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NC State Basketball

MCLAMB: Character Leads to Big Road Win

January 21, 2020
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A scoring drought of more than 10 minutes, two players unavailable, a starter disqualified, and a hostile arena. There was, of course, also a 2019 national championship banner hanging from the rafters at a place where NC State had not won in almost 15 years. 

The 11-point lead that the Wolfpack enjoyed with 14 minutes remaining had evaporated via the sweaty water torture that is Virginia's defense. The plodding collapse seemed to be in full motion.

The pack-line defense, used against NC State earlier in the season to great effect by both Clemson and Virginia Tech, has been a thorn in the Wolfpack’s side, and the Cavaliers are the pack-liniest of all pack-liners. Virginia is a rugged team. 

Yet when the final buzzer sounded it was the Pack, and not the pack-liners, who somehow were dancing. A 53-51 road win for NC State over Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena is not what would have been predicted just a week earlier. 

No wins in Charlottesville since 2005. No regular season wins against Virginia since 2009. No wins at all over the Cavaliers since 2013. All were wretched streaks that have now gone by the wayside. 

Virginia is a defending national champ, but the Cavaliers are struggling. That aside, don’t let anyone diminish NC State’s show of moxie in Charlottesville. The win Monday evening took character. 

The depth of the victory as the season progresses will be determined by how the Wolfpack performs in February and March. Its meaning now cannot be impacted by what the Wahoos do the rest of the way. That is set in stone. 

At this moment, it is a massive road victory for NC State, bottom line. The win neutralizes the home loss to Georgia Tech, which can be further minimized when the Pack travels to Atlanta on Saturday, and it also sets the team up for a legitimate shot at a high finish in the ACC. 

To be frank, NC State controls its own destiny. The Wolfpack, 5-3 in the conference, has 12 ACC games remaining and stands alone in fourth place in the league. 

Of those 12 games, four are against the three teams ahead of the Pack. If NC State loses them all but wins the other eight, the Wolfpack would enter the ACC Tournament at 22-9 overall and 13-7 in league play. The odds of an NCAA berth would be better than average. 

But if the Pack beats the teams ahead of them and also holds serve against those below -- not an easy task whatsoever -- suddenly the real chance of having a special season does exist. 

The truth is it is far too early in the league slate to speculate where NC State would finish. Followers should mimic a coach’s approach of simply taking it one step at a time. The Wolfpack is only 40 percent into the ACC schedule. 

The excitement that the coaches, the team, and its followers should actually derive from Monday’s show of grit is an extension of the fight that NC State displayed in its last two home games, wins over Miami and Clemson squads that entered Raleigh with compatible conference records. 

At 2-3 in the ACC on last Tuesday, the Wolfpack marched through three games in six days unscathed record-wise, and pulled it off despite not being able to also navigate the week unscathed health-wise. Cautious optimism and excitement for the future is the pragmatic approach. 

And NC State has at least earned that. When the going got tough, the Wolfpack got tougher. Beating Virginia on the road was indeed massive. There are questions remaining, but don’t count them out just yet.

Tags: Basketball
 
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