So many questions and so few answers. The complete story of the 2005-06 Eagles has yet to be written, but at this point it’s very tough to see where this one is going to end up. This team has been considered a top 15 team in the nation the entire year but has yet to live up to the ranking against "equal" opponents.
The Eagles were coming off easy wins against a triumvirate of A-10 schools and had people feeling good about their development as a complete team. They suffered a tough loss on the road to an improving Georgia Tech team and returned home still looking for the elusive first ACC conference win. What resulted was one of the biggest stink bombs since Troy Bell’s last game at the Heights.
The Eagles were manhandled by #18 NC State at home, falling by a score of 78-60. Al Skinner admitted after the game that there weren’t many positives to take from this game. His squad was beaten soundly on both ends of the court and the thrashing leaves a lot of questions to be answered as Skinner's Eagles now look to show their 0-3 conference record is a fluke and not their ranking.
Jared Dudley led the Eagles in scoring with 16 points and Craig Smith added 14 in the loss. The key thing about those two players is that they scored their 30 combined points on 11-34 shooting from the field and 6-12 from the line. BC is not going to win a whole lot of games with an effort like that from its two stars.
NC State came out firing from the opening tip shooting 55% in the first half. The Eagles were on the other end of the spectrum laying more bricks than a mason in shooting 29%. The surprising thing was that it was only a 4 point game at the intermission, due to 10 NC State turnovers. Staying consistent with most of their recent games, even though the Eagles had not played their best ball, they still were very much in the game.
The second half was not the same story however. BC continued to struggle from the field and NC State was knocking down every single open look they were given by a soft BC defense. The deciding portion of the game came right out of halftime as the Wolfpack went on an 11-0 run to open the half and never looked back. They were led by big man Cedric Simmons who really did a nice job keeping the wraps on the Eagles inside game all night and also finished with 17 points and 7 boards. NC State’s guards also played exceptionally well as Engin Atsur and Tony Bethel shot a combined 9-15 from the field, including 7-10 from deep. They both made numerous key shots to help keep BC at a distance.
The Eagles tried to make a run with three pointers by Dudley, Louis Hinnant and Sean Marshall to close to 49-40, but they would not get any closer than that.
Coach Skinner had at least this scribe confused when he stuck with a lineup of Dudley, Smith, Marshall, Hinnant and Sean Williams for about 10 minutes to open the second half even though it was clear that they were not getting it done. Akida McLain, who has brought a nice energy to the team since returning from suspension, did not play at all in the second half. There was a curious lack of defensive pressure from the Eagles as well who have had success in recent games going small. With NC State on fire from behind the arc, as well as all over the floor, it was strange to see Skinner stick with Hinnant and Marshall so long before finally putting Marquez Haynes and Tyrese Rice into the game with about 9 minutes remaining.
Also after the game, Skinner said his troops were tired and that a couple good days of rest would make everything okay. If that was indeed the case, why run Dudley and Smith out there for 38 minutes, including the entire second half, as well as playing Hinnant for 18 minutes in the second half. It was clear that they were not on their game on this night and it looked as if some fresh legs wouldn’t have been a bad idea.
NC State finished the second half shooting 16-23 from the field, almost a 70% clip. For the game, they shot 63.4% from the field. To find the last time an opponent shot that high you have to go back to the 1990-91 season when the Eagles made the trip down to Cameron Indoor to play the loaded Duke team with Laettner, Hurley and both Hill’s. Duke shot 36-54 from the field which is a 66.7% clip. It kind of puts a perspective on how historically bad last night’s game was.
As bad as things were last night, it still remains a long season. There are still 13 more conference games with added importance now. The Eagles have to take it one game at a time and take care of business at home against Florida State. It is hard to say that anything is a must win in January, but this is about as close as it gets.