Costner Confident Pack Can Turn Things Around

By Ryan Craig

Brandon Costner is well aware of the offensive troubles the Wolfpack have been having at the beginning of conference play, but he isn't willing to say that the problems can't be fixed.

"Really we all just need to make shots," the forward says. "We've had a problem with everybody playing well on the same night. We'll go games where one or two guys are shooting well and the other guys aren't, and we cant win that way. We need everybody to be clicking and on the same page every night...once that happens we'll be alright."

Costner has seen his numbers dwindle this season after seemingly lofting himself into the elite of the conference at the end of last year. Though his assists are up, his playing time, scoring and rebounding are down, and his shooting percentage from the field and beyond the arc have also both seen a significant dip.

The sophomore admits that one of the causes of his decline in production is the fact that he isn't getting as many touches in scoring situations as last year. But, the New Jersey native also understands the importance of staying within the new offense the Pack is running this season.

"I can only go out there and run the offense and do what my coach is telling me to do," Costner says. "Last year maybe I had the oppportnity to score more...but last year we were a different team, and this year we have a different identity. Our offense doesn't call for me to do that anymore. I can only go out there and execute and do what my coaches want me to do. That's the best thing for us to be successful."

Converting to a new offense can be hard for any team, but it is made even harder when you don't have a reliable, experienced point guard to lean on during the transition.

"You can look at us last year and then this year, and you can tell how much we miss Engin [Atsur]. It's not a knock on Marques [Johnson] or Javi [Gonzalez] or Farnold [Degand], but it's the difference between being a young guy and being an experienced, senior point guard. Engin was here for four years and played a great deal all four years. He knew how to play and knew what it was about to be a point guard in the ACC. It's gonna take them a while...but as teammates, we're here to learn with them."

It's no secret the ACC scheduling committee didn't do State any favors by having the Wolfpack travel to top-ranked Carolina and Clemson to start conference play, arguably two of the conference's three best teams to date. Costner, however, refuses to make excuses.

"It had to happen to somebody," the 6-9 forward says with a smile. "Why not us?...Why not test the team that everybody is saying should finish top three in the league?"

According to Costner, there is something positive to build on, most notably the team's defense.

"I feel like we've been playing good defense, good enough to win these games," he says. "If we keep the defense up and start clicking on offese, we'll be fine."

State will need to get their offense clicking this Saturday when Miami (14-2, 1-1) visits the RBC Center at 8pm.