RALEIGH — N.C. State’s basketball team is suffering from the Tin Man Syndrome — no heart.
The host Wolfpack appeared lifeless in the second half Sunday, when it played extremely soft defense and shot only 30 percent from the field in a 75-61 Atlantic Coast Conference loss to 12th-ranked Maryland.
“You could feel our intensity drop off,” guard Anthony Grundy said after State (9-7 overall) tumbled to 1-4 in the conference. “I don’t know exactly what happened. But once our desire was gone, our toughness went as well. That’s the thing that happened today.”
With 11 league games remaining it’s too soon to write State’s obituary, but you may want to start taking notes. The Wolfpack played like a team on Death Row during the first nine minutes of the second half, watching a four-point deficit balloon to 58-43.
“That was a real tough time,” said freshman Scooter Sherrill. “We hit a slump and couldn’t hit a shot. It just happens sometimes. It happened at Clemson (a 72-69 loss on Jan. 13) and it happened here tonight. We just couldn’t do anything right.”
Maryland (14-4, 5-1 ACC) had the opposite problem. The Terps made 53 percent (27 of 51) of their field goal attempts and coasted to their 13th win in the past 14 games.
“That’s an excellent team that played an excellent game,” State coach Herb Sendek said after the nationally televised dud. “You don’t have a large margin for error against them. They were dominant.”
What’s more, Maryland coach Gary Williams was the better poker player. He kept the Terps in a revolving zone defense for much of the second half, shutting down State’s inside game and forcing the Wolfpack into a long-distance flight plan.
“We went to a zone because they were having trouble shooting,” said Williams. “It worked out so well we stayed with it.”
It worked so well State missed 11 of its first 14 second-half shots. By that time, Maryland forwards Terence Morris and Lonny Baxter had absolutely taken over the game. Morris shot 7-for-11 from the field — including 3-of-4 from 3-point range — and paced all scorers with 20 points. He added 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.
Baxter went 8-for-13 from the floor and scored 18 points, including two on a quick, driving layup along the left baseline that gave Maryland a 64-47 advantage with 6:42 to play.
“We gave them too many opportunities for easy shots,” said State’s Damon Thornton. “You can’t have that. And on offense, some guys were trying to make shots they had no business taking.”
State’s poor finish overshadowed its opportunistic first half. The Pack scored the game’s first five points and still led 25-23 when Sherrill took a slap pass from Damien Wilkins and scored on a fast-break layup with 5:22 on the clock.
“We had a chance to take over and really surprise everybody,” said Grundy, State’s high-scorer with 16. “But we didn’t. They turned it around and took advantage of us. You can’t give up opportunities like that. You do and before you know it, your season’s over.”
All of a sudden, State’s is dangerously close.
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