By
Al Myatt
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RALEIGH
—
Jordan Vandenberg came out for the second half at PNC Arena on Saturday
and was getting loose before play resumed. The 7-feet, 1-inch senior
from Australia jumped near the basket and was practically eye level with
the rim.
His vertical presence was
just one of the matchup problems East Carolina faced in a 90-79 Wolfpack
win.
"He's one of the most
improved guys that I've seen," said fourth-year ECU coach Jeff Lebo.
"He's lost weight and become a factor for them. When they threw it up
there to him we couldn't go where he went."
Vandenberg had five dunks in
the second half and finished with 18 points. He made nine of 10 field
goal attempts as State shot 58.2 percent for the game.
"I give State credit," Lebo
said. "They played awfully well offensively."
Pack small forward T.J.
Warren displayed as good a combination of skills to be found this side
of the NBA.
The 6-feet, 8-inch sophomore
scored in about every conceivable manner. He went from keeping the Pack
in the game as ECU (10-3) opened a pair of nine-point leads to sparking
a 15-0 State run to close the half.
"You can't have a section of
the game where you have a 15-0 run and expect to win on the road," Lebo
said.
Warren had 25 of his
game-high 32 points in the first half.
"We had a hard time matching
up with him," Lebo said. "Most people do. ... He can drive it. He's
excellent without the ball. ... He has a unique ability to time his
cuts. Obviously, he can do a lot of different things, too. He can
rebound. He can score on the break. When he's making shots from the
perimeter, he's unguardable."
Anthony "Cat" Barber,
well-nicknamed in regard to his quickness, can drive and shoot, but his
best quality against the Pirates was distributing the ball to State's
other weapons.
Barber had 16 points and
eight assists.
When State (9-2) needed some
long-range artillery, Ralston Turner was there to deliver daggers. He
was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and had 11 points.
While the Pack can take any
number of approaches on offense, Lebo has figured out that his guys must
either spread the floor and drive or bomb away from the outside.
Most of ECU's anticipated
low post game has either departed campus or is on medical leave.
The exterior option was the
most effective as the Pirates were 10 for 27 on threes. Akeem Richmond
dropped five treys and had a team-high 23 points.
Story continues after the
following picture...
ECU sharpshooter Akeem
Richmond drains a three in front of State's
student section. Richmond finished with 23 points. (Photo by W.A. Myatt)
Dribble penetration did not
go nearly as well. The State skyline blocked nine shots.
BeeJay Anya, a 6-9,
325-pound specimen, had five rejections and Vandenberg had three.
"We haven't seen size like
that all year," said sophomore Prince Williams, who played at nearby
Broughton High and had 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting. "We still wanted
to keep attacking."
Story continues after the
following picture...
Raleigh Broughton High
School product Prince Williams finishes a
first half layup over N.C. State's Tyler Lewis. (Photo by W.A. Myatt)
The Wolfpack was called for
just nine fouls for the game.
That was a pretty big
adjustment for the Pirates, who were nine for nine from the line. ECU
came into the game ranking second nationally in made free throws.
The Pirates are averaging
over 33 foul shots per game. Lebo has coached his guys to go hard to the
basket in light of new rules designed to stimulate offense.
"The first half we got eight
blocked and we can't simulate that without our bigs in practice," Lebo
said. "Anya was terrific in the first half with his shot blocks. He's so
wide that you underestimate his length.
"That size around the rim,
the ACC size, bothered us in getting the ball to the basket. ... When
you drive it in there, it's a different look against the size."
A dunk by Vandenberg gave
State a 61-51 lead with 14:48 to go.
"Vandenberg is really the
guy that killed us in the second half," Richmond said. "It's no one's
fault. We're down a lot of big men."
ECU responded with a 9-0 run
that included a jumper by Antonio Robinson, a three by Richmond, a
basket by Caleb White and a hoop by Prince Williams.
"We battled hard and had a
chance there late," Lebo said.
The Pack answered with an
8-0 flurry and the Pirates got no closer than four points the rest of
the way.
ECU, which shot 35 of 44 at
the line Thursday night in
a
103-94 win over VMI, could not muster a final run.
Seven players got all the
minutes for the Pirates. Richmond and Paris Roberts-Campbell were each
logged in for the entire game on the final stats.
White totaled 14 points and
Roberts-Campbell had 11. Antonio Robinson had nine points and six
rebounds.
"I thought we got a little
fatigued at times," Lebo said. "I thought we scored enough points to win
but we're trying to figure out a way to defend. They have like five guys
out there 6-8 or better. We have one."
That would be Mike Zangari,
who had six points in 21 minutes.
"We were trying to keep
Vandenberg from getting some easy shots," Zangari said. "He was getting
some lobs on some backside stuff that we needed to take away. I'm not
used to 7-1 guys. We definitely struggled with it."
The Pirates have some time
off before hosting Georgia State on Sunday, Dec. 29, at 1 p.m.
The ECU players thought the
experience would be beneficial despite the outcome.
"We won't see anyone much
better than them," Zangari said.
ECU's last three trips to
the Triangle to play ACC teams
North Carolina,
Duke and
State have resulted in
setbacks by an average of fewer than nine points.
The Pirates aren't just
looking to play their established neighbors close, but that's what has
happened.
"We wanted to come in here
and show them we were just as good as them," Richmond said.
That proved to be a tall
order on Saturday afternoon.
GAME SUMMARY |
--------------------- |
N.C. State 90, East Carolina 79 |
--------------------- |
Date: Saturday,
Dec. 21, 2013
Facility: PNC Arena
Attendance: 15,217
Records: ECU 10-3; NCSU 9-2
|
--------------------- |
SCORE BY PERIODS |
1 |
2 |
FINAL |
East Carolina |
38 |
41 |
79 |
N.C. State |
45 |
45 |
90 |
View full box score and stats on ecupirates.com