Pack Faces Must-Win Sunday

Somewhere inside the Weisiger-Brown building on NC State's campus, Sidney Lowe is sitting very quietly- hopefully in deep thought. As his team lost their best chance at a signature win 92-78 to Duke at home last Wednesday night.

At the moment, a 13 point advantage over George Mason (ranked 40th in the RPI) in mid-November stands to be the Pack's only quality win of the season. When Miami comes to town Sunday, the Pack will have another shot at defeating a top 50 team. Miami (12-6, 1-3) comes in ranked 49th in the RPI, and at home this is about as easy as a top 50 win can possibly come.

State must take advantage of their new trio of big men that played well most of the second half against Duke, senior Tracy Smith, sophomore Richard Howell, and freshman C.J. Leslie. When the three are on the court together they create match-up problems for their opponents- especially Leslie who can play small forward with his incredible athleticism. It will be interesting to see if Lowe uses the three to create problems for Miami on Sunday afternoon.

NC State (11-7, 1-3) currently sits at 104 in the RPI. This week after the Pack host Miami on Sunday, they'll hit the road Tuesday to play at Clemson (86) and Saturday in Chapel Hill to take on North Carolina (24). Over the next seven days the Pack will have three chances to get another quality win to add to their resume- preferably more than one of them.

As the team poster says in all capital letters, "The stage is set." It sure is at the moment, the Pack have a chance to crawl out of their 1-3 ACC hole and pick up some quality wins in the process. It all comes down to execution at both ends of the floor, especially on defense where the Pack are giving up more points per game than everyone in the conference, with the exception of Wake Forest.

According to reports, morale was fine after the Duke game, and the guys held their heads high. We'll see what they're made of this week, and if they have what it takes to get back in contention for a NCAA tournament bid.