way with 20 points and seven rebounds.

“He’s a fine player,” BC coach Al Skinner said. “He has all the moves. He’s clearly going to be, if he’s not already, one of the best frontcourt players in the league.”

Hickson was joined in double-figures by Gavin Grant (15 points), Brandon Costner (14) and Courtney Fells (10), but the biggest problem for N.C. State was that only one other player scored.

“We can’t win with three guys playing well; we can’t do it…We need six guys to at least come out and be productive and do their jobs and do what they’re supposed to do,” Lowe said. “That doesn’t entail just scoring points, it’s the defensive end that I’m looking at and I’m concerned about.”

Lowe had a right to be concerned with a defense that allowed the Eagles to shoot 57 percent from the floor and 50 percent on 3-pointers. BC also held a 35-25 advantage on the glass.

“I’m looking at the defensive end and the rebounding,” Lowe said. “That’s how you win ball games, and that’s what we need to do. We need people to step up and defend.”

Trailing 61-48 with 9:30 remaining, N.C. State went on a 9-2 run over a three-minute stretch to pull within six. But turnovers – the Wolfpack had 13 – prevented the deficit from shrinking further.

“That was a great opportunity to really try to cut into that lead and you can’t (have turnovers), especially against a team like that and a player like Rice, who is going to make sure they get good looks and execute their stuff,” Lowe said. “That really hurt us.”

The Wolfpack started slowly, falling behind 20-9 eight minutes into the game.

N.C. State then stiffened up on defense, holding the Eagles without a point for 4:42, and cut the lead to 20-14. The Wolfpack remained close for the rest of the half, but weren’t able to consistently come up with the defensive stops needed to seriously threaten, and trailed 41-32 at the break.

“We talked about this time (of year),” Lowe said. “This was a very, very big game. To notbe in it and have an opportunity to win was very disappointing. Some of the efforts were very disappointing.”

The road doesn’t get any easier for N.C. State with home games against Clemson and No. 5 North Carolina next on the schedule. But even with those daunting opponents and last night’s disappointing result in mind, Costner believes the Wolfpack will be heard from in March.

“We still feel like we can reach the tournament and play well in the tournament,” the sophomore forward said. “We just have to have everybody show up every night and come to win. We can’t take nights off and let games like this slip away.”