Anyone else watch Georgia Tech come into the RBC Center last night and take a game from NC State? There really is not another way of stating it. Tech took this one, and there was not much the Wolfpack could do about it. With Glen Rice Jr “coming off the bench” and pouring in 22 points on 7-10 shooting, including 3-5 from behind the arc, to go along with Mfon Udofia’s ridiculous three point shots, the Pack had no chance against the Jackets.
This game was full of drama, with NC State coach Mark Gottfried getting a technical foul for a reason that is as of yet still unknown. That was followed up by the refs refusing to talk to him. At one point in the second half, during a time out, Gottfried was pleading with the refs for someone to come talk to him, and they responded by going to the opposite end of the floor and talking amongst themselves under the basket. This was followed up by some questionable calls, that led to the Wolfpack getting into foul trouble.
The refs were not the reason the Pack lost that game, however. Georgia Tech was simply on fire. Rice Jr drained three pointers with hands in his face all night, as Tech finished the game shooting 60% from behind the arc (9-15) and 51% from the floor overall. Even fouling Brandon Reed, who entered the game with a sub 60% free throw percentage, backfired as dude went 7-8 from the charity stripe. Simply put, nothing worked for the Pack last night.
Just take a look at the box score and you can see that as bad as it seemed last night for the Pack, it really wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The main negative for the Pack was its three point shooting, where it shot 26.3% (5-19). The Pack was out rebounded by two, but had more offensive rebounds than Tech, which was due in large part to the fact that while the Jackets could not miss a shot, the Pack certainly could. NC State had 12 turnovers (Tech had 14). Blocked six shots (Tech blocked 5). 12 assists to Tech’s 9.
So even “playing as poorly as they did” the Pack still managed to fight hard and matched Tech’s 42 second half points with 42 of their own. It just was not meant to be for the Pack. Credit to Georgia Tech, who is looking better as the season goes on, and maybe will indeed finish in the middle of the ACC after all.
Update
Some good gems from Gottfried from his post game presser here.
“Let me say this clearly, the officials, they did not cost us the game, not at all,” Gottfried said. “Everybody can have an opinion but my take on all that is my team has to play better. I’m not into excuses, I’m not into that at all.”
Say what you will about Gottfried, but I for one love his approach with the media. Also from last night:
“I can take my jacket off any time I’d like to,” Gottfried said. “That’s my prerogative. I never got an explanation. I asked repeatedly and never got one, never had any communication after that from them, and that’s a little bit frustrating on my side.”
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“Rice Jr drained three pointers with hands in his face all night”
Or, he did it 3 times, at most…
NOT @Champs, but all of the Wolp Fack fans bitching about refs today is just too funny. When you lose by eleven in your own gym you don’t get to complain about refs. There are always “questionable calls” in games, and they always go both ways.
State fans no longer get to pretend that UNX fans have the market cornered on bitching about officials. Sorry suckas, but you fools are the new champs in that arena.
Pat, would you say that I am typically someone who complains about the refs? Did you watch this game last night? The refs did not decide the outcome by far, but they were terrible.
max, would you say that Tech was wide open all night long, or that they hit crazy shots despite the defensive efforts of the Pack?
Many State fans I know had this one marked up in the win column before it was ever played. Maybe the team did too. It’s a shame, I was thinking 10 conference wins for NCSU this year. I’d like to see Coach Gott turn things around and put the Pack back on the basketball map.
Gott asked for and was not given a reason for the technical. What good is it to call one if you don’t tell them why?
Also, from Gott:
“Let me say this clearly, the officials, they did not cost us the game, not at all,” Gottfried said. “Everybody can have an opinion but my take on all that is my team has to play better. I’m not into excuses, I’m not into that at all.”
Mike, I was just trolling and being an asshat by pointing out that you said Rice Jr hit threes all night with hands in his face when he went 3 for 5 from 3.
Would I agree with “Tech hit shots all night with hands in their face?” Yes, yes I would.
Champs I very clearly and plainly stated that my comment was NOT aimed at you. I did watch the game and I absolutely did not see the travesty of officiating that some Wolp Fackers think that they saw.
As a unbiased 3rd party, I can say with authority that UNCfan is still king of the hill when it comes to bemoaning officials. Everyone fanbase does it though, but it takes a special breed of arrogance to blame so much of one’s own team’s failings on subpar officiating… the Wolpfack nation is not quite to that level.
Paging Coach Gottfried, the NIT is on line one….
Pat, I know, I was merely asking if you thought I was someone who typically does complain about the refs to show that if I was annoyed by it, then it must have been rather blatant. There was a string of play after the technical that flat out reeked. What I did like was that I didn’t see any of the players getting pissed towards the refs.
And what was that double technical about? Looked like the dude from Tech was wearing a hat made of ass and trying to get in the middle of the Pack’s huddle, and that Howell said “go away, son, before it gets real”.
I’ve been surprised with Georgia Tech’s play so far. They have been better than I thought. Brain Gregory is doing a really good job, seems to really get into the game too. I didnt see the entire game but Tech looked good.
Funny thing here in Atlanta, I had no problem finding UNC vs Miami the other night, it was on the local Raycom/JP station. But I had to do a channel search to find GT vs NC State. Finally found it on Fox Sports South.
Max, I should have looked at that comment better. My bad. Maybe I shouldn’t have written three pointer in that sentence.
I’m not saying it was a poorly officiated game meant to give the Pack their first conference loss after beating Maryland, but I saw a man sitting in row 13 wearing a black coat and sunglasses that looked a lot like Gary Williams….
The ACC Blame game:
In Maryland they blame Debbie Yow
In Wake Forest they don’t blame anyone — Switzerland is neutral
In Clemson they blame Tommy Bowden
In Blacksburg they blame the NCAA selection committee
In Boston they blame ToB
In Virginia they blame Trey and Muffy
In Miami they can’t spell blame
At Florida State they blame nobody — who cares about basketball?
