Wolfpack beat Tar Heels on the stat sheet

A couple lingering thoughts from the North Carolina's 86-74 victory against N.C. State on Tuesday night:

• Strange victory for the Tar Heels given they abandoned the usual script to win this game – and still won it somewhat convincingly. UNC dominated the lane the first time these teams met, back in January, and especially dominated in offensive rebounding. But the Wolfpack controlled the lane, outscoring UNC 42-22 in the paint, and 16-8 off second-chance points.

• In fact, if you look at the box score, you see that N.C. State took 13 more shots from the field and outscored UNC in the paint, off of turnovers, on second-chance points, on fast-break points and in points off the bench. The major difference, of course, was 3-point shooting. The Heels made 10 of their 19 attempts, while the Pack made just 3 of 13.

• This might seem like the dummy statement of the year but it’s so true with the Tar Heels: They’re such a different team when the outside shots are falling. Every team is a better team when it’s making shots, of course, but UNC becomes significantly better because it’s a good team even when the outside shots aren’t falling. UNC has learned this season to get by without much of a perimeter offensive game that when those shots go in, it’s like a bonus.

-- Andrew Carter

Why North Carolina fans have to root for Duke tonight against Florida State, even if it hurts

No. 7 North Carolina has enjoyed a solid day and a half or so alone in first place atop the ACC standings. That will change tonight, when either Duke or Florida State joins the Tar Heels. The Blue Devils and Seminoles play tonight at 7 in Tallahassee in what just might be the most important regular-season college basketball game there in … forever? Probably not. But it has been a long, long time since Florida State hosted a game of this magnitude.

Both Blue Devils and Seminoles have beaten UNC head-to-head, and thus hold a tie-breaker over the Tar Heels. But for North Carolina to keep hope alive of winning the mythical ACC regular season championship, it needs Duke to win tonight in Tallahassee. The reason is obvious enough: UNC will get another chance at Duke. And the Heels will have no such opportunity against Florida State.

Of course, Florida State could win tonight and then stumble at some point in its final three games. The Seminoles go on the road to Miami and Virginia, before finishing the season at home against Clemson. But the most direct path for the Tar Heels to finish with the top seed in the ACC tournament is for Duke to win tonight, for UNC to win its next two – at Virginia and against Maryland at home – and then for the Heels to beat the Blue Devils in Cameron.

Easier said than done. But a Blue Devils victory tonight allows the Tar Heels to control their own destiny.


-- Andrew Carter

N.C. State's Gottfried calls ACC reprimand 'weak'

N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried had avoided adding commentary to the incident involving two former Wolfpack players and official Karl Hess from Saturday's game until a late Monday night appearance at a student rally on campus.

At the "Ram Roast," aptly near the Freedom of Expression tunnel, Gottfried offered his unfiltered comments about Hess and his decision to eject Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta in the second half of Saturday's game. A student taped the impromptu question-and-answer session and put it first on Facebook and then the video found its way to YouTube.

Gottfried's comments from the video:

"I think it was weak. It was bad and I thought the official was completely out of line 100 percent. I'm disappointed, quite frankly, in the ACC, because not only did he throw out two of N.C. State's greats, he threw out two of the ACC's greats, and the league is supporting an official rather than supporting former great players.

The former great players, in my opinion, were embarrassed and wronged when they shouldn't have been. I don't think you can have rabbit ears like that if you're a referee and start throwing people out. I was disappointed in the whole thing. So they gave a reprimand tonight to the official, but it was pretty weak in my opinion."

The ACC reprimanded Hess on Monday night for his failure to follow the proper protocol in ejecting fans. Hess also wrote in an email to the ACC, which the conference provided for N.C. State, that Corchiani and Gugliotta  were ejected for "excessive demonstration on several calls as they came right up to the scorer’s table."

Corchiani and Gugliotta, who both have their jerseys honored at the RBC Center, will be honored, with the 1988-89 N.C. State team, before tonight's game against the Tar Heels. The '89 team won the regular-season ACC title, the last conference championship by the program.

