By Paul Casey Gotham
Setting: Atlantic Coast meets Atlantic 10 when Mark Gottfried brings his North Carolina State Wolfpack (6-4) to Rochester’s Blue Cross Arena for a battle with Mark Schmidt’s St Bonaventure Bonnies (5-4).
Plot: Conference play looms on the horizon as these two teams look to build their NCAA tournament resumes. The Wolfpack fell on Saturday at home, to #1 Syracuse, 88-72. The Bonnies come into play with a two-game winning streak.
Sub-Plot: Wolfpack assistant Bobby Lutz coached for more than a decade in the A10. His Charlotte 49er teams went 5-3 against the Bonnies. Lutz was on the sidelines in 2000 when Bona beat Charlotte 79-78 at the Blue Cross Arena.
The Bonnies will be without senior guard Michael Davenport who separated his shoulder and is waiting evaluation as to whether he will return this year. Davenport joins Marquise Simmons on the bench. Simmons was injured in the season opener and is lost for the balance of the year.
Flashback: The last time these two met N.B.A. Hall-of-Famer Bob Lanier wore the Brown and White. Lanier tallied 24 points and 19 rebounds as the Bonnies advanced 80-68 to the Elite Eight of the 1970 NCAA Tournament.
Conflict: Both the Wolfpack and Bonnies have shown the ability for 30 minutes of brilliance. It’s the other 10 minutes which will determine tonight’s outcome. NC State surrendered a 23-0 run over six minutes in their home loss to Syracuse. The Bonnies led Loyola by 16 with 10:00 remaining before the Greyhounds reduced the lead to six.
C.J. Williams leads a quartet from NC State scoring in double figures generating nearly 76 points of offense per game. C.J. Leslie scores nearly 13 a game. The sophomore can put it on the floor and score. He can also stretch a defense. Gottfried uses nine guys double-digit minutes per game. Richard Howell leads the Wolfpack with eight rebounds a game including three on the offensive end.
The Bonnies are led by Player-of-the-Year candidate, Andrew Nicholson. The senior forward accounts for 15.6 ppg and 7.9 rpg.
The Wolfpack fell victim to the long ball on Saturday. Syracuse scored more than a third (33 of 88) of their points from behind the arc.
Matthew Wright (17) and Eric Mosley (14) lead the Bonnies from long range. Demetrius Conger will need to continue his play from Sunday when the junior forward scored 20 points.
But make no mistake, the Bonnies offense starts with Nicholson. Keeping Nicholson on the floor will be paramount. On Sunday, Loyola attacked the basket off the dribble and created foul trouble for Nicholson. The Wolfpack runs a UCLA-style offense predicated on high one-four sets and entering the ball to the high post and creating lanes for cutting.
Will the Wolfpack modify their attack to get Nicholson in foul trouble?
Loyola created problems for St. Bonaventure by running at Bonaventure ballhandlers late in the game and creating traps. The Bonnies can expect to see plenty of run-and-jump defense from the athletic Wolfpack.
Resolution: The Bonnies played with more energy on Sunday than they have played all season. That trend will continue tonight. St. Bonaventure will handle any of NC State’s defensive pressure and settled into a half-court game where Nicholson will take over. The Bonnies win by seven.
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