Bobby Lutz key to Wolfpack blowout of Wake

Assistant coach Bobby Lutz handles the advanced opponent scouting for the Wolfpack and Lutz knew Wake Forest's offense better than any of its players on Saturday.

Lutz, the former Charlotte 49ers head coach, was calling out plays and pointing to spots on the floor — often the exact spot where the Wake Forest player was going.

That helped the Wolfpack to a 76-40 win over the Deacons that might not have been that close.

"Our staff normally does a good job with their scouting, it seemed to me today we really had them pegged," N.C. State head coach Mark Gottfried said.

As good as N.C. State's preparation and effort was on Saturday, Wake Forest was a hot mess. Dominique Wilkins thinks Nikita Mescheriakov needs to pass more. Mescheriakov took five shots in the first half (about four too many) with four misses from 3, and was taking shots (often while being defended and early in the shot clock) with reckless abandon.

Point guard Tony Chennault has made a big difference in Wake's offense this season, moving C.J. Harris off the ball and putting Harris in a better position to score, but Chennault somehow convinced himself he was Chris Paul on Saturday and took one ill-advised, forced shot after another.

Meanwhile, McKie and Harris — the second and third leading scorers in the entire ACC — just kind looked wistfully at the ball.

That's why Wake coach Jeff Bzdelik, who runs a modified version of the Princeton offense (which he learned at Air Force) said after the game:

"I don't know why we did what we did offensively. I don't know what to say."
Here's what to say: You have to give your best players the ball and put them in position to score. If other players are unwilling to give your best players the ball, get them off the court.

Done and done.

There is no circumstance where Chennault and Mescheriakov should take as many shots, or more in Chennault's case, than McKie.

Gottfried provided the unintentional comedy highlight of the day when he said after the game: "We dealt with their ball screens, they set a lot of them."

I wouldn't characterize any set Wake ran Saturday as screen heavy. It was often four guys spread behind the 3-point line, even 7-foot Ty Walker, while one guy dribbled until the end of the shot clock and waited for a ball screen that either never materialized or was set with the intensity of a third-grader.

-- J.P. Giglio