-- J.P. Giglio

Replay: UNC-NCSU online chat with J.P. Giglio

Here's the replay of today's chat with News and Observer and Charlotte Observer ACC writer J.P. Giglio, previewing tonight's North Carolina-N.C. State matchup and other ACC basketball topics.

UNC's Roy Williams: Wolfpack improved in every phase

North Carolina Roy Williams said earlier today that the N.C. State team the Tar Heels will play on Tuesday night in Raleigh is far different than the one that suffered a 74-55 defeat against UNC at the Smith Center on Jan. 20.

“The more you play together under a new system, I think with each week, you get more accustomed to what the coaching staff wants,” Williams said during his portion of the weekly ACC teleconference.  “You get more accustomed to getting the shots the way that the new style, the new philosophy of play is going to help. And so I think the experience of playing that, every week, you get better and better.”

After losing at UNC, the Wolfpack suffered a 61-60 loss at home against Virginia but then won three consecutive games. N.C. State then led Duke by 20 points with about 11 minutes to play last week before the Blue Devils rallied – sound familiar, Tar Heels fans? – for an improbable 78-73 victory.

The Wolfpack endured perhaps its most disappointing loss of the season on Saturday – a 76-62 defeat against Florida State in which N.C. State appeared to be playing amid an emotional hangover after the loss against the Blue Devils.

Still, Williams on Monday went out of his way to compliment the Pack.

“I just think they’re more experienced in what Mark [Gottfried] and his staff want them to do,” Williams said. “They’ve gotten better defensively. To me, they’re better in every phase of the game. And you know, I hope that we’re better. But I do believe they’re better right now in every phase than at that time.”

Some other notes from Williams’ conference call:

--Both sophomore Harrison Barnes (ankle) and freshman P.J. Hairston (foot) continue to be affected by their lingering injuries. “They’re better,” Williams said. “I think that’s the best way to say it. I think as we talked about the other day, these things just tend to linger unless you’re to have a two-week break. And this of year you don’t have a two-week break.”

--That said, Williams said the Tar Heels had a light practice on Sunday and they’d have another light work day today. This will be UNC’s third game in seven days. After Tuesday, the Tar Heels don’t play again until Saturday at Virginia.

-- Andrew Carter

Kendall Marshall: Stop focusing on Tar Heels' negatives

Didn’t have time to spend a lot of time expounding on this last week, but it’s clear that Tar Heels point guard Kendall Marshall is a bit annoyed with what he perceives as negativity and criticism directed toward North Carolina. The Tar Heels have been a top-10 team all season, yet the way Marshall sees it, people just want to focus on the negative.

After UNC’s 73-64 victory at Miami last week, I asked Marshall about the team’s shooting woes.

He said: “I mean, it happens. I don’t want to focus on the negatives all the time. I feel like when we win it’s why didn’t we win by more. And when we lose, it’s everything that we did wrong to lose. So I’m just happy that we were able to come into a hostile environment [and win]. … We were able to come in here and play well in the second half and win the game.”

I used part of his quote in the story I wrote and Marshall was asked about his comments on Saturday, after North Carolina's victory against Clemson.

“I’m not here to point fingers,” he said. “It’s just questions all the time. We win a game, and they want to know why we didn’t win by more. You want to look at the positive things that you’re doing well and keep going along in a season and try to progress. It seems like they’re pulling you back on all the negativity. We’re just focused on the players in the locker room and the coaching staff and on each other and trying to get better.”

Asked if the expectations were too high or too much for this team, Marshall said:  “I didn’t say it’s too much. I just made a statement. I feel like I can speak openly about those things and speak my mind about it. But it is. We were given high expectations and we want to meet those expectations as well as everyone else does. At the end of the day, it’s not going to be perfect, yellow brick road to get there. There are going to be bumps in the road, things we’re going to have to get better at. And that only comes with time.”

-- Andrew Carter

Duke's Krzyzewski praises team's will to win

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t want to compare his team’s recent comeback victories against North Carolina and N.C. State. But if those wins have taught him anything about the Blue Devils, it might be this: “I do think our team has shown a great will to win,” Krzyzewski said on Monday during the ACC teleconference.