At Georgia Tech they blame Tebow.
At NC State they blame the coach. Always. Fire him now.
At Durham they blame Hansbrough – Henderson was the real victim.
At Carolina they blame the sommelier, the cheese monger, the sun (it was in our eyes), Presbyterian fan, Coach Doh, AND the refs.
“At Durham they blame Hansbrough – Henderson was the real victim.”
They dont need to blame the refs, their coach just cusses them out
It was Jake’s fault.
DUDave wins the thread.
@Champs, I wouldn’t say that you make a habit of it, but this isn’t the first time you’ve brought it up, either. I watched the game and don’t agree with the line of thought that there were inequitable bad calls.
@Kev, just because you say it doesn’t make it so. Stop trolling.
Pat, I didn’t say they were inequitable, I said they were terrible. When the refs won’t talk to the head coach after T’ing him up, and ignores him the rest of the game, it will tend to leave a bad taste in the oral cavity as far as they are concerned. Their behavior baffles me.
Damn that Sidney Lowe I’m tired of him losing games like this, Oh sorry having flashbacks because it looked alot like January 2011 in the Big ATM last night.
And evidently some reporter thought that the “restless” crowd was to blame….
“Tech took this one, and there was not much the Wolfpack could do about it.”
Really? OK that’s one way to look at it.
Big Disappointment for the wolfies and the ACC last night, GTech is turrible and this will hurt NCAAT aspirations for the wolfies in a garbage ACC this year.
I was excited about Gott because I thought he would win these types of games. The ones at home where the opponent, on paper, looks like ass.
But he didn’t. And State has the same team it had last year. Bottom line: crappy loss. Nothing new here.
Refs smefs. You can never blame the refs. And I actually don’t think UNC fans blame the refs any more than other fanbases. It seems that way because they don’t lose as often, so it’s really the only excuse they typically can use.
Sorry Mike, you may not be blaming the refs but you open yourself up to it as soon as you mention them.
@Champs, we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
I know, Carl, but I have to call it as I see it, no? The refs, whether we like it or not, were indeed a big part of the second half drama last night. So much so that there were pointed questions from the media about Ayers in the post game presser. So yeah, it was part of the game that needed to be addressed.
I stand firm that the refs smoked more pole than a Las Vegas hooker last night. I also stand firm with that not being the reason that State lost, although having Leslie on the bench with foul trouble did not help State one bit.
Craig Rowe = unbiased 1st/2nd party
TheManKev = biased 3rd party
TheManKev
December 4, 2011 at 10:07 PM
Someone needs to tap DocHeel on the shoulder and let him know his football “analysis” over on his Twitter account doesn’t do much to disprove the notion that UNC fans know jack bupkis about how bowl games work, much less the BCS. Gotta play in them to know what they’re about, amirite guys?
With VPI at 0-2 in conference—and just being who they are—shouldn’t you be in hibernation ’til Labor Day? Or, are you just going to give up TSB for Lent?
If you go to a UNC blog after a loss you’ll see a lot more criticism of Roy Williams or Player A or Player B then criticism of the Refs.
I didn’t see the game last night, but if the Refs did call a T on Gott and then refused to explain to him what the T was for then that is pretty unprofessional.
Hokie Hibernation
“At NC State they blame the coach. Always. Fire him now”
That’s number one.
2. UNC Board of Governors
3. John Swofford
4. N&O
5. Gary Williams
I agree that the refs were too visible last night. I do think the play was getting rough. It’s hard to tell what is going on on the floor watching on TV. Leslie did resort to “CJ” on his last 3 fouls last night as I could see that he was frustrated…..I mean GT has a physical team.
If it makes State fan feel any better, even without any injuries, I think UNC will lose 3 or 4 in conference play.
I was trolling, santiago. You make me sad.
High five to pat for sniffing it out, though.
Raj, not only did Ayers call a T and refuse to explain why, but he ignored Gottfried the rest of the night. The T came with something like 11 minutes left in the second half.
So, thanks, I think, to HP for his comments. Oh, you forgot Lee Fowler on that list. He has to be there somewhere, right?
Calvin has to stay out of foul trouble and composed. He is the key for the Pack. They are a completely different team without him on the floor. Also, Lorenzo Brown got his bad half out of the way in the first, with four turnovers in 20 minutes. He didn’t have a single one in the second half.
This loss does not leave me dejected one bit. No need to overreact. The Pack was not going to go 13 – 0 against teams not named UNC or Duke.
Prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas.
^^But you probably should have hoped to beat the teams that will be finishing in the bottom 4th of the conference.
Hard to win 10 to 11 conference games when you lose one at home to one of bottom feeders
^I don’t expect them to be bottom 4th of the ACC though. I expect them to finish about 8th, and I’m on the record on that.
But yes, I did expect State to win last night.
Sorry, Kev. I guess I should have realized you were trolling when you mentioned the arrogance of others. (I’d mention Matthew 7:3, but then I’d be injecting religion in 2 comments in a row. Now that’s trolling.)
wrong thread. the 24-hour religion channel is over on the Monday Morning Fodder thread…
“This game was full of drama, with NC State coach Mark Gottfried getting a technical foul for a reason that is as of yet still unknown. That was followed up by the refs refusing to talk to him. At one point in the second half, during a time out, Gottfried was pleading with the refs for someone to come talk to him, and they responded by going to the opposite end of the floor and talking amongst themselves under the basket. This was followed up by some questionable calls, that led to the Wolfpack getting into foul trouble.”
The refs were going to talk to Gott, but they wanted to hear back from Sean Miller and Rick Barnes first.
good one jhmd2K
Yes, good one J2K.