It wasn’t pretty at times, but over the course of 40 minutes, State proved what it couldn’t earlier in the year against Georgia Tech—it’s the better team.
Behind superior shooting and by taking better care of the ball, State earned a 61-52 road win over the Yellow Jackets. State held Georgia Tech to just a 33.1 effective field goal percentage due in large part to Tech hitting only one of its 17 three-point attempts. The Pack also harassed the Jackets into turning the ball over a staggering 26.2% of the time.
State, conversely, shot an eFG% of 46.9% and turned the ball over at a stingy 16.4% clip.
It’s the fourth ACC road win of the year for State, a remarkable stat when you consider Sidney Lowe managed only seven conference road wins in his five year-tenure. And with three road games remaining, that number may grow.
The game wasn’t without its warts. Georgia Tech remained in the game with their dominance on the offensive glass: Their 19 offensive boards to State’s 10 allowed them to hoist 10 more shot attempts than the Pack, even in spite of the Jackets’ aforementioned difficulty holding onto the ball. At times it seemed like no one on State’s squad cared to go after a potential rebound—a single Tech player bracketed by three or four red jerseys out-hustled his Wolfpack opponents to the ball on several occasions.
A lackadaisical rebounding performance over the coming stretch of games, where valuing every possession will be critical, will spell almost certain defeat.
But given how uneven State played in the first half and throughout parts of the second, it’s a good sign when you’re B- game can beat another conference foe on the road. A performance like that won’t cut it against the Dukes, FSUs or UNCs of the league, but it’s yet another indicator of just how much improvement this team has experienced in a short time frame.
The team now gets a full week to prepare themselves for easily the toughest stretch of the season. It’ll also give Scott Wood time to get in some much needed free throw practice.
(I mean, seriously Scott, what the hell. Three misses in a row? C’mon…)
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