Asked which rally more impressed him and his staff, Krzyzewski declined to compare. Against North Carolina, Duke rallied from a 10-point deficit with about two minutes to play. Austin Rivers made a long 3 at the buzzer to give the Blue Devils an improbable 85-84 victory.

Against N.C. State, the Devils trailed by 20 with about 11 minutes to play. Duke gradually melted away the lead, and took over the game in the final minutes.

“They’re just big-time wins for our team,” Krzyzewski said. “And I’m really proud of the way they hung in there and were able to win those games.”

Duke this week will play at Florida State in a game that carries significant implications for the regular-season title race. Both the Blue Devils and Seminoles are 10-2 in league play, and Duke has already suffered one loss against Florida State. UNC is also 10-2 in league play.

Tough Duke has shown an impressive ability to come from behind and win, Krzyzewski said “hopefully we won’t have to do much coming back” during the rest of the season.

Some other highlights from Krzyzewski’s portion of the call:

--  Krzyzewski acknowledged that his team likely has a “little bit more incentive” to beat Florida State because of what happened the last times these teams met, when the Seminoles’ Michael Snaer made a 3 at the buzzer to give Florida State a victory in Durham. Krzyzewski said he re-watched that game on the way home from Boston last night and he described the first Duke-FSU game as “just a heck of a game.”

--  Krzyzewski admitted he places a little less emphasis on winning the regular-season championship than he once did. Over the past 20 years or so, he said, he has placed more of a priority on winning the ACC tournament than on finishing first in the regular season. “The regular season is still very important,” he said, “but the tournament takes on a little bit different [feel] – it’s like the showcase event.”

--  Krzyzewski was asked what makes Florida State such a great defensive team. The Seminoles are on track to lead the conference in field goal percentage defense for a record fourth consecutive season. Krzyzewski said, “They have a great combination that you can’t teach of length and quickness. You can’t simulate that in a practice. There's the length that they come at you with. And then they’re quick. They have good athletic ability. And this team is really deep, so they come out you with nine or 10 guys … And then they’re well-coached in their principles.”

-- Andrew Carter

Road to ACC title toughest for Tar Heels

With four conference games remaining, Florida State, Duke and North Carolina have clearly separated themselves at the top of the ACC. All three teams are 10-2, and all will be vying during the next week and a half to secure the top seed in the conference basketball tournament. The Tar Heels, though, have the most difficult road.

A look at the remaining schedules for each team:

• UNC: at N.C. State, at Virginia, Maryland, at Duke

• Duke: at Florida State, Virginia Tech, at Wake Forest, UNC

• Florida State: Duke, at Miami, at Virginia, Clemson

As you can see, the Tar Heels are the only team among these three that will go on the road three times over the final four games. All of those road games will be challenging, and Maryland played the Heels tough in College Park earlier this month.

The “easiest” way for North Carolina to win the regular-season title: Duke beats Florida State on Thursday, and then defeats the Hokies and Demon Deacons. Then UNC wins its next three, setting up a Duke-UNC regular-season finale for first place. It’d be fun.

-- Andrew Carter

Bizarre fan removal overshadows lackluster Wolfpack performance

Three Points from N.C. State's 76-62 loss to Florida State on Saturday:

1) Reloading the gun

N.C. State coach Mark Gottfried compared the timing of the turnaround from Thursday's loss at Duke to Saturday's game with Florida State to the setup of the NCAA tournament.

One problem with that comparison: You don't have to play again after a loss in the NCAA tournament.

It's tough to reload the gun that quickly, even under normal circumstances, and this did not qualify as normal. Emotionally, almost all of the N.C. State players hadn't recovered from Thursday's gut-punch at Duke, a game which the Wolfpack led by 20 points in the second half (with the notable exception of forward C.J. Leslie, who finished with 21 points and nine bards and continued his march to the first round of the NBA draft).

