NC State 72, UNCW 51

Box Score

NC State

Four Factors
eFG	55.0
Turnover Rate	20.9
Off Reb Rate	13.3
FTM/FGA	34.0

UNCW

Four Factors
eFG	32.0
Turnover Rate	11.1
Off Reb Rate	11.4
FTM/FGA	19.7

-- What did Brandon Costner eat for breakfast this morning? Holy smokes. Eighteen of his 19 rebounds were defensive boards--he grabbed 41% of Wilmington's misses by himself.

-- Led by Costner's effort, NC State locked down the defensive glass: of the 44 available defensive rebounds, the Pack grabbed 39 (that's 88.6%). The Seahawks, shooting terribly and deprived of second chances, did not have a chance. They were held to an offensive efficiency of 71.1, which is the lowest number an NC State opponent has posted this season.

-- Gavin Grant attempted a season-low six shots and actually managed to hit more than half of them. Still, his overall efficiency was killed by a 40.9 turnover percentage.

-- Ben McCauley: 19 points on 57% shooting, 7 rebounds, team-high 6 assists, 10.8 TO%. After the game, he thwarted a bank robbery, climbed a tree to rescue three cats, and pulled four children from a burning house.

-- We're in an offensive rut right now. Over the last four games, we've not had an offensive efficiency above 100.8. No one has stepped up and provided a consistent third scoring option behind McCauley and Costner. Today offers a perfect example: it took almost 15 minutes for someone other than Costner or McCauley to score.

Last Four Games:

Player     PPG   Pts/40  eFG%   PPWS   TO%    ORtg

McCauley   21.3   23.9   67.3   1.33   18.7   115.9
Costner    19.5   22.1   65.6   1.32   25.9   99.0
Fells      10.8   11.5   45.3   0.91   21.2   83.9
Grant      9.5    10.8   39.7   0.87   36.2   73.3

[Pts/40 = points per 40 minutes; just a player's points scored divided by his minutes played and multiplied by 40]

Note how Grant's turnover percentage is nearly as high as his shooting percentage. BC has been on fire from beyond the arc over this span (11-21, 52.4%), but Fells and Grant are a combined 6-34 (17.6%) from three.

I've been perplexed by Gavin's declining free throw rate. His FTA/FGA ratio this year is just half what it was last year, and it's been even lower over the last four games. I wouldn't think that moving him to the point would negatively affect his free throw rate; it seems he's just being less aggressive (all the zone defense we've seen doesn't help).