Compounding the "turnaround" issue was the "Florida State" issue. FSU is an athletic team with experience and also a point to prove after nearly losing at home to a bad Virginia Tech team on Thursday and losing its previous road game to a bad Boston College team on Feb. 8.

FSU's size and athletic ability is a bad matchup for just about everybody (except, apparently, Ivy League teams) and especially a flat, N.C. State team which couldn't hit water from a boat.

"We just didn't have it," senior C.J. Williams said.

His summation was dead on. The Pack was just 6 of 29 in the first half and fell behind by 11, 37-26, at the break. Against FSU's defense 11 points is like 33, there's no coming back without a 3-point explosion. Such a a flurry never happened for the Pack, which finished 3 of 12 from beyond the arc.

And Gottfried didn't like how his team responded after a slow start.

"We just seemed to accept our fate," Gottfried said. "I did not like that. This team has not done that this year."

2) Running out of time

N.C. State has four more games before the ACC tournament starts, two of the teams are ranked in the top 50 of the RPI (UNC, Miami) and State has to play the other two games on the road (Clemson, Virginia Tech).

As Gottfried pointed out before the trip to Duke, that's a difficult closing path for his team. A win in either of the previous two games — at Duke, No. 2 in the RPI, and vs. FSU, No. 28 in the RPI — would have dramatically improved N.C. State's NCAA tournament chances. As would a win over North Carolina, No. 8, on Tuesday.

Gottfried has argued about the relative significance of this three-game stretch. He has argued that even if the team loses all three games, it's not eliminated from the NCAA tournament conversation.

His preference is for his team to focus "one game at a time" and also to be judged on the entirety of the season.

These are both fair points and one a coach should make. To Gottfried's point, Virginia Tech beat Duke last year and everyone from coach Seth Greenberg to Dick Vitale had proclaimed the Hokies were in but Selection Sunday rolled around and the Hokies were out.

Clemson, meanwhile, was winless in four games against Duke and Carolina, but found its way into the field of 68. (Clemson also had a head-to-head win over VT)

And while Gottfried is right, that doesn't discount the external value we (media, fans) have placed on the Duke-FSU-UNC stretch. Games against the top 25, and top 50, of the RPI matter. They just do.

Going back to Virginia Tech's example, the Hokies only top 50 win last year was against Duke. The NCAA was telling them, they needed more than just one win (which is Gottfried's point).

I had an animated exchange with Gottfried after the game on the topic of being judged on three games versus the entire season. He offered some funny, and insightful, comments about his experience as an ESPN analyst.

"I worked for ESPN. I was told to be an expert," Gottfried said. "I was told to stand up there and for sure say, 'This is the law.'

"Hell, I didn't know but I'm not going to get on TV and say, 'I really don't know what they got to do.' "

And Gottfried continued, admitting the value of the Duke-FSU-UNC stretch.

"Sure, it would be nice if we would have swept right through, you know all that, but if you don't, that doesn't mean you are eliminated," Gottfried said. "Some things still happen. You never know with this."

3) About Corch, Gugs and Hess (and the officials)

In 10 years, no one will remember Saturday's game because N.C. State couldn't get over the Duke loss or that it shot poorly but everyone will remember that Wolfpack greats Chris Corchiani and Tom Gugliotta were ejected with 6:40 left in the game by referee Karl Hess.

Corchiani, who regularly attends games, and Gugliotta, who was visiting from Atlanta, were sitting behind the scorers' table and by their own admission, protesting a series of calls during the game. According to Corchiani, and at least two officials at the table, Corchiani did not use any profanity or threaten Hess.

"We were just fans, cheering and yelling like everybody else," Corchiani said.

Hess refused to offer an explanation to the Associated Press seeking comment after the game.

The ACC has admitted that Hess did not follow the proper NCAA protocol, which is to confer with the school's game management official before having the fan(s) removed, but it did not offer an explanation for why the former players were asked to leave their seats.

The NCAA rule says the game official has the authority to eject "unruly fans" who exhibit "extreme or excessive" behavior. By Corchiani's account, their behavior did not qualify as either extreme or excessive.

At minimum, Hess and the ACC should provide a thorough explanation, not the weak e-mail response the conference flimisly provided Saturday night at 9:32 p.m. (four hours after it was originally requested by the media).

If Hess' account for what happened matches Corchiani's, there should also be an apology. And that's not because of who Corchiani and Gugliotta are but because any fan, regardless if their jersey hangs in the arena or not, has the right to protest calls within the limits of civility. To suggest otherwise would mean Duke and Maryland (to just name two hostile environments) would have to play in front of a sea of empty seats.

Hess is a good official who is having a bad year. He was also involved in the no-call on a goaltending at the end of West Virginia's loss 63-61 loss at Syracuse on Jan. 28. Hess and the ACC should provide the proper contrition and let everyone move on. Their paying constituents are owed as much.

As for the actual in-game officiating, ironically, there were no issues, at least not for N.C. State. FSU was probably not happy that the Pack was in the free-throw bonus 8 minutes into the first half and attempted 31 free throws for the game.

The free throws (18 in the first half for State, four for FSU), and ostensibly the officiating, actually kept N.C. State in the game in the first half, when Leslie made five field goals and the rest of the team combined for one.

Forward Richard Howell fouled out for the fifth time in the past eight ACC games but Howell is his own worst enemy. No amount of complaining on Twitter is going to change that. He has to play smarter. He's playing noticeably harder this year but that also leads to touch fouls.

His first foul on Saturday happened about 75 feet from N.C. State's basket. There's no reason for that.

Brian Dorsey made a bad call on Howell's fifth foul, a clean block of Michael Snaer, but Howell put himself in foul trouble by picking up fouls early that could have been avoided, without sacrificing his hustle or defense.

The bigger issue, going back to the Duke game, is N.C. State needs to let its fans — and in the case of Hess, its AD — worry about the officials. The players need to regroup and finish out the season knowing they gave their best effort. I don't think that was the case on Saturday, no matter how surreal the circumstances.

--J.P. Giglio

Heroic effort by Seth Curry was key for Duke

DURHAM -- One of the more important moments in Duke’s comeback against N.C. State on Thursday night came in the first half, just as the Wolfpack was building a commanding early lead.
Seth Curry went up for a loose ball and came down awkwardly. When he got up, he put weight on his ankle to see if he could continue.The grimace on his face suggested Curry’s return was far from certain.

“When he went out, I thought he was gone,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Jose (Fonseca), our trainer, was just telling me that Seth said, ‘Man, I don’t know if I can go,’ and Jose said, ‘You have to go.’ Seth said, ‘It hurts,’ and Jose said, ‘I’ll give you a shot.’”

Bolstered by the shot and a re-taping of his ankle, Curry returned to Duke’s 78-73 win over the Wolfpack, scoring 26 points to key Duke’s rally from a 20-point second half deficit. The Blue Devils junior scored 21 of those points in the second half, and Curry was at his best as Duke tightened the screws against the reeling Wolfpack.

Curry scored 14 of the Blue Devils’ 30 points during the stretch when Duke turned a 61-41 deficit into a 72-71 advantage.

“That was a heroic performance by Seth,” Krzyzewski said.

Matched up against Scott Wood for much of the Duke run, Curry was able to drive to the basket with impunity and score most of his points in the lane as Wood struggled to keep up defensively. Curry’s only 3-pointer during the stretch was a shot that brought the fifth-ranked Blue Devils (22-4, 9-2) within two, 71-69, with 3:18 remaining.

“I thought I had matchups where I could take them off the dribble, and I did just that,” Curry said.

The 26 points were a career-high for Curry. Through the combination of making all five of his free throws and having N.C. State’s Scott Wood miss three of his, Curry now leads the ACC in free-throw shooting, hitting 87.2 percent of his attempts on the season.

That’s not the conference race Curry is most interested in, of course.

By rallying against the Wolfpack, Duke is still in the midst of a three-team battle for the ACC regular season championship along with UNC and Florida State.

“We’ve got to win at home to (win the conference),” Curry said. “It would’ve hurt a lot of we had lost this game.”
--Jack Daly